is it hard?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
No, at least not for me... I was always told baby sharks are very delicate and hard to get to eat... I bought this 2-4 week old shark that just hatched that had not been fed since it hatched. The guy told me it was a reef shark and as long as it was in the coral tank it ate the coral food... lol what a dumby... I looked at the shark and it was scratched all over the bottom and limp. I can't believe it wasn't dead! i took it home and put it in my tank, got him some squid and some live ghost shrimp. He ate them and then took squid from my hand the next day. So i bought 2 more and boy they are awesome creatures and really easy to care for.

coral cats and marbles are really cool as well. I am thinking of trying to breed a pair in a smaller 220.

i just posted a feeding video in my thread just above.
 
I'm planning to keep some type of shark for my tank and in the process have come across some interesting stuff. I would actually recommend a epaulette shark. It seems that this kind of shark is better for a fish tank...plus it looks nicer too. The smaller the shark is the harder it is to care for. Not always like the canuck stated but I would get one atleast 12" or bigger. Plus sharks are messy so you need good filtration. Be careful though b/c some sharks are cold water and won't do good in temps over 72F.
 
Well - the "beginner sharks" are usually called that because they are generally the best species for "beginners" to the shark aquarist world. It doesn't mean that they are good beginner saltwater fishes.

In fact I would highly suggest that an aquarist who's new to keeping saltwater fishes shouldn't even attempt to keep even a "beginner" sharks. Until they've got a couple of years experience with easier to keep predatory saltwater such as Groupers, Eels, or Lionfish. The reason is because - you can learn alot about basic shark keeping from keeping these other predatory fishes. Generally keeping sharks is consider to be more extreme than keeping these other predatory fishes - because sharks tend to tougher keep.

Still for a very knowledgeable & experienced marine aquarist - beginner sharks can be very easy to successful keep, And in some cases they can actually breed sharks.
 
dmopar74;4378372; said:
what about keeping a shark is harder than other SW preds out of curiosity? for discusion's sake.
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The babies just require more attention. I would say the bamboo sharks are just as easy as the others. I don't think they would take a temp swing or bad water quality as well as an eel or grouper would though. My temp dropped bad over night, and my horn shark wouldn't eat. The bamboos still ate like pigs..
 
what about keeping a shark is harder than other SW preds out of curiosity? for discusion's sake.
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It's several things actually,

1st - Sharks & rays generally don't tolerate even moderate levels of nitrogen, which eels, groupers, lionfish can with stand. Hince the near perfect water quality.

2nd - Sharks & Rays generally in aquariums, don't seem to tolerate water temperature swings of a couple of degrees, in a 24hr period. However in the wild, most species seem to tolerate a 10-15 F change in water temperature, over a 6 month period - without any problems.

3rd - Most sharks and rays can't tolerate, copper based meds - unlike most other fishes.
 
1. i would hope that anybody keeping any fish would have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, heavy skimming would help here.

2. i guess a chiller would be needed for the summer months

3. i would not consider this "harder", but good to know.
 
Actually, some sharks and rays are very tolerant of NH3 and most are very tolerant of nitrate. Nirite can be a killer if not kept in check during the cycling process.
 
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