BANDIT, the Banded Cat Shark

[kaiser]

Ok, I decided to start this thread to keep everybody posted on this project. The Egg came from Aquatic Warehouse. From the looks of things it still will be a while before he'll hatch, I read somewhere that it he won't hatch until there's no room left in the egg, but there is still plenty of room left. It's kind off cool to see him move arround in his shell.
The first pic shows the egg just sitting on the sand.
The second I held it up against the light and You can the the shape off him inside the egg.
In the third picture You can see the coloring of that little guy.
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/bcs012004.jpg
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/bcs1012004.jpg
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/bcs2012004.jpg

[Sherri]

Thanks Kaiser! Great pics...It'll be interesting to see how this develops!

[wkopplin]

VERY cool. This will be one highly watched thread.

[Triggerman]

still looks like he has a ways togo maybe between 6-8wks. they'll wrap there entire body around inside the pod so it'll be a while. although when they hatch they're already around 4inches and ready to eat and totally adjusted to captivity. i've sometimes gotten impatient and ended up cutting the pod open myself to speed up the process.

ray

[captexas]

Kaiser is going to show up at a meeting one day missing a few fingers! lol :-) Very cool though. I would love to have a tank large enough to support a couple of small sharks. Very neat to watch.

[Jenn]

I take it these guys are not reef safe????

[captexas]

They probably wouldn't mess with corals, but inverts and other fish would be fair game. I would definately suggest doing lost of reading on them before getting one. Even the small sharks get way too big for most tanks, even what some of us consider large tanks.

[Tim Marvin]

I just want to see the picture of it coming out of the egg, so you'll need to take some vacation time soon so you don't miss the shot.

[captexas]

Now that would be cool to see! Need to set up a video camera with some kind of motion sensor on it. Think he could get some kind of pregnancy leave from work? lol

[kaiser]

I can only hope that I will be around when this little guy hatches. I don't get any benefits where I work right now, so maternity leave is out of the question. :(
Also if anybody here had any experiences with a shark like this, please share them with me.
Triggerman,
I know they take 4 month to hatch total. I take it he's already more than haf way there?

[Chris]

Very cool. This reminds me of our trip to Sea World when we got to see that tank FULL of shark eggs.

Keep us updated as the weeks go on. It would be nice to see the growth.

[kaiser]

Speaking of seaworld just looked thru some of my seaworld pics and I found this picture of my daughter petting this shark.
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/seaworldbcs1.jpg
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/seaworldbcs.jpg

[dan]

Jenn, the pics of the sharks are ''banded'' sharks. you were asking the other day if there was such a thing. wala! there it is.

[Bigreefer]

That last pic looks like a spotted bamboo shark. It's very much the same as a banded cat in appearance and demeanor. I had a small one in my 110 for 9 months then sent him to some one that had a 350G. They are not very active until dusk or until they smell food. That's when they remind you of a bigger shark. Make sure you have a soft sand bed and a big pair of feeder tongs.


Jason

[dan]

Bigreefer, probably different names at different stores. when i bought mine they told me it was a ''banded'' but your right i've seen them called bamboo shark.

[Bigreefer]

They are different species of bamboo shark with slight differences. Notice the banded cat shark has no spots, the spotted bamboo shark has both stripes and spots, and the marbled bamboo has only spots.


http://www.whozoo.org/Anlife2001/callmatt/CMM_Bandedcatshark2_JES.html <--------cat shark

http://luna.cas.usf.edu/~motta/whitespot.html <----- spotted bamboo shark

http://www.starfish.ch/Fotos/catshark.html <----- marbled bamboo shark

<b>Jason</b>

[bozack]

I take it the first one is the most common seen at the LFS.

I have been looking to try the egg too or just try a small baby bamboo for my big fish only tank (until it outgorws it that is in a few years).

One of the local shops had a baby shovelnose shark that was pretty cool.
Wasn't able to find much info on the web with those.
Anyone know how hearty or how fast those might grow?

[bprewit]

LFS here has horned shark in 500g rubbermaid tub. I was thinking about maybe doing the same thing, and install some underwater lights so that it would be easier to watch him during the day. They used sand for substrate and piled live rock around the edges of the tub, diatom filter, uv, and huge skimmer all mounted on outside of tub. They have a big PVC ring with mesh screen attatched to it that they put on top of the tub when nobody is around to keep it from jumping out. Its actually a pretty cool setup and would be pretty easy to do, and could build a wooden frame around the tub to hide all filters, etc. and make it look a bit more attractive in a house. Someday when i have extra cash im going to attempt it!

[kaiser]

Made another pic that shows the little guys markings pretty well. It's pretty cool to see him doing loops inside of his shell.
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/bcs012304.jpg

[Sherri]

Thanks for the pics Kaiser....this is great to follow along....

[manny]

Wow Kai!! MAAST members should donate some money and buy one of them cameras that prafferty posted about. That'd be neat. Then use the camera after little sharky is born to let people on the site check out the little guy as he grows up. It could be one of the first net bradcast filmings of a baby shark bein born. Pretty cool and expensive idea, huh :skeezy:

[kaiser]

I't been 3 weeks now and h's still in his egg and still doing loops in it. Went by alamo yesterday and they had a bamboo shark (same as mine), he was maybe 12" long for $80. Neat to watch, they gave him some food, but he didn't eat. Not really a surprise since they are nocturnal.

[fx300]

Cool pictures!!!

Fabian

[Sherri]

Yeah kaiser....I saw the bamboo shark at Alamo myself....made me think about your egg! Thanks for the update.

[kaiser]

Anybody watch survivor last night? The Shark he caught and got bitten by was a cat shark. Could not make out exactly which kind, but when they showed the mouth You could see the barbels, which these sharks are named after.
BTW My daughter decided to name our shark "Bandit".

[Sherri]

LOL - I saw Survivor last night and thought of you...bet your daughter is having a good time with this pod!

[kaiser]

It can't be too much longer now. I got a glimpse at the "yolk" inside the egg and it shrunk to less than 5/16" It was about 3/4" to 7/8" when I got it. There is also just very little room left in that egg.

[Sherri]

Too cool...can't wait!

[::pete::]

Watch your fingers ..

[kaiser]

Ouch, now that'll teach 'em, just like that idiot on survivor. The minute I saw he was going after the shark barehanded I knew he was in trouble.

[kaiser]

HE HATCHED, HE HATCHED, HE HATCHED
Just went by my tank and guess what looked at me. Darn right, he got out of his pod. This is exciting. :-D :-D :-D http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/Bandit_022704.jpg

[Jenn]

Its cause we came by and you were messing with the egg. j/k. :-D He is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[captexas]

Cool! How long is it? I think they had two more at AW in the invert tanks today.

[kaiser]

I'd say he's about 5 inches plus the tail or 6.5 to inches total.

[brewercm]

Congratulations to the new father. I'll need to come by there and take a look at the guy before he gets too long and you have to move him out to a larger tank. Any idea how fast they grow?

[kaiser]

Another pic
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/Bandit_1_022704.jpg

[brewercm]

Here you go Kaiser, but you'd better hurry it ends in about 30 minutes.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2381314297&category=20 757

[kaiser]

Sure, My wife would feed me to the sharks for that one.

[Instar]

All that fish came out of the little pod? That is hard to believe! That is cool, hope he doesn't tear up your tank too much.

[brewercm]

Hey, at least that tank is 8 feet long. It's large enough for her to even bury you in that one.

[kaiser]

Don't You give her any ideas.

[Sherri]

Wow Kaiser, he's beautiful! I can't believe it fit in that pod! How exciting! Keep us updated. :D

[kaiser]

He's eating!
The next big step in this little guys life has been done. He's eating. I was watching him today and I thought I saw him going after some food. Just to make sure I thawed out some shark formula and layed it on the sand in front of the cave he's hiding in during the day and yes he came out just enough to get the food. :-D

[kaiser]

This is too exciting. I fed the little guy frozen food this evening again while the lights were still on. I did manage to snap a pic of that. All the research I did indicated that he may not eat for about 2 weeks if not 3 and it may become necessary to force feed him. BTW all pics posted in this thread are also in my gallery.
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/Bandit_030304.jpg

[jrhein]

very cool...i saw him over at aquatic warehouse and thought who ever gets him is a lucky person...keep us posted on the progress...

[captexas]

Kaiser - It's great that the shark is feeding, sounds like your research is paying off and it is in good hands. Is it fairly active or does the shark only move around when food is present? I have been wanting to get a book on sharks, but never gotten around to it.

[kaiser]

I found a lot of information on this site (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/sharks.htm). I also found an 800 number to a sea-world lab in san diego. I have not tried that # yet.

[Sherri]

So cool! Good to hear he is eating kaiser. How fast do they grow, do you know? Awesome coloring on him also. Keep the updates coming.

[kaiser]

This is too cool! He actually lets me pet him :-D . The picture also shows just how small he actually is. http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/bcs_040504.jpg
http://www.maast.org/albums/kaiser/bcs_1_040504.jpg

[PeeJ]

I thought you needed super fine sand to keep those guys?

[Sherri]

Awesome kaiser...really does show how small he is. Gotta be a really neat experience...keep updates coming!

[kaiser]

I found this nice write up by Dr. A Godknecht on this shark.

Chiloscyllium punctatum
Brownbanded bambooshark
Appearance:
Body moderately slender with greatly elongated thick precaudal tail. Mouth in front of eyes, spiracles below and behind eyes. Snout rounded anteriorly. Both dorsal fins are equal-sized. Origin of first dorsal fin above anterior halves of pelvic fin bases. Origin of anal fin behind the free rear end of second dorsal fin.
Coloration:
Adults are light brown with no distinctive color pattern. Young with dark transverse bands and usually scattered small blackish spots.
Distribution:
Indo-Western Pacific: India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Philippines, and Australia.
Biology:
A common species. Lives inshore around coral reefs, often found in tidepools. Can survive out of water for as long as half a day (such as when tidepools run out of water).
Feeding:
Feeds most likely on invertebrates.
Size:
Maximum length about 105cm, average size between 70 and 90cm.
Reproduction:
Most likely oviparous (egg laying).
Similar species:
Unmistakable color pattern in young. Adults share the general appearance with other bamboosharks and taxonomic features should be used to clearly distinguish among them. However most other species have distinct color pattern in their adult stages, making this species easier to identify.
Endangerment:
Unknown. However this species is regularly taken by inshore fisheries in India and Thailand, therefore a decline probably occurring and a more threatened status is most likely.
Danger to humans:
Harmless.

[Nano_Steve]

yknow kai,

that first pic doesnt really give an accurate size comparison, i mean my whole hand is probably as long as one of ur fingers big guy! :D

thats the coolest thing i think ive ever seen a pic of though, who wouldve thought to have a little baby shark in a reef tank, oh if only he could stay there without eating everything once he got older, thatd be awesome.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

take kare, steve

[z28pwr]

yknow kai,

that first pic doesnt really give an accurate size comparison, i mean my whole hand is probably as long as one of ur fingers big guy! :D

thats the coolest thing i think ive ever seen a pic of though, who wouldve thought to have a little baby shark in a reef tank, oh if only he could stay there without eating everything once he got older, thatd be awesome.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

take kare, steve

I second that.

Kaiser makes me look small and I'm 6FT tall.

[kaiser]

Well, Bandit is for Sale. I am getting out of this hobby so I will need to find her a good home. Yes Bandit is a girl.

[kaiser]

The new owner of Bandit is z28pwr. Hopefully he will keep us updated on her.

[z28pwr]

Here's an Updated Picture of Bandit that I took today right after dinner.

http://www.z28pwr.com/images/bandit.jpg

[Sherri]

Full little belly! Thanks for the update Jose! Keep them coming....