SHARKS

[Ornatapinnis]

Ports, althought are listed as getting up to 5 feet rarly do. I had one for several years and sold it to a customer who still has it. From the time I bought it to now has been about 6 years, it's almost 3 foot but not quiet. I chalk this up to, how big does a north american large mouth bass get? According to the books they can get really big, 15 pounds +. I have been an avid fishermen for my entire life, never saw a bass any where near that size althought I do agree they exist.

Nurse sharks get way bigger than 4 ft. I have seen them in the Keys pushing 9' and have seen pictures of them over 10'. My advise about nurse sharks is to not get one. I did not say that you could give it away when it got to large, I said that you could not give it away. I was insiuating that knowone would want it and you wouldn't even be able to give it away for free. Another question about this, Kento; who is it your refering to when you stated "people like him are the reason people like me can't keep the fish we want"? ME?

I'll have to do some research but there is a wobegone specie that stays about 3 to 4 ft or so. I have had a couple of them in my shop but I never kept one personally long term. I did have a tasseled wobegone about 15 years ago that got huge real fast. It was donated to the Columbus Zoo.

Many skates and rays are simple to keep like yellows, cortex and Calaifornia. All of these stay small enough to keep in a home aquarium. If a person has the knowledge and equipment to keep the water quality correct, they are easy. Avoid southern rays as they get way to big and avoid blue spotted rays, they don't adjust to captivity very well.

Snow flake moray eels don't have teeth. Antenatta lion fish are not an easy species of lion to keep. Peacock flounders are picky eaters and mostly want live food althought they can be taught to eat dead, they also get over 18".

Joel

 

[guppy]

There are six species listed as wobbegongs, so far I have only seen profiles onthe tasselated, ornate, and spotted, all of which get at least 10' long and although usually slow moving can be aggresive and eat fish almost there own size, once they bite they don't let go, this picture shows a small one that was annoyed by a diver off Australia,

Heterodontus sharks stay smaller and grow slowly, the Pt. jackson shark is H. portusjacksonii and grows too 5'6" but rarely gets much more than 48", the H. japonicus is also called a Pt. Jacksons shark and is virtually identical but only gets to 48" maximum and is usually closer to 36", two relatives that I find interesting are from the western indian ocean and if you could find them might work, they are H. omanensis which only gets to 22 1/2", and the slightly larger whitespotted bullheaded shark (H. ramalheira) that gets to 25 1/2". Neither would be reef safe.

 

[Ornatapinnis]

That tasseled we had was about 36". We special ordered it in for a guy at about 10" we got it back within a year. It was a shop fish for a while but we decided to donate it because of how big it was and was going to get. (this might piss off a few people) When it was about 3' we fed it a 10 to 12 inch oscar, in one gulp, the oscar dissapered, it got the whole oscar in it's mouth in one slurp!!!! THat was unbelievable. Befoe I start getting hate mail about feeding an oscar to a shark, the oscar was deformed from being kept in too small of an aquarium.

Joel

 

[Ornatapinnis]

Guppy;

I saw a news report when I was in the Keys a couple years ago where a little nurse shark did the same thing as the tassel in the picture you posted. This little nurse was attatched to the middle of this guys chest and wouldn't let go. The pictures I saw were this guy in an emergency room with a shark latched onto his chest. That was funny. I don't know how long it held on but it must have been a while if he was at the hospital with it still there.

Talk about a serious hickie!!!! Ouch!!!!

Joel

 

[Zoodiver]

There are a few sharks out there that are better for home aquariums. Bamboos and cats are some of the best I've seen talked about here. There are smaller species of wobs, and those will work, as long as the pup is identified correctly. Port Jacksons do well, but require cooler water temps. Be prepared for that if going that route.

Someone mentioned black tips...not sure who, though. Not a good choice. Of the two sub-species (Pacific and Altantic) the Pacific do ok in captivity, but you're looking at a tank in the 20,000 gallon or more range. They should see 5 or 6 feet and need alot of horizontal space to swim and NO CORNERS. Atlantics just don't do well. The reasons are still being debated. They too will require LOTS of swimming space. I kept 3 Atlantics as part of a research program about two years ago. All three were wild caught (With permits) as pups. I'll see if I can post pics of them tonight from home. None lasted, dispite my best efforts. They were in a well established 15,000 gallon.

 

[Ornatapinnis]

I find that interesting, I have had the exact experience with the atlantic black tips. I have never had one live thru the shipping much less in an aquarium. The black tips and white tips I get trans shipped from Bali come in alive and typically acclimate into our aquariums prett well. I'd love to know why the ones from Florida die and the ones from the other side of the world live. I would think the shorter travel distance would help.

I don't intend buying them anymore, I think they are very cool but I no longer have anything large enough to keep one in...for now anyway.....

Joel

 

[Zoodiver]

I hope to have the answer soon. It's one of the research projects I'm working on the side. Nobody has an answer yet for it. The three I had were a hard loss for me. They weren't in the best tank (due to a major corner). But they were doing very well. Sadly, I lost them due to keeper error while on my day off. They were in an exhibit with two green moray eels (both 2 meter animals). I had been getting in and hand feeding the eels to keep them off of my shark pups. The back up on my day off thought it was too much work to get in and make sure they ate. I lost my black tips one by one to the eels. I did recover two bodies after a regurge from the eel. I kept the "skeletons" for educational use. I think somehow we're missing a variation in the water. Here are some shot while they were still around. Both were feeding well once acclimated to the tank.

 

[Ornatapinnis]

Cool pics, sorry to hear about the loss. Ever feel like nothing is going to be done right unless you do it your self? (I do all the time)

I like the green morays but like you said, they are eating and killing machines. I currently (and thankfully) don't have any greens. I found a customer with a really large aquarium to buy my last one. I sold and bought it back several time over about 5 years. Kept getting bigger & bigger. Now hopfully I'm thru with this one.

Your therory is its a water parameter related issue that they do poorly. What do you think is missing or is present that causes the loss? I have had bonnets and lemmons from the same area I got the black tips and had very little problems with them. I wonder why it would affect one fish ond not another. I guess I have got nurse pups from the same area that don't seem to be phased by anything. I am very curious abouty your findings, I've wondered about this for a very long time. Keep us posted.

Joel

 

[kentobizmol]

Another question about this, Kento; who is it your refering to when you stated "people like him are the reason people like me can't keep the fish we want"? ME?


Snow flake moray eels don't have teeth. Antenatta lion fish are not an easy species of lion to keep. Peacock flounders are picky eaters and mostly want live food althought they can be taught to eat dead, they also get over 18".

Joel

no i wasn't reffering to u, just using your reply as an example.
by the way; are marine stingrays legalto keep in CA?

o.k., snowflake eels have something, since i got bit by one, not too hard and it started bleeding like sh*t!
try volitans instead, they look alike but much easier to keep!

oh there are many types of wabbagong sharks??

so u hav like a marine fish shop?
dAts tight!

 

[kentobizmol]

zoodiver; those are some big-as* tanks!
show me more pictures!!

i'll post my friends bamboo and blacktip