shark idea

[darklcd]

I was just reading a thread and I was intreged by the idea of a shark in a reef tank!!!! how can this be done. The shark in question was a brown banded bamboo shark and I am wondering how it can be done with out eating everything in there. I like the idea and with the tank size that I am looking at (400 gal 96x30x36)

I think it might be an intresting addiation but I am worried about it eating everything. can this be done and if so how.

all the fish that I am looking at are going to be larger 4" at least angels, tangs, and what not but I know that clowns and other small fish won't have a chance.

I was also looking on with web and I read that it has to be hatched from an egg and I would love to see that happen. can it be done and if so how

thanks

 

[shallowreef]

Darklcd,

I am going to talk your ear off with this one. I am planning to do the same thing in my 210.

First, As long as your only doing one shark (wich i would suggest) You can get by with a 210, but bigger will for sure be a much better enviroment for it.

Second, All small fish (2" or less) when the shark is a pup will be fair game. Certain fish that exclude this are Mandarins and clown gobies. Only because they have a slime coat on them that predators do not like and therefore leave alone. I for one am a believer in this because i kept a clown gobay and a green mandarin with a grouper that killed a powder blue tang but wouldn't touch the clown goby or mandarin. As for clowns, if they are big enough they should be okay. I had only one incident with these two not getting along. The shark ended up getting nipped everytime he would get to close to the clowns spot and that would lead to the shark chasing the clown out of the tank. Literally!

Third, The shark will be fine with corals as long as they are secured. If not you can bet they will be all knocked over the next morning.

Fourth, This type of shark is mostly nocternal (especially when a pup) But can be coaxed out to feed when the lights are on so be sure to have a cave or two available for it to sleep in and seek shelter.

Fifth, Please be sure that when you setup the tank that the rocks are aquascaped before you add the sand .As these sharks love to dig in the sand and if your rocks are not on the bottom they will crush the shark for sure. I found that out the hardway.

Sixth, You must be sure to keep you Nitri and Nitra levels at 0 at all times. Sharks and rays need this to survive and this more than likely won't be a problem if your keeping a reef.

Seventh, The shark does not have to be hatched from an egg. But it is very, very cool to watch plus sharks are known to have a much better survival rate when being hatched from an egg. They also have a tendency to eat quicker by this method.

If you have anymore Qs please do ask! I love keeping sharks and i hope i can help you out.

Nick

 

[redrooster]

Yeah the shark eggs are common for sale by me for about $35 usually. The sharks are developed enough that you can see them in the eggs moving around. You mentioned angels. Most angels love to eat corals and sponges especially, IME. I had a Koran angel in my reef for a while ( 6 months) and he was the greatest fish I ever had. I had a huge population of green sponges. It took him 5 months to eat them all, during which time he left the corals alone, and then he moved on to brain corals/tree corals when all accesable sponges were gone. As soon as that happened I took him to the LFS to trade, as much as it pained me. As soon as I can do a fish only tank I will get another. Anyways most medium angels can destroy a reef in short order! be careful. My sponges are just now coming back after about 6 months recovery time. I believe Coral beauty's and Flame angels are the only ones that are less destructive to coral, but even they can be hazardous sometimes. I would check with someone who is more of an expert on angels.

 

[darklcd]

well I will have lots for you lol

1. what kind of price am I looking at

2. I am going to be transporting it for about 5 hours to get it from the shop home ( i live up north lol)

3. in a 400 gal (96x30x36) how big will it get and how big do the fish have to be by the time it is full grown so thay don't get eaten

4. I know this might be a dubm question but can I keep percuila clowns with it or not ( the wife loves them and I don't want to get them and have them get eaten)

5. are there any fish that will attack it or try and eat it the egg before it is hatched

6. I am concerend that I will not be able to have a clean up crew in my tank ( snails crabs ect) is there anything that I can get that will be ok as I am concerend that the shark will eat everything else in there.

7. with the egg is there a certin way that it has to be placed and will it attach on its own or does it need help

I think thats all for now I am just concerned and I want to get as much info as I can before I get one I don't want it to die on me right away and you are the only person I have seen on here that has one and I have wanted one for years just never thought it would work

thanks

 

[matts125]

I am in the same boat as Nick here I already have a cat shark and it doesnt seem to bother anything at all, just keep it fed with silver sides and they wont bother any thing. That is of course excluding all types of shrimp they will get eaten guarenteed, but as for corals they will just nock things over a lot because of how clumsy they are. they are blind so they cant see where they are going...


Matt

 

[redrooster]

I can't answer many of those questions, but as I said above the eggs pretty well developed sell for $35-$45 around me. and the eggs are about 3-4" long and the shark will be in a U shape inside so the shark is 4-5" long. As far as a fish eating the egg or newly hatched shark it would have to be a very large/aggresive fish. I would be willing to say that nothing would eat the egg. Some aggresive fish may attack the shark after hatching though. With proper packing/heating pack the transport shouldn't be a problem as they are being shipped to Chicago from the coast OK.

 

[darklcd]

thats good to know the lats thing that I want to do is have it die. the only other thing that I am not too sure of it the aquascape. I understand that putting the rock in before the sand is a good idea but I am not sure how that will effect my tank when I start it up. if anyone has a good idea on a start up please let me know. Also Shallowreef if you have any other helpful ideas please post them or pm me

thanks

 

[shallowreef]

1. what kind of price am I looking at

Well i pay 50-75 for a hatched shark depending on the size and 35-45 for an egg.

2. I am going to be transporting it for about 5 hours to get it from the shop home ( i live up north lol)

If its in an egg you should be okay as long as the temp stays relatively stable. If this were the case i would almost suggest ordering online so at least they would be reponsible for the transportation rather than you.

3. in a 400 gal (96x30x36) how big will it get and how big do the fish have to be by the time it is full grown so thay don't get eaten

These sharks can reach up to 5' in the wild although in the home aquarium i have heard that only a few will reach that size. Most will grow to 3'. Depending on how often and how much you feed them will determine the size they will reach and when they will reach it.

4. I know this might be a dubm question but can I keep percuila clowns with it or not ( the wife loves them and I don't want to get them and have them get eaten)

Yes, but buy them big and add them first. Try and keep them in an anenome if you can. There is no gurantee that they will not dissapear over night but its worth a shot. Once the shark gets to be a foot or so they will more than likely be fair game.

5. are there any fish that will attack it or try and eat it the egg before it is hatched

As for eating the egg itself i think it will be fine. I can't think of anything eating the egg and all. Once the shark is born though it could be eaten by aggressive triggers like the clown or queen trigger. Also any grouper in the tank or puffer will more than likely reat it as well. I believe large adult angels will nip at the shark but that is not 100%. I would look into that one.

6. I am concerend that I will not be able to have a clean up crew in my tank ( snails crabs ect) is there anything that I can get that will be ok as I am concerend that the shark will eat everything else in there.

I bought a very very large cleaning crew for my tank.

7. with the egg is there a certin way that it has to be placed and will it attach on its own or does it need help

I think it can just lay on the sand and it will be fine.

 

[shallowreef]

When i started my 210 i put my rocks in first and aquascaped everything to the way i wanted it and then i added the sand. Then i let the tank cycle. Doing this shouldn't screw up your cycle at all.

 

[steve-s]

I would not recommend a shark in a reef/coral tank. That would be like allowing a pitbull on a leash to chase a cat through a glass shop. Unless you stock with soft or sturdy larger "LPS" type corals, I would be leary. With anything else you risk certain damage to the coral, shark or both. These types of animals are best kept in systems designed around their needs.

As for the tank size, I have addressed this before but the 400 gal would be a great size. No issue there at all. If the shark cannot freely turn in the tank without hitting the sides, the tank is too small.

 

[burning2nd]

dont know anything of it, but

a lfs has 2 big oval pancake looking thigns, he said they were shark eggs.

2

he had a shark, was cool looking. it died.

end of story

 

[darklcd]

well I think that I have a good idea of what it will take to get this going I am just not sure about the set up. I am concerened that if I do the rock first that it will die when I add water into it with out it being cycled right and that concerns me. as it stands to get this tank going I am going to have to spend about $6000.00 and I don't want to lose everything. I am also thinking that 36" wide might not be enough and I am thinking that I might go to 48" to make sure that I have enough room for the shark and my other things. that way there will be lots of room for everything and I will be able to make the fish feel a little better with the extra space

shallowreef
do you know of any other sharks that I can keep that would be ok or are these the only type that are ok

 

[darklcd]

I am also concerend with what to feed them. I have herd that scallops are ok but they can get pricey. I live in canada in northern onario and I don't know what to feed them. And I know that this will be a dumb question to some but what are silver backs? I also can't find anywhere that I can buy one I have been looking on line for a few hours today and I can't find anything and if any one on here in the states and get them shipped over the border please let me know

thanks

 

[shallowreef]

There are a few different types of sharks that you can get besides this one but i believe they all get to be around the same size at their adult age. One is a cat shark, another is a leopard shark, and than there is a port jackson shark.

Of all of these sharks i would suggest the cat shark. Its the smallest of them all but like i said i believe it can reach 3-4 feet when an adult.

Feeding is very simple with sharks. Now i used a frozen pack of silversides and i would just feed them one fish every other day. Some people feed them once a week. You see these sharks are not like blacktips or hammerheads that are constantly moving and burn off their food in a day so they need to be fed more often. Braown banded bamboo sharks however do not swim around much at all and usually hide during the day. So it takes them longer to burn off their food. Not saying that if you feed them a little everyday that they won't take it but your almost overfeeding. Steve can let me know if i am wrong or not on my info.

As for how to feed them. Whatever you decide to use i came up with a simple solution that i believ works rather well but still could use to be perfected. Anyways what i did is i would take the pack of silversides and let it defrost. Once it was defrosted i would pull out all of the fish and cut them in half. then i would take small dixie cups and fill them with a little RO water (just about a 1/2" and then i would add four halfs of fish to each cup. After i had all the cups made i would top them off with the fish uice from the bag. Just a little to add smell to em. Sharks have a great sense when it comes to detecting this stuff. So then when they were all made i would freeze them in the freezer. Once they were frozen i would take all the cups out and let them defrost a little so i could get the ice cubes out of the cup. I then would just store the cubes in a bag. and when it was time to feed the shark i would just drop in a cube of this fish food. and as it melts the shark can smell the fish so is out and ready to feed. the ice melts and the shark eats the fish. Thats just how i did it. But you can do that with any food. The only problem with it though that i saw was that the fish may be a little cold when the shark eats it. But you could just pullout a cube and let it sit in a container of your tanks water and let it thaw that way and then add it to the tank.

 

[VegasMike]

Do NOT do a Leopard shark - way too big and active for any tank that we might keep as a hobbiest. The cat shark is good and pretty much the only type of egg sack I have seen for sale.

Another good type of shark is an Epaulette shark, really cool and different. They only get to about 30-36" in length total. I had one in a tank before I moved (sold it back to the pet shop). I fed it Silversides and Shrimp. It would actually eat shrimp out of my hand, cool fish. It is like the Cat shark in that it is not a free-swimmer, but rather crawls around the tank and in the rocks.

Again, like said above, everything needs to be anchored as they will crawl over everything.

 

[darklcd]

well that sounds like a good idea but I am still not too sure what silver sides are lol. I know its a dumb question but I am really not sure. if you are talking about minnows then fine I can get them by the boat load but I am just not too sure

 

[darklcd]

and I am also not sure what to do about a tank. I am thinking that 36" depth would be ok with a 30" hight but I am thinking that a 48" depth would be better it would go from 400 to 535

what do you guys think

 

[shallowreef]

Do NOT do a Leopard shark - way too big and active for any tank that we might keep as a hobbiest. The cat shark is good and pretty much the only type of egg sack I have seen for sale.

Another good type of shark is an Epaulette shark, really cool and different. They only get to about 30-36" in length total. I had one in a tank before I moved (sold it back to the pet shop). I fed it Silversides and Shrimp. It would actually eat shrimp out of my hand, cool fish. It is like the Cat shark in that it is not a free-swimmer, but rather crawls around the tank and in the rocks.

Again, like said above, everything needs to be anchored as they will crawl over everything.

Thats what i meant. I don't know why i said leopard shark.

 

[shallowreef]

Silversides are like a type of minnow. Just ask your LFS if they carry silversides. If not i'm sure you can order them off of the internet.

 

[darklcd]

I don't know if anyone in town will or not I am just wondering if I can use them from the bait shops. I live in a really big fishing town so getting minnows is not that hard at all will that work or will that kill everything in my tank.

I am also wondering about snails and crabs. I want to get a good clean up crew for my tank to take care of anything that the shark and my fish don't get but I am concerend that the shark will eat them

what can I do?