Considerations for future shark tank

I am building out a system in my basement in the next few months consisting of two 245 gallon (72 x 30 x 27) with four 100 gallon rubbermade stock tanks below for holding tanks and filtration. The two tanks will be side by side and aquascaped to look like on large tank. I am going to do a mixed reef in one and a predatory reef in the other. In the predatory side my family is really hoping for a couple of sharks. I am no stranger to big predators or big tanks, I maintain some very large tanks for maintenance clients, but I do not have any experience with sharks other than the public aquarium world as a biologist.

One of my distributors has short tailed nurse sharks for sale now, and gets them sporadically. I have done some reading on them and they seem an ideal species for captive care and future breeding possibilities. I have extensive experience in keeping and breeding freshwater stingrays, but I also understand that this is likely years away. With a small maximum size and rather low activity level I am interested.

Does anyone have any experience with this species that they could pass along, or any other suggestions for other species that could work? I am looking at a mixed reef system so the tank temp will be about 76 with relatively high light and strong water movement.

Thanks for the help. Also any pictures of tanks like I am describing or tankmate suggestions are welcome.

Definitely a short tailed nurse shark. My distributor is one of the big ones. They were collected in Africa and were verified by a zoologist. They are pricey too, but well worth it if I can keep them long term. I tried to get one of my clients interested in a group of them for his 6000 gallon octagon but he likes his little fish so he doesn't want any larger predators. I will only be where I am at for another 3 years, finishing my PhD in Zoology, so I don't want to invest in a monster tank that I won't be alright with leaving behind. I don't really trust big tanks that get moved long distances, too much of a chance of stressing a seam. Acrylic is out of the question for now, just too expensive for something I might not be able to take with me. When I am finally in my forever house then I will be going very big, and probably multiple monster tanks.

Are there any sharks that would work for a 72 x 30 x 27? I have looked into bamboo, marbled bamboo, epaulettes, and white spotted bamboo.

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I have both of the tanks already. The overall system volume will be close to 800 gallons of water and about 500 lbs of liverock with additional nutrient export via biopellet reactor and 100 gallon chaeto refugium. I can't go any deeper with the tanks where they are going either because of how the room is set up. It would seriously cut in to the seating area. If I ended up staying in this house after I graduate, then I would consider a larger custom tank, but it would mean an addition which is not out of the question. Wife gets the bigger master bath and more closet space, I get the space for a huge display tank on the main floor.

That being said I really want a species that would work in my size tank with the parameters I am intending. If it can't be done then I guess I will have to rethink it and just go with other species. I really like epaulettes and read something about a smaller subspecies that tops out at less than 2ft, but haven't really verified it yet. I also really need a species that can have some tankmates. I am open to just about anything, but the wife was bored with the freshwater rays ended up being the only thing in their tank with hardly any decor because they just got too big and started pushing it all around and it made it tough to keep the tank clean.

Both tanks will be the display parts of a single system. I will also have coral holding and propagation grow out stock tanks as well as a 100+ gallon refugium. Everything will be sized for a 1000 gallon system or larger. I believe in high nutrient input coral tanks with heavy skimming and multiple avenues of nutrient export.

I will have a freshwater system but on the other side of the room. It will likely be a ray dominated tank with a big school of mixed silver dollars and some other amazonian fish. It will help me utilize my the waste water from my RO with a flow through water change system along with wet dry filtration. The water here is so soft naturally that even my waste water is only about 3 or 4 dKH.



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