Anyone help with info on Bamboo cat sharks

[Bryce M.]

Thinking of getting an egg and raising it for a bit, how long does it take for them to get large? Also, if I feed him lot's, will he still go after smaller fish? Know some preds can be kept with smaller fish if given enough food but sharks are aggressive but I'm hearing only when they are older? Parameters are stable and smooth sand, more worried about what it can do.

 

[Bryce M.]

Or a marbled since they are less aggressive

 

[sfin52]

Thinking of getting an egg and raising it for a bit, how long does it take for them to get large? Also, if I feed him lot's, will he still go after smaller fish? Know some preds can be kept with smaller fish if given enough food but sharks are aggressive but I'm hearing only when they are older? Parameters are stable and smooth sand, more worried about what it can do.

How big of a tank. If you are looking at giving it away after a while. That may be difficult fish to get somebody to take off your hands.

 

[dantimdad]

Having hatched and kept these I can only advise that you not get one.

The reason I say this is very few aquarists have the room and budget to properly take care of one of these creatures.

After the first 6 months, they do not handle transferring to a new environment well.

You need a large system to handle them and their waste. I would say no smaller than 8 foot x 8 foot. Preferably round. I kept mine in a large plastic sided swimming pool in a converted garage. I had a pool sand filter with a dual 6 foot tall protein skimmer. They need to be kept cool ideally no higher than 73 degrees.

If you have specific questions and have the room please let me know.

 

[Bryce M.]

How big of a tank. If you are looking at giving it away after a while. That may be difficult fish to get somebody to take off your hands.

Have a 65, seeing marbled needs a 50 new born. I have a zebra eel so I'm upgrading to a 300 in a couple of years. Is that plausible? Or do they grow fast? Worst comes to worst I can use a 300 tubbermaid until I get a new tank

 

[dantimdad]

I will also add that they get expensive to feed. I had two and at nearly 30", in the 90s, it was costing me about 15-20 a week to feed them. I gave them fresh squid, mussels and shrimp that had been treated with selcon and garlic.

 

[Bryce M.]

Having hatched and kept these I can only advise that you not get one.

The reason I say this is very few aquarists have the room and budget to properly take care of one of these creatures.

After the first 6 months, they do not handle transferring to a new environment well.

You need a large system to handle them and their waste. I would say no smaller than 8 foot x 8 foot. Preferably round. I kept mine in a large plastic sided swimming pool in a converted garage. I had a pool sand filter with a dual 6 foot tall protein skimmer. They need to be kept cool ideally no higher than 73 degrees.

If you have specific questions and have the room please let me know.

Yeah, I've been looking at tubbermaid stuff but even their 300 might be too small. What kind of swimming pool do you use? That might work, and temp is good to know. Saw they can do 72-78, I keep my tank around 76 so that's out of the question right away.

 

[dantimdad]

The round 300 Rubbermaid would work but I would start them in that. Like I said, don't transfer them unless you have to. Mine got bought when we moved to a new city. The person literally brought a semi to get all my breeding equipment and the shark setup.

 

[Bryce M.]

I will also add that they get expensive to feed. I had two and at nearly 30", in the 90s, it was costing me about 15-20 a week to feed them. I gave them fresh squid, mussels and shrimp that had been treated with selcon and garlic.

Used to expensive with my eel, so no stranger to high quality expensive food for them

 

[dantimdad]

I am not sure what's out there now for swimming pool use. I used an Intex (sp?) and kept the salinity low (1.021) and it was right at 800 gallons IIRC. I only ran it half way up the 3 foot depth to prevent jumping.

It was really cool to watch to be honest.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Having hatched and kept these I can only advise that you not get one.

The reason I say this is very few aquarists have the room and budget to properly take care of one of these creatures.

After the first 6 months, they do not handle transferring to a new environment well.

You need a large system to handle them and their waste. I would say no smaller than 8 foot x 8 foot. Preferably round. I kept mine in a large plastic sided swimming pool in a converted garage. I had a pool sand filter with a dual 6 foot tall protein skimmer. They need to be kept cool ideally no higher than 73 degrees.

If you have specific questions and have the room please let me know.

They're really hard to raise right out of the egg too. I don't know that anyone has better than a 50/50 success rate hatching them and getting them to eat. You'll have a much better success rate with one that is out and eating before you purchase...

FWIW, I would never describe bamboo or cat sharks as 'aggressive.' They are predatory for sure, but they are not going to harass anything that they can't physically get into their mouth. More likely they'll get picked at by your other inhabitants. Usually recommend keeping them with bigger predatory fish that don't typically eat off the bottom. Lionfish, groupers, snappers, etc. A school of porkfish is a nice addition to a shark pool...

 

[MSB123]

Used to expensive with my eel, so no stranger to high quality expensive food for them

I have had eels and sharks.
It’s isnt a comparison. Sharks need fresh food every few days treated well and it needs to be high quality. I spent $10 a week on a 9” catshark

 

[dantimdad]

Knowing what I know now, I would love to have a couple more but I would build a nice looking lagoon with seats on the top edges to watch them more comfortably. I would also make it 12z12 with 45 degree corners so it wasn't completely square.

 

[sfin52]

@dantimdad your SW knowledge is incredible.

Do you have any pics of that setup. Goodthing my son's not on here.

 

[Bryce M.]

Learning all kinds of new things, might try one in a few years. Gotta convince my housemate that a shark is a cool thing

 

[sfin52]

So why is the recommended tank size no less than 180g. That seems very small for a shark of 30"

 

[Bryce M.]

Knowing what I know now, I would love to have a couple more but I would build a nice looking lagoon with seats on the top edges to watch them more comfortably. I would also make it 12z12 with 45 degree corners so it wasn't completely square.

Do you mind if I message you if I have anymore questions later one? Lot's of info doesn't seem right, just seems like they want to sell me obviously

 

[dantimdad]

@dantimdad your SW knowledge is incredible.

Do you have any pics of that setup. Goodthing my son's not on here.

Learning all kinds of new things, might try one in a few years. Gotta convince my housemate that a shark is a cool thing

I wish. The first wife thought it was funny to burn all of my photos and memorabilia.

I ran across a very poor digital photo of one of the eggs right before it hatched the other day. 640x480 was the best resolution you cold get back then.

As for having a bunch of knowledge. That's just time and willingness to try new things before the internet told me I was doing it wrong. ;Hilarious

 

[dantimdad]

Do you mind if I message you if I have anymore questions later one? Lot's of info doesn't seem right, just seems like they want to sell me obviously

Feel free.

 

[dantimdad]

So why is the recommended tank size no less than 180g. That seems very small for a shark of 30"

The truth, I suspect, is they don't expect anyone to be able to keep one long enough for it to break 12". That and people would never buy one if they really knew how big of a tank they needed.

That sounds jaded but, I am just being honest.