Although I prefer FW to salt, I have always been interested in getting a shark. But I have 0 experience with SW tanks ( although I have a fair knowledge). I was wondering what the smallest/easiest shark to keep would be. I think it would be best for me to start small and perhaps work my up to bigger sharks in the future.
Smallest species of shark?
- Thread starter Younglin
- Start date
If you are willing to run a chiller on the tank you could get one of these guys Chain Catshark, I think they are the smallest and for tropical sharks it would be Coral Catshark
Easiest/best is H. ocellatum, the common epaulette IMHO. I don't know if it will scratch your itch for a 'real' shark as it looks nothing like Jaws, but you can keep one in a well filtered 240-300 (again, my opinion), much smaller than a cat shark should have. If you want something that's going to look more like a shark and will swim around you're going to need a thousand(s) gallons for a species of smooth hound. Hope this helps!
Once you're hooked, expect to spend big moneys. Chain catsharks are one of the smaller species, but difficult to find, and like was stated, require a chiller. Even the smallest species of shark will need a ~300 gallon tank with a big footprint (wider/longer vs taller - a small shark like that will only require ~18" of depth) to be happy for life. And moreso than most other fish keeping, bigger is always better when it comes to tank size/filtration/etc.
Another consideration would be activity level and not just size. Some of the benthic sharks get larger but are not as active swimmers as say a Smooth hound. Based on this a Marbled Bamboo or Whitespotted Bamboo might be a good choice. Still like others have pointed out something like a 300 gallon is just a small entry level shark tank.