real shark

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Shiroi Katsune;1857752; said:
Just curious but what about a Bonnethead they stay pretty small. Don't they max out at like 4 foot? You would still need a massive tank but i've never heard of one being kept.
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Bonnets need a LOAD of swimming room. I'd put them in something suited for blacktips. I've seen 5 foot plus bonnets. Also, bonnets are SUPER sensative sharks. Not even alot of public aquaria keep them well. Even some that attempt it shouldn't b/c they just keep killing them.
 
Wow i've never seen them that big. Yeah I guess the whole sensitivity thing would definatly be a problem with any type of hammer. Here in Tampa they are everywhere, then again so are a lot of sharks....
 
Yeah - Bonnetheads can grow to 4.5-5' in length. In fact most coastal Southeastern & Gulf Coast states have catch records for Bonnetheads that exceed 48" in length.

A 2700 gallon tank/shark pond may work for keeping a bonnet pup til it reachs about 12-18 months of age. But it's only a small fraction of what would be the bare minimum for a single adult's needs.
 
So hopefully this is related enough to put in this thread. I've always wanted to keep sharks, but have put it off while I'm renting as the wife and I are looking for a house. We're looking hard at something right now and if we wound up with it I would excavate and add on, right now we're looking at a "tank" of 20'x10' with a depth of 8'. Of course I'd round out the corners and scape it so that swimming channels would actually be somewhat circular.

Logistics of the actual build aside, what sharks, if any, would be comfortable in something this size? I know it's an ambitious project but for us it's actually do-able. As long as it isn't built yet, should I consider making it larger? The viewing area will be two 8' wide panels, hence the 20' side. So really the only dimension that could fluctuate would be the 10' side, but probably not by much. We're somewhat limited in that we'd be building this on the south side of a house so that we get use of natural lighting (supplemented, of course).
 
Depends. Still somewhat limiting. The 8 foot depth will be impressive visually, but not really open up much space for the sharks. 20' x10' is a great foot print though. Some of the smaller reqs would do ok in there. Could do a cold water set up - a group of chain dogs would look awesome in something like that. Maybe some swell sharks and horns mixed in to fill up the bottom of the water column. I'd say leopard, but it would out grow it with time.

Just out of curiosity...where in Bismarck? I used to live down at the base of the hill at Mary College south of town (Briardale area).
 
Whoa, we've actually been looking at a house in Briardale...funny. Right now I'm living a couple blocks north of the Capitol...nice area, but no room to add-on so I'm stuck with having to use commercial tanks I can get in and out. Always been a dream to build something this big, so I'm pushing for a house with a little extra room around it.

I'll have to talk with some contractors, the more I think about this the more I realize I might be happier with 20x20, but the cost difference might kill that idea. Another idea I had was to basically build a pool against the house (whole different set of problems there) with plexi windows, then get a permit for a three-seasons room over the top which I'll insulate myself and skylight to the point where it's practically a four-seasons greenhouse.

I really should talk with that guy who build the 50K gallon L-shaped aquarium, I remember him saying he built it to last ten years and it's been longer than that now. Due to our winters I'm not really clear on how to build this thing to hold water year-round.

At this point I'm pretty much hijacking this thread and I didn't mean to. I'm still only in the planning/saving phase but maybe I should start my own thread.
 
Hmmm ... With a 20' x 10' Tank/pond - You really can't keep a requiem shark - Such as Blacktip Reef, Bonnethead or Sharpnose. If your wanting a A swimming shark - your best bet is a smoothhound.

A good Shark tank set up fot that size tank would be something like this.

Gray Smoothhound, California Horn Shark, and California Stingray - which would all be fine if the keep the water temps in the 65-75F range.
 
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