Banded Cat Shark

[Jesterrace]

A new addition might take a while to eat. Like stated above, try fresh seafood, ours loved fresh strips of squid. When we hatched ours we had to force feed it for a couple weeks with a syringe.

Yup, also keep in mind that sharks are much more sensitive to nitrates than fish so be sure to keep them down.

 

[Greybeard]

I don't really have much to offer that hasn't already been said... I've never kept sharks, though I did a good bit of research into it at one point, but never made the leap. You might try live ghost shrimp, many finicky predatory fishes can be enticed by a bit of live food. The other bit I can offer would be to talk to the pros. http://sharkraycentral.com/ It's not a terribly popular forum, but there are folks there that have been keeping and breeding sharks successfully for a good many years.

Best of luck!

 

[BillyP]

I don't really have much to offer that hasn't already been said... I've never kept sharks, though I did a good bit of research into it at one point, but never made the leap. You might try live ghost shrimp, many finicky predatory fishes can be enticed by a bit of live food. The other bit I can offer would be to talk to the pros. http://sharkraycentral.com/ It's not a terribly popular forum, but there are folks there that have been keeping and breeding sharks successfully for a good many years.

Best of luck!

Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lets start with substrate. What do you have on bottom (as they hang the bottom). If you have anything other than fine sand, any ingestion of sand can irritate or damage its' stomach and abdomen walls hindering diet. It dwells on and prefers crustaceans such as small crabs and shrimps for food ( camel shrimp being the cheapest). Then you can graduate its' feeding to feeder shrimp, scallops or pieces of fresh marine fish in addition to fine strips of squid. They are very active at night, than during the day and make good tankmates with others it cannot swallow, but will have to compete for food with other tankmates present, so best by themselves.

Having them as specimen makes any system unique and a conversation piece. Great find !!

 

[BillyP]

Lets start with substrate. What do you have on bottom (as they hang the bottom). If you have anything other than fine sand, any ingestion of sand can irritate or damage its' stomach and abdomen walls hindering diet. It dwells on and prefers crustaceans such as small crabs and shrimps for food ( camel shrimp being the cheapest). Then you can graduate its' feeding to fedder shrimp, scallops or pieces of fresh marine fish in addition to fine strips of squid. They are very active at night, than during the day and make good tankmates with others it cannot swallow, but will have to compete for food with other tankmates present, so best by themselves.

Having them as specimen makes any system unique and a conversation piece. Great find !!

Yeah I have fine sand and I'll look into it!

 

[Forsaken77]

Hay so I just got a 6 inch banded cat shark and it's not eating, copper measures 0, nitrates 5-10, nitrites 0, and ammonia 0. Tank is a 300 gallon, any ideas why it's not eating yet? I heard that sometimes it takes time but won't it starve?

You basically got a newly hatched cat shark. That's the size of them when they hatch from the egg. I hatched an egg before and had the same problem.

Those fish are notorious for not eating when they're babies and starving to death. You need to hand feed it squid chunks and similar foods. Use tongs, not your hand because it'll frighten it. Use small pieces.

Mine died of not eating even though he was in his egg in the sump for a few months. But when he hatched he would not accept any food. A local expert told me about how to feed it, but it just didn't take.

I hope it lives, but don't think you failed if it doesn't eat. It's more common for them to reject food as newborns, and you definitely have a newborn.