Sharks

[SGTDirk]

About a month ago I hatched my first Banded Cat Shark. "Kitty" has been amazing. My wife and I handle her on a daily basis. I want her to get used to being handled so that she won't bite when she is big enough to do damage. She is starting to show a personality. We enjoy her so much that we went out and bought another shark egg to hatch. Figured we would give her a friend to be with. Lol. Then on the way home we stopped off at another LFS and they had a male Banded Cat. Well we desided to get a mate for her when she grows big enough. They are both doing great and getting along.
I guess the reason I'm posting this is that I was wondering if anyone else out there has any sharks. In the course of my looking for other sharks I found out that most LFS don't know squat about Sharks they just sell them. I was given alot of info such as what to feed them, that was bad info. Maybe we could exchange info and what not. I just hope there are more of you out there that share my love for one of the most perfect creatures out there.

[betiuminside]

WOW, very interesting... but not me. Goog Luck!

[blueboy]

be prepared for them to get BIG! i think BA may have had a shark, maybe he'll chime in?

[GaryP]

BA is definitely the shark expert around these parts. Your experiences at LFS is not uncommon. We see it here all the time and not just about sharks.

[SGTDirk]

Trust me, I know that they can gt big. 3 and a half feet to 4 feet. Oh and before you ask, yes I'm keeping them. I'm gonna get a tattoo of a Banded Cat Shark to go with the black tip I already have on my leg. Who is BA???

[SGTDirk]

I'll look into it. Thanks.

[demodiki]

Wow. 2 sharks! How big is your tank?

[Louie3]

and i was so temted to buy a shark egg at petland, but no one knew what kind and any info and later on that day he/she got flushed! people are so mean. but they did endup getting a new shipment of zoos! witch i have my eye on :blink

[SGTDirk]

Banded Cats don't require that big of a tank. 125Gal minimun for one. I'm actually looking for a larger tank to house them something around 300 gal.

[brewercm]

Jose (z28pwr) has a nice 380 for sale. Very tall tank and lots of room to swim. Here's the link.

http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=19471

[SGTDirk]

Man that is a beautiful tank, but it's too high. I would like to trade the height for a greater serfice area. I need area for these wonderful creatures to swim around and as they are generally bottom dwelling sharks the height is pretty useless. Besides even though I'm 6'6" I would have problems hand feeding the sharks.

[captexas]

I always wanted to get one of those 1000g stock tanks from Tractor Supply and set it up as a shark tank on the back porch. The tanks they have are like 8 or 9 feet in diameter and about 2 feet tall so they would have plenty of room to swim.

[SGTDirk]

Do you know the link to what they look like?

[GaryP]

Tim Marvin had a stock tank in his back yard with a 4 ft. nurse shark in it. He had ordered it for some guy that never paid him for it and he got stuck with it. It just kept growing and growing. I think he finally took it to the coast and released it.

[SGTDirk]

Nurse Sharks should never be sold to a home aquarist. They get larger than 12 feet in length. True sharks are not like fresh water sharks. They grow to thier full size reguardless of the tank size. A nurse shark should be in no less than a 1000 gal tank. I personally think that that is too small. I know that they are expensive, but I'm glad he let it go in the gulf. Even if it meant that he is out a few hundred. Oh and for those of you that care, nurse sharks are one of the most intelligent sharks. They rival dogs in brain power, so think of getting a dog and keeping it in a dog carrier. That wouldn't be very nice now would it.

[SGTDirk]

I can't believe that there are no more people out there with sharks. They are a incredible creature with personality and intelligence. Corals are nice to look at, but they don't do crap but sit there and open and close. Thats it. Sharks are beautiful and active.

[captexas]

Yeah, sharks are cool, problem is not many people can afford the large tank required to keep one. Anyone without a large tank and that hasn't done the research on proper care for sharks shouldn't even think about getting one.

[SGTDirk]

I agree, but most of the people on here have 200g plus, which are plenty big enough for a shark tank.

[don-n-sa]

I have a large tank, and I thought about sharks but the ones that I like are free swimming, but free swimming sharks require massive tanks. Those cat sharks you have are nice I must say.

I was in Florida last year and I went to the best fish store that I have ever been to. They have my dream tank with one of my favorite sharks in the world!!! The black tip reef.

Here are some pics of the awesome 5000g circular shark tank at "Big Al's"

I will have this tank some day!!!

http://don-n-sa.smugmug.com/photos/74141056-L.jpg

black tip pics

http://don-n-sa.smugmug.com/photos/74143318-L.jpg
http://don-n-sa.smugmug.com/photos/74143642-L.jpg

other sharks at Big AL's

http://don-n-sa.smugmug.com/photos/74141121-M.jpg
http://don-n-sa.smugmug.com/photos/74144241-M.jpg

[SGTDirk]

Blacktips are a beautiful shark, I have one tattoo on my leg of a blacktip. That tank is wonderful. There are othr freeswimming sharks that don't require such a large tank. For example the smooth hound shark. It' not as pretty as the blacktip. Also remember that a blacktip is a long term investment. They aren't old enough to breed until they are about 20 yrs old. I'm not sure the life expectance, but if they don't start breeding till they are 20 they must have a long one.
My goal is once I retire. I'm in the military so I move too much. I will turn a spare room in my house into a giant tank. That way I can swim with my friends when ever I want.

[blueboy]

does gator still have that huge tank he was selling? what was that, something like 640G? that would be a good shark tank.