# I attempted and failed to wild collect



## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

Hi everybody, I thought I would share this with whomever might be interested.

I live in Florida, and today I made a stop out to a boggy area of the woods in Weeki Wachee, and attempted to wild collect some plants for the first time. After searching through lots of massive sword plants that I couldn't identify that stood several feet above the water level, I came across an area overgrown with dwarf lily plants. I waded out almost knee deep into the muck, scaring off lots of tad-poles along the way, and attempted to dig up the roots of a nice looking specimen, but it seemed as if the root system was massive to the point where I would need a shovel to dig it up. 

I really wanted this to be an in and out type thing, because we have all sorts of freshwater nasties from cotton-mouths to leaches, to gators in the area, and the water was losing visibility as I attempted to dig up the plant. I stuck my hand deep into the mud and was clutching almost blindly at the roots that felt thicker than my wrist. 

By this point I had been in the water well over 15 minutes, and paranoia was hitting me. I couldn't help but imagine all kinds of unknown creatures nestling up against me. I plunged my hand deeper into the mud hoping that their wasn't something buried in it that would cause me pain or general discomfort, however I couldn't locate the point where the root system lessened any.

I ended up leaving empty handed due to my family waiting impatiently, and frustration from having inadvertently mangled the plant I was attempting to dig up. My theory was that the hundreds of pads I a saw on the water surface where all connected to some massive mother plant, and while they appeared to be their own plants, the little clusters where just the tip of the ice-burg. 

I would love to go back out there a little better prepared next time, and hopefully have better luck. They really looked nice, better than some of the ones I've seen in professional tank setups even, but that's nature for you.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Sounds a bit like me last May when I went to Louisiana (for another occasion) and "collected" 2 cypress trees. They were only 3-4" tall but might as well
have been 60' tall as the roots were in mud which had roots from other trees crossing back and forth every which way so as to keep my shovel ( I had
actually gotten one from a flee market for this) from going into the ground. My friend was sitting in the truck as I looked for some of the baby trees
between the full grown ones at the edge of the swamp. He kept telling me to watch out for the water mocasins!!! So I left the one alone which I stepped 
around to get to the baby cypress. Didn't think he would appreciate me bringing it back to show him.
Wish you better luck the next time and remember to leave the critters where they belong and take back only the plants. I threw a hollow log(small) into
the back of the truck one Fall day. It was about 55F. The log looked as though it would be nice for the garden. When we got home a water mocasin which
had been in the log was sitting on top of it in the sun warming himself. Watch dem critters...LOL...


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## DigitalBuddha (May 25, 2013)

If you leave a good chunk of roots on the bottom I think you should be fine even if it is part of a bigger system. The roots that you leave connected will continue growing.


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## z1200 (Jan 26, 2012)

Wild collecting is just asking for all sorts of unknown pests, at least from my experiences. I keep my natives isolated from my other fish if I keep any at all.


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## chrisb01 (Apr 4, 2010)

What part of Florida are you in?

I'm going on a collecting trip early August with a group of fellow members of the TBAS (Tampa Bay Aquarium Society).

We are going to be collecting right here in Lakeland, where I live, so that's great for me. I usually have to follow them to further areas.

Just let me know where you are, I'm sure we can arrange something.


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Hello kick...

Saw your post and thought I'd comment. I tried several times to get plants I collected from the local water areas here to grow in my tanks. They grew very well for a few weeks. But eventually they died. I came to the conclusion that I couldn't duplicate the lighting and water conditions. 

You may have better luck in a more tropical climate, but my gut feeling is to stick to standard aquarium plants that are raised in a tank type of an environment. I'll bet you'll have better luck.

B


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## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

Chrisb01 I'm in Brooksville, but there isn't much standing water near me, so I would have to head over too Weekiwachee, or Homosassa most likely if I were to search anything out. That sounds like a good group, do you guys collect fish too, or just plants? We do have killiefish native to Florida, among other aquarium staples.

z1200 - I know, I ended up finding a leech hiding in the roots of a water lettuce plant that was gifted to me from my friends pond. I try to bleach dip all plants before I add them anyways, regardless of where I get them. Petco has introduced hydra into many peoples tanks as hitchhikers on plants.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Hey kicksilver you mean that all your tanks don't have leaches in them...LOL...it sort of goes/w "collecting".
What critter are you talking about when you say "Hydra" as I've always associated that name with a creature which has yet to be classified
as either plant or animal and looks like a palm tree but only about 5/16th inch high. When they want to move they dip the top down and the bottom goes over to another spot and they just repeat this till they are satisfied that where they are will work and they stay there for a while.
If that is what you mean then which Petco because I've been trying to find those for over a year where I'm living now and haven't found them yet.
I'm actually quite serious about wanting to have them in my tanks. If we're talking about the same critter that is.


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## chrisb01 (Apr 4, 2010)

kicksilver said:


> Chrisb01 I'm in Brooksville, but there isn't much standing water near me, so I would have to head over too Weekiwachee, or Homosassa most likely if I were to search anything out. That sounds like a good group, do you guys collect fish too, or just plants? We do have killiefish native to Florida, among other aquarium staples.


Yes, we do collect quite a few different species of fish. The trips are great, a lot of fun. Let me know if you want to join us. Or maybe a couple of us can get together with you guys and do our own trip.


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> Hello kick...
> 
> Saw your post and thought I'd comment. I tried several times to get plants I collected from the local water areas here to grow in my tanks. They grew very well for a few weeks. But eventually they died. I came to the conclusion that I couldn't duplicate the lighting and water conditions.
> 
> ...


I've been able to transition plants from indoors to outdoors and vise versa several times. They don't always like the experience, but if they were strong plants to begin with, there shouldn't be too many issues. Maybe giving them a transitioning time (our hardening as it's known in gardening) where the pants are still outdoors, but are slowly shifted into domestic life. Normally hardening is used when bringing an indoor plant outside, but it might help here.


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## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

Raymond S. said:


> a creature which has yet to be classified
> as either plant or animal and looks like a palm tree but only about 5/16th inch high. When they want to move they dip the top down and the bottom goes over to another spot and they just repeat this till they are satisfied that where they are will work and they stay there for a while.
> If that is what you mean then which Petco because I've been trying to find those for over a year where I'm living now and haven't found them yet.
> I'm actually quite serious about wanting to have them in my tanks. If we're talking about the same critter that is.


Yeah, that's the one, they have a nasty tendency to kill fish fry.


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