first shark

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fishaddict0417

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 11, 2010
30
0
0
St Louis
or saltwater fish for that matter
Hello all my name is Austin. I've been a stalker on mfk for a while. So you may not know me... but I know all about you. ;)
lol
well I must say i am rather jealous of all ya'lls sharks. I someday hope to be crazy enough to keep sharks like that!
But for now I'll stick with smaller sharks. I've spent a lot of the summer researching keeping saltwater fish. when I found MFK I threw all that info out the window.
hopeful stock list:
2 gray smooth hound sharks
1 horn shark
1 fiddler ray
1 zebra moray eel
1 brown stripe bamboo
1 black stripe bamboo
1 white spot bamboo
and some sort of round ray (suggestions?)
I guess you may have noticed a slight obsesion with sharks:D I do not mind lots of tank maintenance. From fw tank experience, I like to spend more time behind the tank than in front of it. I plan on doing most of the system diy style. (including the tank) Because footprint is more important than volume I plan on something like 10ft x 6ft x 2ft high(with rounded corners). but volumes also important so i plan on using a large sump. As far as the filters go I start to get slightly confused. I understand a large skimmer is necessarily and most the live rock should be in the sump. should I run a refugium? or should I leave that to the reefers. I'll prolly have a lot more questions later, I feel like this whole planning thing might take a while.

Also I've never stocked a saltwater tank before (or had one for that matter) so if you're gonna flame me please leave your suggestion at the bottom.

thanks
 
oh yeah and i would really like to do this right. I don't wanna be that guy who tries to keep that great white in a 1000 gallon pond because it's his favorite animal. So if I'm not gonna be able to correctly house these sharks, I guess I'll just have to wait until I can.
 
10x6x2 is a nice size system, you could do quit a bit with that size system other than the Grey's, I think they require a little more room than that.
 
Ok i guess that may not work. Kinda funny my lfs said they'd fit in an 8ft x 4ft x 2ft tank. and blue zoo aquatics says 250g. I guess I'm glad I asked here. that would have given me an excuse to upgrade. Then there's the whole permission from the parents,and then maybe get an above ground pool (in my parents basement), and then I might even be tempted to get the bigger above ground pool (in my parents basement)... I could go on for ever.
 
Zebra Morays are, in my experience, fine with stingrays...especially if you are going to have a system of that size. I have kept a zebra moray in my 300g with my blue spotted ray for years...never had any issues. Aggression should not be a problem with the stock you have proposed....sharks are of course unpredictable in terms they may take a bite out of anything at any given moment. I am interested in you mentioning the fidler ray....I heard they get absolutely huge and I dont think I have ever seen one available for sale...where do they have them available?
 
I was really excited to see the fiddler ray available. Frankly it's a pretty cool looking fish. Since I started looking into them (month or two ago) I've seen them constantly available at liveaquaria.com I know i've seen it fore sale somewhere else but I can't think of it. I'll let you know when I remember.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+288
correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they only grow between 3 and 4 feet front to back.
 
Well - If you believe everything that your LFS or a website like blue Zoo aquatics tells you then you're abit nieve and haven't done enough research on keeping shark.

Both local fish shops and online fish dealers - usually want to sell you stuff. As a result - they may only be concerned with what size tank or system a fish may need at the time it's sold - not 6-12 months after it's sold. But as a Aquarist - you need to be concerned with what is needed to keep you fish for the rest of it's natural life.

Yes - you can keep a 10-12 inch Grey Smoothhound in a 250 gallon tank - for a little while (maybe a couple weeks to a month or so). But it will quickly outgrow this tank. And as an adult a Grey Smoothhound will grow to about 4ft long - at which time it will need a pond of at least 3,000-4,000 gallons.

For the 10ft x 6 ft x 2 ft - I would say stick with smaller sharks and rays. Basically sharks that don't grow over 2.5 ft long, and rays that don't have a disc width more than 12 Maybe some of the following species.

Sharks
Arabian Bamboo (Chiloscyllium arabicum)
Gray Bamboo (Chiloscyllium griseum)
Papuan Epaulette (Hemiscyllium hallstromi)
Coral Catshark (Atelomycterus marmoratus)
Australian Marbled Catshark (Atelomycterus macleayi)

Rays
Cortez Round Stingray
California round Stingray
Yellow Round Stingray
 
krj
yah I knew there was somethin fishy about my lfs :D what footprint would you recommend for the brown and black stripe bamboo?
Do you know anything about the fiddler ray?
 
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