leopard shark

[rayman45]

?
info

tankmates?

[Vitaliy]

http://www.mbayaq.org/aa/content/images/timeline/m_1984_04_1.jpg
:22_yikes:

[rayman45]

nice

[DeLgAdO]

ahhhhhhhh the leopard shark, nice fish, i work with em at my local wildlife center
(yo aztecfred you heard of the chula vista nature center?) they live right off our coast.

ok, first off they like cold water so your gunna need a chiller, second your gunna needa big tank (black tip or leopard make up your mind rayman,lol). try not to feedem live fish, try squid, crab meat, mussels, shrimps, and worms, i guess you could go with fish but feed it sparingly ( NO GOLDFISH!! OR ANY FRESHWATER FISH!! :swear: )

[DeLgAdO]

As for tankmates you have alot of choices, alot of the choices are other fsih that come from the same waters as the leopard, ill get some pics

[DeLgAdO]

just afew pics

[DeLgAdO]

1st pic rainbow perch, 2nd a bat ray, 3rd horn shark, not sure wha the 4th pic is and the 5th is a kelp bass

[Oddball]

I kept a breeding trio of leopards while I lived in San Diego. I kept them with guitarfish, Pacific mottled stingrays, and a baby bat ray (for 1 season). All got along fine. You'll need a big tank. I kept them in a 900 and it was a little cramped. I had to pull all the young immediately so they wouldn't get trampled by the adults. The shark and ray pups were fattened up in a 240 before selling them off. I lived on the beach so, water changes were easy. I fed them frozen foods that I bought by the bucket from the docks or from local oriental grocery stores.

[DeLgAdO]

1st, black smith. 2nd, garibaldi (my favorite). 3rd, diamond stingray ( we have one of these in quarintine IT ****ING HUGE!!)

[DeLgAdO]

I lived on the beach so, water changes were easy.

yep, we use water from the san diego bay too

[Oddball]

DeLgAdO: I see you're from CV. Do you know Mike of Mike's Aquarium? If so, tell him Phil says "What's up, Animal-Head?" He'll know what I mean. Offer Mike some Purina Monkey Chow and bean dip.

[DeLgAdO]

LOL, yea i know mike, he gave me a dam good deal on my 3 clown loaches, 15 bucks each, and he took my clown knife whe nit was getting to aggressive for my tank, told he it was the best looking knife he'd ever seen (thats cause of how good i took care of it), ill tell him you said hey the next time i go over their.

Offer Mike some Purina Monkey Chow and bean dip.

should i tell him you said that? LOL!! :hitting:

[Oddball]

Definitely tell Mike the animal-head reference and go ahead and offer him monkey chow and bean dip. He'll probably start telling you about "the good ole days" at That Fish Store on Balboa.
Mike won't want to divulge enough to determine his age. I've known him since '77.

[rayman45]

thanks

leo. sharks swim around?
or do they lay on the bottom?

[DeLgAdO]

swim around

[guppy]

Leopards do both, cool, not too aggressive, or too big.

[DeLgAdO]

or too big.

6ft isnt to big?

[piranha45]

by shark standards...

[perky25]

make sure the tank is at least 3 times longer and has at least 1.5 times wider than the shark's length

[magic]

There are other smaller cool sharks... like puffer (swell), and dog i think. I think they get about 3'. Arent garibaldi endangered or somethin? I believe they are at least illegal to catch/collect. Bat rays are really cool. I actually went leopard shark fishin yesterday in the back bay where i live. We didnt catch ne thin (probably a good thing cause we were in a small unstable canoe), but saw a huge bat ray `4' wing span and cruised around with it for awhile. U could keep a big lingcod with a leopard i bet. Maybe morey, wolf, or monkey face eel. those are cool

[Oddball]

The garabaldi is the SW state fish of California and they're protected. However, you can get garabaldi that originate from Mexico. There used to be a garabaldi research center at Scripps Inst. I don't know if they're still around. But, they used to be allowed to sell a small percentage of their spawns to help fund their research.

[Nate_N_Nicole]

Nice pics :headbang2

[Gibbus]

Leopard sharks get to be around 6' long. There illegal to get under 3' in the state of cali. Before the law came into place it was easy to get them. They require a massive tank or pond around 4,000 gallons but bigger is better. They arent has aggressive has a black tip reef shark with is the other species of shark that is commonly seen the hobby that requires a tank in the thousands plus gallon range.

[kyray]

Nice Leopard!

[sephir420]

what is the average size on one of those bad boys when they are full grown?

[shinypenny]

Think it's in the 6' range.

[krj-1168]

Ok - here's some important facts about the Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata).

The species maximum length is a about 6 ft long, average is about 5 ft.

They generally take about 7-10 years to mature - and can live for more than 25 years.

Males mature at around 3 ft, females closer to 4 ft.

BTW it's currently illegal to buy/sale or catch a leopard shark under 36" in length.

Also an adult leopard need a tank/pond/lagoon that is at minimum about 9,000-10,000 gallons - not the 4,000-5,000 gallons often quoted by websites or in "Aquarium Sharks & Rays". Basically either a circular pool with a diameter of 18' or an oval pond that is has a length that's 27' with a width that at least 14'.

Note: the length of the pond about 4.5x the maximum length of Leopards, while the width of the pond is equal to about 2.33x the maximum length of Leopards. and these are absolute minimum - any thing smaller is really too small for a 5-6 ft long swimming shark.

As for Water temperatures - so long as it's between 60-75F you should be fine.

Possible tanks mates - Horn Sharks (Heterodontus francisci) & Gray Smoothhounds (Mustelus californicus) are good options, as are the California Stingray (Urobatis halleri) are the best elasmobranches. Also you could pick other fish that are native or similar species that can tolerate water temps in the 60's to low 70's.