our shark is home... now what?

[ADEE]

matt, i knew what you meant i was just giving you a hard time lol...

Is just one person trying to offer him food? or are multiple people trying? I find that its best to just have one try to feed as it cuts down the stress as the shark comes to know you. For my black tips if anyone else by myself tried to feed them even when they were full grown would refuse to eat.

im the only one attempting to feed it.. thanks for the heads up, we will keep it to just one person

 

[ADEE]

ok, our shark has been home four days... it still hasnt eaten to our knowledge and im beginning to loose hope that its going to eat. at what point do you stop holding your breath in hopes that it eats, is there some trick were unaware of? what kind of live food should we offer at this point? i dont care if it needs to eat live the rest of its life, we have to do something. my kids are going to be devastated (as am i) if we loose this shark. its finally coming out of its rock cave more and more but still goes in hiding the moment it sees one of us, we cant turn lights on in the room if the shark is awake (out of its cave) because it retreats back to its cave, if we move too suddenly and it can see us (in other words there are no lights on in the room except moonlights) it retreats back to its cave... please someone just tell me im being rediculous and this shark is going to come around.. i cant see how its possible for it to go days on end without eating, as you can tell im really beginning to loose hope.

 

[bfhslilred93]

i youre keeping it with an eel expect problems...

 

[Zoodiver]

Oily, smelling foods work best. Squid chopped small, market shrimp, herring, krill... Just make sure to cut it into chunks it can fit into it's mouth.
If you want to go live food, try ghost shrimp. I'll shoot you a PM after I get off of work today.

 

[ADEE]

Oily, smelling foods work best. Squid chopped small, market shrimp, herring, krill... Just make sure to cut it into chunks it can fit into it's mouth.
If you want to go live food, try ghost shrimp. I'll shoot you a PM after I get off of work today.

thank you very much

 

[MStad64]

I had the same problem with my baby shark, I was told to try frozen mysis (thawed of course) in a turkey baster and target feed with the lights off, She went crazy eating all she could catch and looking for more, now i do this every day
currently at day 6 and she now comes to the baster.
hope this helps
Mike S

 

[ADEE]

I had the same problem with my baby shark, I was told to try frozen mysis (thawed of course) in a turkey baster and target feed with the lights off, She went crazy eating all she could catch and looking for more, now i do this every day
currently at day 6 and she now comes to the baster.
hope this helps
Mike S

thanks for your suggestion mike, we too have tried frozen mysis shrimp to no avail' we have been soaking it in garlic so were going to try maybe not soaking it. were heading up to our LFS to pick up some ghost shrimp and test our water (our home kit says were good but we like to test all our tanks at least once if not twice a week) im so glad to hear your shark is doing well!! how long after you got her did she start eating for you??

 

[MStad64]

she wouldnt eat the first three days tried everything, started swimming around on the 2nd day likes to lay in the open where there is a little flow hitting her.
I was so relieved when she ate the shrimp, she's only 8" but doesnt seem shy for a baby
mike

 

[ADEE]

WOW, yours is tiny!!!

come to find out our PH is low (7.9) so were treating with a buffer now and hopefully that will help out. we had waited a couple days more than we usually do to test our water... we have every other test besides PH (including calcuim, phosphate, exc) so we picked up a PH tester today at the LFS. our nitrite, nitrate, ammonia are all 0, our salinity is a bit high at 1.028, should we add some RO water to bring it down a bit? ive read that the sharks like higher salinity though... any insight on that?

 

[gunther28]

try keeping the lights off longer it might be unactive dew to over lighting. hope you have had better luck. if your interested in keeping sharks i recomend buying a book called Aquarium Sharks and Rays by Scott W. Michael its an older book but as far i have found its a grest book.