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legal sized snapper keeping


livingart

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only ever kept youngsters before,

i know you can't catch any undersize quota fish and then keep it in a tank

but i thought if it is legal to take and eat, then should be okay to keep alive in a tank

got to build up the food stock in the tank for when the sharks arrive 8)

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Years ago when my son was small he set up a cold water marine, 3 foot, and stocked it with stuff he collected around rock pools etc.

One day he was fishing at the wharf and caught a tiny snapper so he came a real fast trip home and put it in the tank. It was illegal, (yes I'll admit it), but it seemed to adapt to tank life straight away and just cruised around the tank looking for stuff to eat. No trouble getting it to eat it would eat anything. But it had a tremendous appetite and grew very fast, only a few months and it was getting too big for the tank.

We took a trip to the beach and released it, it seemed to sense it was free at last, and just streaked out to sea till we couldn't see it. My son shed a few tears.

I'm told it would not have survived as it would not have learned survival skills, but I'm not so sure, it was a true survivor. Very curious, keen to try to eat anything new, and always looking around, I think it might have made it! :P

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Hi all

Yes it is "LEGAL" to keep Snapper that are of legal size.

That applies to any marine fish on the MAF list in NZ.

It is illegal to be in possession or keep undersized fish though.

The water changes that a snapper needs is huge, I had a mate who was a commercial fisherman that kept 4 of them in a 10,000 litre concrete tank that was modified so as you could see them.

He had to pipe water 200 metres to keep it going.

He also had seahorses and scallops in there as well.

:bow:

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Used to keep tiny snapper, until, like Wasp, they use to get too big, and aggressive, and I'd release them back into the ocean.

Illegal, yes, will a MAF officer find out and raid your tank, unlikely, and poor form if they did. Was worth the risk, as kept baby trevally, snapper, maomao, red moki, kahawai etc,

Watch your snapper though, put a lovely baby blue maomao in one day, only to watch one of the snapper bit its head straight off.

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Guest Anonymous
It is legal to catch and eat 27cm snapper however it is very illegal to keep any live snapper without a permit. which costs!

My understanding is once the fish is over the legal size and caught in a legal way then you are free to do with it what you wish.

The restrictions on recreational fishers are relatively simple. The three main things to remember are:

* Don’t take more than the daily limit

* Don’t take undersized fish

* Don’t sell or trade your catch

nothing about keeping them alive

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Guest Anonymous
Nothing is stopping you from catching legal sized fish and throwing them into a tank of sharks.

1 thing is. I don't have a tank of sharks :cry:

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I looked after a tank that was part of the bar table at FINZ restaurant and oyster bar in auckland- viaduct in 2002.

Thay had 12 undersize snapper, 6 mao mao and undersize cray from Hawkes Bay Aquaculture. Thay had no permit and they never got in trouble. They died eventually as no chiller on the tank. The snapper grew very fast.

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Watch your snapper though, put a lovely baby blue maomao in one day, only to watch one of the snapper bit its head straight off.

Yes a baby blue maomao would be an awesome fish, but I've never been able to find where the baby ones are. Where do the baby ones hang out?

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Yes a baby blue maomao would be an awesome fish, but I've never been able to find where the baby ones are. Where do the baby ones hang out?

around the seaweed beds and wharves, elusive and hide as soon as a big shape arrives,

when you catch them at 5 to 10mm the ones with red spots on the belly are blue mao mao the others are sweep

at about 20 mm the blue mao mao have a yellow belly

had 3 at 20cm in the big tank a beautiful powder blue from above, sadly the black shag ate them so have to catch some more

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Yes a baby blue maomao would be an awesome fish, but I've never been able to find where the baby ones are. Where do the baby ones hang out?

In the rock pools at Muriwai beach. You'll need a low low tide, and no significant swell (about 5 days a year!!).

Have caught and keep from these: Baby Red Moki, baby maomao, small bigeye, sole, scarlet parrot fish, hiwihiwi, leaf fish, loads of different triplefins and blennies etc etc.

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