[Cougra]

I would also recommend that you look into local and federal laws and regulations about collecting things from the beach. Some animals and live rock might be restricted and could result in hefty fines. It's better to be safe and know what's allowed.

Also remember that once something is caught and kept in a tank for any length of time it should NOT be released back into the wild, even if you bring it back to where you collected it from. Aquariums have a much higher conecntration of pathegens then the oceans and the chances of you introducing a disease into the local fish population increases drastically, especially if you have rock, substrate and/or animals from multiple areas.

Use caution if you are planning on collecting snails or hermit crabs from your area as they may not be able to live long at the warmer temperatures as Mike mentioned. Also a lot of the hermit crabs you find along the shore aren't true aquatic animals and need some dry land to come onto.

ie Fiji or Marshal island or even Florida cultured rock with the native fish since some diseases will go through a dormant phase on the rock. These diseases may not have been in your area so the animals will be highly suseptable to infection.