I am in the process of having a designer construct a new aquarium so that I can purchase two sharks. The Aquarium will be 8ft long x 3ft wide x 2ft tall. 360 gallons total. I plan on putting a couple of smoothhounds or bonnetheads in this tank. I am pumped cant wait till it comes in. I have placed floor supports due to the fact that it will weigh about 4k lbs. and will be on my main floor. I am also intrested in leopard sharks wich are hard to get. If anyone knows where I can get one let me know.
The New Shark Tank
- Thread starter gafights
- Start date
Not to burst your bubble, but that tank starts off too small for bonnetheads, and adult smoothhounds will have trouble getting around in it.
Aside from being a cooler water species, Leopards are illegal to collect under 3 feet, so those are pretty much out for you as well.
Aside from being a cooler water species, Leopards are illegal to collect under 3 feet, so those are pretty much out for you as well.
That's great. I'm planning a shark tank as well. However, will your tank be big enough. I mean, the smooth hound grows to 5.5 feet. I understand the width of the tank is the most important dimension, they need that room to turn. Wondering what you've learned different from me.
Bonnetheads - may average about 3.5-4ft, that can get to be about 5 ft long. Also 360 gallon tank would be quite small for even a newborn Bonnethead. These are active ORV(Obligated Ram Ventalators) sharks - that require contant motion in order to breath - which means they need lots of room. Even a juvenile Bonnethead would require a pond that is at least 4-5,000 gallons with a footprint of better than 170 sq.ft. - just to keep a bonnethead until it reachs maturity.
Smooth hounds - depending on the species range in size from just over 3 ft (for Pacific Browns) to 5 ft (for Atlantic Duskies), and therefore need systems that range from 2,500 to more than 9,000 gallons to keep one for life. Although typically Smoothhounds tend to have a shorter life span than most requiems of similar size.
Leopards - are larger than most smoothhounds - reaching at least 6 ft long. And therefore require even a larger pond/lagoon in order to keep one for life. An adult Leopard needs a system that is at least 15,000 gallons or more to keep one for life.
Bonnets need a lot of swimming space. Even if you end up with a 20" youngest, you'll need 5' or more width for it to turn around.
Aside from foot print, you are looking at a major biological load on the life support system with sharks. There is not a lot of water volume there to offset the waste produced by these guys.
Aside from foot print, you are looking at a major biological load on the life support system with sharks. There is not a lot of water volume there to offset the waste produced by these guys.
Just to weight in on the bonnethead part of the topic, I have not yet kept any but I have seen them in a 3,000 gal set up. They all looked good but one (He was a little skinned up on his head). Anyway their were about 5 in total in the tank and they were no larger than 12"-14". I would say that even though there was a solid 4' to turn around in it was still quite tight and there was a lot of bumping of there heads. So Just from what I saw there I would say that the tank shape would play just as large of a roll as the size of the tank. I don't know this for sure but I would have to guess that even in a round setup they would act quite like my 7 gill where he just swam against the wall all day. The bonnet would be a better choice for a more experience shark keeper.
I know from experience that smooth hounds need plenty of space as they tend to bump thier noses on the glass ALOT!!! this leads to thier death, and the owner being sad like me...Not to mention losing a $1000.00 on just two fish.
Wonderful to have and show off just difficult to keep without the right system.
Wonderful to have and show off just difficult to keep without the right system.