Experience with Sharks? Only someone who's been bit has experience. Any captive black tip living in a 10k is living like a billionaire, and living in a 50k would be living like bill gates! Most blacktips i've seen are in less than 1000 and have a small footprint. I said a 50k would cost a million, not millions. A circular 4" 50k acyrlic tank would cost a million dollars by the end of the year if you factor in pumps, water changes, food, sharks, and electricity.
Black Tip Shark
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Drewmprs - I don't think you are understanding the concept. Just becasue unknowledgable people have / do keep Blacktip Reef Sharks in very undersized systems does not make it right for everyone to do it. Sharks have needs, they have requirments which proffesionals have came to know and understand. One of those is the minimal tank sizes for these Sharks to be able to thrive and keep healthy in an aquarium setting. So Drew if a bunch of people started jumping off a building would you do that too just becasue everyone else was?
By the way, a 50,000 gallon system would not even come close to a million dollars.
By the way, a 50,000 gallon system would not even come close to a million dollars.
Actually as someone who designs, builds and maintains tanks of that volume and more, your price quotes are VERY far off. )To give you an example, we did a 500,000 gallon tank along with a few other MAJOR tanks within a seven story rainforest display and did it for just a couple million - if you spend a million doing a 50K, you'd dumb.
Also, as someone who keeps black tips (Pacific and Atlantic) I can tell you that 10K gallons is still tight for an adult who WILL grow 6 feet. Like I've said prior to this, if your animal does obtain it's full average "wild size" - you screwed up.
And please don't even attempt to compare housing an arapaima gigas to housing a black tip shark. That is as far a stretch as saying my dog sleeps on my bed just fine, I'm going to get a camel as well.
Also, as someone who keeps black tips (Pacific and Atlantic) I can tell you that 10K gallons is still tight for an adult who WILL grow 6 feet. Like I've said prior to this, if your animal does obtain it's full average "wild size" - you screwed up.
And please don't even attempt to compare housing an arapaima gigas to housing a black tip shark. That is as far a stretch as saying my dog sleeps on my bed just fine, I'm going to get a camel as well.
I'm really surprised about what I have read here. It is one thing to guide him on how to properly care for the shark, and another to insult him. Because he, or his friend, bought the shark doesn't make them unintelligent. Maybe uneducated. Did he ever say the 10k pool was for life? Isn't that better than what 99% of shark keepers provide for their pets? I'm sure if it really is going into a space like that it could thrive for a while. I realize i will probably just be shot down and insulted by you "experts" (I realize some of you know what you are doing Brenden, Zoodiver, etc.). Why not give the poor guy the benefit of the doubt and give him a chance to prove that a 10k tank is under construction? If I were him all this flaming would have scared me away too. All you have done is possibly lost/scared away a member, and lost the respect of others, like me. If you deny that anyone was insulting him I can find specific quotes.
Go ahead and flame me and comment and such. I just hope the maturity level on this thread in particular could be brought up. MFK is still the best ever.
Go ahead and flame me and comment and such. I just hope the maturity level on this thread in particular could be brought up. MFK is still the best ever.
Better left in the ocean for sure, but, people, it's just a shark. I'd say being stuck into a 50k gallon tank is A LOT better than ending up in sharkfin soup or as dead bycatch, which is the fate shared by 99.9% of wild caught blacktips.
I know Matt (Zoodiver) and myself were not intending to insult Craig if thats what you got from reading this thread. Its just Craig or his friend obviously did not do the research needed, placing tropical water specimens and cold water specimens together in one system is a mistake to begin with but placing a good sized Blacktip Reef in small system is another. Usually people will come onto forums such as MFK and ask questions first, do lots of reading, ect. It seems as if Craig or his friend did not do anything of this which angers us elasmobranch enthusiasts as we hate to see Sharks suffer in the hands of the uneducated. We asked Craig for pictures of the 10,000 gallon build and no pictures were posted. Everyweek people will come onto forums claiming to be building large ponds but more than 50% of the time those "ponds" are never built. The Shark ends up living a shortened life, dying, or in the lucky cases ends up being given to a public aquarium. It all comes down to being a responsible aquarists, expecially when it comes to working with such large fish. If Craig would like advice on the matter than he can just ask, no one will flame him for asking, and many of the experience will give him the information he needs. Its when people come onto forums, post pictures some of which are theirs and some of which are not, make possible false claims, and show the un-ethical keeping of fish that tend to anger members which may lead to posts that tend to bring on the "flame appeal". If Craig reads this I hope he understands where we are all coming from, we would love to help him and the Shark to work out something that will benefit both. Thats what MFK is here for.
like magic said, 50k is better than 99% of blacktips will ever see in captivity. 99% probably don't even see a 10k. Actually, i'd say 99% of all captured black tips end up as soup. 10k for a black tip is living like a king.
Drewmprs - You are really struggling here and it seems you do not understand anything I have been trying to say. It does not matter if 99.9% of captured Blacktips are killed and made into Shark Fin Soup, it also does not matter if 99.9% of Blacktips in the home aquaria are kept tanks under 10,000 gallons. Just because its happening 99.9% of the time does not make it right, it also does not mean you should just follow what the the 99.9% of aquarists are doing simply becasue the Shark "wont know the difference". If I where to say 99.9% of dogs were killed in China and eaten then its obvious that it would be way better for those dogs to be locked up in kennels 24/7. I means its better than being killed right? Its just post poning the inevitable. Eventually the Dog / Shark is going to die from malnutrition, its going to live a shortened life, and it is definatly not going to thrive which should be the main goal when keeping fish in the home aquaria. Providing them with systems and conditions of which enable them to thrive, stay healthy, and live normal lengthed lived. Maybe this puts it into perspective for you, if not I do not think you will ever understand the concept of ethical fish keeping.
magic;1291710; said:
We don't by into comments like that because we see them daily, and have YET to see someone follow through with it. Secondly, you need to have the tank built prior to getting the animal. If you have a baby on site while the tank is being built, it's too late. They grow faster than we can build (I say that from years of building tanks).
Brendon and I offered exactly what he needed to do. I offered facts.
However, like a lot of people we see on here, we also see the same people repeating mistakes and bragging about it. I hate to see multiple animals suffering the same fate. It's about quality of life. If we as humans take something like this, we need to provide equal or better care than the situation the animal was removed from.... end of story.
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