Shark Eggs

[sixball]

went to Jay's Aquatics, had water tested for everything incase it was something we were missing. A little nitritie but nothing that could be the reason.
Replacing the heavy sand substrate with a corser type sand to prevent packing and dead pockets, refilling up with RO and previous tank water.
purchased and added a protien skimmer, thinking about waiting a week and if all parameters have held steady they want to try again.
Any better ideas or does this seem like the way to go?
They still have in their tank an engineer goby, hermit crab, horse shoe crab, clown fish a couple snails and a couple ghost shrimp.

So you replaced your fine sand with coarse sand? If so, coarse sand is not a good substrate for sharks. It will irritate and potentially damage their stomachs, especially with babies. With that large of a water change/disturbance, I would wait longer than a week for things to settle down. More like a few months. Were you not running a skimmer on the tank before? How about live rock and a sump? I would consider these all basic requirements for any saltwater tank, especially a shark tank. Getting a newborn to start eating is challenging enough, so anything you can do to improve the environment is a major plus. Also, any measureable nitrite should be a concern (assuming the tests were accurate) in an established tank.

 

[Zoodiver]

It would be interesting to know what the infant mortality rates were like in the wild with these species...

GL, and keep us posted.

In the wild, mortality rates are fairly low.

 

[FLESHY]

In the wild, mortality rates are fairly low.

Any insight into why? You would think that aquacultured (potentially) eggs, and the super stable (again, depends on the aquarist) environment of a shark specific tank should be more conducive than the ever changing environment of the ocean.

 

[sixball]

The vast majority of eggs offered for sale right now are not aquacultured. Also, the ocean is a far more stable environment than even the most diligent aquarist can offer. I think it has a lot more to do with collection and transport methods, as well as a large percentage of home aquaria having less than ideal water quality.

 

[Convict Cichlids]

cool

 

[FLESHY]

The vast majority of eggs offered for sale right now are not aquacultured. Also, the ocean is a far more stable environment than even the most diligent aquarist can offer. I think it has a lot more to do with collection and transport methods, as well as a large percentage of home aquaria having less than ideal water quality.

I would tend to disagree with this. Go look up what sort of water quality and conditions there are on the reef, yes, its a huge body of water but it fluctuates surprisingly much.

They only things that are less table in my tank than the ocean are most likely nitrogenous wastes and water temperature.

Everything else is probably more stable. Granted, the nitrogenous wastes are a big deal for the sharks, but my 2-5ppm (max) is not usually considered detrimental to marine life.

 

[Pazzoman]

hey saw a youtube of some guy feeding a little bamboo shark some pellet/cube thing. looked like little red bits, searching google can't find a perpared food wondering if anyone knows what it is and if it's worth thinking about?

Your probably talking about a guy hand feeding his shark right? That cube looked more like a blood worm cube....updates on the shark?

 

[gazelle]

not sure if this has been brought up but its generally easier to get a shark thats already hatched as feedign is a problem for newborn shark pups

 

[Zoodiver]

Most eggs offered in the US are captive bred.

And I'll vouch for up and down water quality in the ocean, being I deal with it every day. Within a week, we see it go from 30 up to 36 depending on weather, lunar cycle (tide swing) etc... Also clarity / TDS changes daily out there. There are days we can see as far as the light will let us, and there are days we can't see our hands in front of our faces.

 

[FoxFire110]

Your probably talking about a guy hand feeding his shark right? That cube looked more like a blood worm cube....updates on the shark?

I think zoodiver was correct when he sussgested it was a shark & ray gel type food as it looked very similar to a jello jiggler in consistancy, and was very bright red.

Update on shark is he died a little bit ago.