I am a 12 year experienced and license commercial shark collector for the aquarium trade working with smoothhounds, leopards, starry smoothhounds, 7-gills, blacktips, bonnetheads, lemon, nurse and other constant swimming and sitting sharks and rays. But in the past years, I have keep the Sphyrna lewini, the Scallop Hammerhead shark at in- and outdoor ponds and huge aquariums. I like to have a discussion on the keeping of these sharks since they are in a way in danger where they come from. I cannot disclose the location of these sharks until a positive direction can be taken.
Here are the facts:
1. About 8,000-10,000 hammerhead pups are born every year from 300-500 female Hammerhead sharks.
2. Over 700 pups are caught, measured, weight and tag to be recaught at a later date. These pups grows only at a rate of 2"-3" anually in the wild. They only eat at the rate of 3% of their body weight every 2-3 days.
3. These hammerhead sharks are dying because of lack of food due to a number of factors, mostly directly related to polution. Diving in their area shows many dead pups due to starvation. An estimate of 4,000-6,000 do not survive their first year.
What I have done:
1. Hand collected these hammerhead pups at the size of 16"-24".
2. House them in saltwater ponds and pools for their acclimation and holding stage until a more permanent home is found for them. Mostly local hotels and private homes that have the adequate size ponds and aquarium.
What they need:
A. Since this species need to constantly swim, they need to be in an environment where they can swim and turn without any trouble. I have seen that a width of 36" or larger will house these sharks well at this size adequately for 3-5 years. At that time, they should not be bigger than 28" to 30" and need to be moved to a wider tank and become much more aggressive than their adolessence stage. They do eventually grow to a size of 12' (male) and 10' (female) my plans will be to release them back to the wild or find a much larger home to house them.
B. Feeding similar to the wild of every 2-3 days with 2-3 oz of food such as fresh shrimps, squids, and fresh fish fillet. Once a week, the food will have a vitamine additive.
For over a year now, we have keep 5 hammerhead pups in a 10' diameter small pool adequately. All 5 where in the 16" to 20" size when caught, the smallest of which had its umbilical cord present, 3 where males showing the clavicles, 3 are female. They have grown a bit and show signs of maturity. We introduce live bait fish for them to feed, but only the more matured ones are able to catch them usually at dawn or dust time.
I am open to any possitive comments in the persuit of keeping these hammerhead sharks.
Dean Trinh, Pres. of Aquatopusa.com
Here are the facts:
1. About 8,000-10,000 hammerhead pups are born every year from 300-500 female Hammerhead sharks.
2. Over 700 pups are caught, measured, weight and tag to be recaught at a later date. These pups grows only at a rate of 2"-3" anually in the wild. They only eat at the rate of 3% of their body weight every 2-3 days.
3. These hammerhead sharks are dying because of lack of food due to a number of factors, mostly directly related to polution. Diving in their area shows many dead pups due to starvation. An estimate of 4,000-6,000 do not survive their first year.
What I have done:
1. Hand collected these hammerhead pups at the size of 16"-24".
2. House them in saltwater ponds and pools for their acclimation and holding stage until a more permanent home is found for them. Mostly local hotels and private homes that have the adequate size ponds and aquarium.
What they need:
A. Since this species need to constantly swim, they need to be in an environment where they can swim and turn without any trouble. I have seen that a width of 36" or larger will house these sharks well at this size adequately for 3-5 years. At that time, they should not be bigger than 28" to 30" and need to be moved to a wider tank and become much more aggressive than their adolessence stage. They do eventually grow to a size of 12' (male) and 10' (female) my plans will be to release them back to the wild or find a much larger home to house them.
B. Feeding similar to the wild of every 2-3 days with 2-3 oz of food such as fresh shrimps, squids, and fresh fish fillet. Once a week, the food will have a vitamine additive.
For over a year now, we have keep 5 hammerhead pups in a 10' diameter small pool adequately. All 5 where in the 16" to 20" size when caught, the smallest of which had its umbilical cord present, 3 where males showing the clavicles, 3 are female. They have grown a bit and show signs of maturity. We introduce live bait fish for them to feed, but only the more matured ones are able to catch them usually at dawn or dust time.
I am open to any possitive comments in the persuit of keeping these hammerhead sharks.
Dean Trinh, Pres. of Aquatopusa.com