first shark

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ok - first off - the Brown "striped" Bamboo & the Black "Striped" Bamboo are the same species - which is the Brown-banded Bamboo(Chiloscyllium punctatum). This shark is also sold in LFS as Banded Bamboo, & Banded Cat Shark to name a few others.

Most LFS & online fish stores claim this species can be kept in a 180 gallon tank. Which may be true for juveniles. But the Brown-banded Bamboo will grow to at least 3 ft long, and reported to max out at about 42 inches (although there are some sources it can grow to nearly 47 inches long). At that size - a standard 180 or 240 gallon tank is just too small. So to keep one for life - I would suggest a pond/tank of at least 900-1000 gallons(bare minimum).

To see what I'm talking - Check these videos
Adult Bamboo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A2oLVd-k-g&feature=fvwrel

Large Juveniles (about 2ft )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgHx3WHNA7g&NR=1


Also you may want to check out the Tank Size Recommendation sticky
 
oops didn't see the second page...
Ok so I have decided to build the 10ft x 6ft x 2ft tank, with rounder corners.
On to filtration anybody have any idea about how i should filter this bad boy?
I was thinkin a 150 gallon stock tank as the main sump. From there I could run a second 150g stock tank as a refugium that will overflow back into the main sump. The diy skimmer will also overflow back in to the main sump
layout.jpg

The return pump from the main sumpand the skimmer pump will both be 5,000 gph.
The refugium pump will be 3,000 gph
The overflows from the DT will have diy inline sock filters.
The sump will have a diy dual body canister filter. (got the design from my lfs works beautifully on their 500g, but they only had one body)
let me know what you guys think.
 
fishaddict0417 said:
Do you know anything about the fiddler ray?
Click to expand...

Please don't get the fiddler ray. They get BIG. Much bigger than that screw up of a sales place Foster and Smith let on. I wouldn't ever buy sharks or rays from them. They spread too much wrong info to actually support them.

fishaddict0417 said:
Ok so I have decided to build the 10ft x 6ft x 2ft tank, with rounder corners.
On to filtration anybody have any idea about how i should filter this bad boy?
I was thinkin a 150 gallon stock tank as the main sump. From there I could run a second 150g stock tank as a refugium that will overflow back into the main sump. The diy skimmer will also overflow back in to the main sump

The return pump from the main sump and the skimmer pump will both be 5,000 gph.
The refugium pump will be 3,000 gph
The overflows from the DT will have diy inline sock filters.
The sump will have a diy dual body canister filter. (got the design from my lfs works beautifully on their 500g, but they only had one body)
let me know what you guys think.
Click to expand...

For a tank like this, you need to go basic. A refug has no place in a shark tank.

Have a single sump. Gravity feed the sump from overflows in the tank. I'd run filter pads / filter floss on an eggcrate platform in the over flow (skip the filter socks on the other end). Much easier to change and deal with. Have a pump push water from the sump into a canister filter then into the tank. Run your pt skimmer from the sump, and return it to the sump. It's also a good idea on something this size to have a pump that pulls from the tank and returns to the tank to keep water moving.
 
ok so no fiddler ray, what about the thornback ray? If I don't get the sharks/ray or ray from foster and smith where should I get them from, not a lot of lfs in St Louis carry bamboo sharks in stock.
So ditching the refug, what about all the live rock and macroalgea? Or is it all unnecessary?
So instead of filter socks you're saying have all the water pour through filter pads on egg crate over the sump.
my diy canister filter is basically a 4in pvc pipe 3-4 feet long stuffed full of filter floss, and possibly activated carbon(opinion?). the end is capped and holes are drilled in the cap. I think if i try and return to the tank from that i'll lose a lot of flow through there, and thus effectiveness. opinion?
Also do you think 5,000 gph is too much flow through my skimmer?
skimmer.jpg

The bubble tower will be either 4 or 6 in pvc, and it will be about 5 ft tall
I think depending on what flow in the tank looks like when I get it running, I will probably add a closed loop pump. I'll make a final decision when i test the whole system with tap water.
 
oh! krj I totally missed this. you said brown stripe and black stripe bamboo are the same fish! what makes some pitch black and some distinctly brown? I am so confused:confused:
 
filtration on a system as big as you are thinking of is going to be huge. you will need a tower skimmer and thats a fact. the more round the actual shark enclosure is the more sharks you can keep in it as they can swim around in the circle. i have 3 sharks right now and they are all doing great, but i have a tower skimmer a uv sterilizer ment for comercial systems and a giant wet dry full of live rock and cheato. you really need to watch the water parameters.
 
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