Nurse Shark

[tunerX]

That is quite a good law IMHO. If you kept your caribean nurse with some red sea fish or other sea fish, how can you be certain that the shark does not have some red sea pathogens that can wipe out a wild caribbean reef? Purist keepers keep sea specific tanks but you can never be certain about all of the others.

 

[ewurm]

That is quite a good law IMHO. If you kept your caribean nurse with some red sea fish or other sea fish, how can you be certain that the shark does not have some red sea pathogens that can wipe out a wild caribbean reef? Purist keepers keep sea specific tanks but you can never be certain about all of the others.

That's the reason for the laws, you never know what gets introduced to aquaria. Never release a fish that has been kept in aquaria.

 

[sparker18]

UPDATE: After some begging and pleading with the local Gulf World Aquarium they finally adopted the shark. For now it is in quarantine in a 10K gal tank and will soon be moved to I believe a 40-50K gal tank.

 

[Zoodiver]

Glad to hear it went somewhere.

 

[krj-1168]

At least a 40-50,000 gallon tank will be a decent home for it - as an adult.

 

[VLDesign]

It should be illegal to keep one in the first place. I vote for release.

 

[krj-1168]

I take it your talking about - for private individuals - VLDesigns.

Nurse Sharks - actually do quite well in captivity - including to the point of breeding in public aquariums. And make great sharks for public displays - as noted by the dozens of public that have them on exhibit.

Yes - I know part of the reason why there's so many in public aquariums - is because they are so available to private aquarists. But the fact is - Nurses are one the toughest, and hardiest sharks available to aquarists - be it Public aquariums or home aquaria.

As for release back into the wild - as has already been explained - that's illegal.

 

[Zoodiver]

I think they are all over at public places because of private owners not knowing what they are getting into. I have yet to see an aquarium go collect one, or ask for one.

 

[shinypenny]

I think they are all over at public places because of private owners not knowing what they are getting into. I have yet to see an aquarium go collect one, or ask for one.

I think the European Aquariums do collect them. I seem to remember Barcelona shipping some from Florida.

US Aquaria may be another matter...

 

[krj-1168]

True - they are extremely "popular" at public aquariums in the United States.

I know from experience - I've been to several public aquariums in the southeastern U.S. - from Florida to Virginia - and I've yet to see a public Aquarium that didn't have at least a couple of Nurse sharks.