Dogfish Shark + Fiance = ???

MelissaKathryn · Jun 14, 2013

Well, I finally stopped spending enough of my fiance's $$ on coral long enough to allow him to get me a ring

yay!! As much as I love our coral, it was worth the wait.. a diamond does appear to be more hardy than most of our corals anyhow..

ANYWAY... we are in the works of getting a bunch of land out in the country as a kind of country escape (well, I can work anywhere,, so I will probably spend most of my time there) and he has honestly just given me full reign with the exception that we have enough land where he can do target practice ;-) Even with our reef tank, I show him a bunch of corals for fun and he says "geeze sweetie they all look amazing! I trust whatever you pick out" then the next morning he will hand me his bank card and tell me a budget and say I can get whatever I want for OUR tank. Then he is just beyond tickled with my additions and arrangements and I am amazed at his logistics behind the pumps, auto top-offs, and lighting systems he rigs. We are quite blessed to have each other and such an incredible hobby to share! Not to mention he has been giving up his rare venomous snake collection for me.. which I know has been REALLY RELLY hard for him!

SO it looks like we will end up building this house.. most likely a concrete slab barn structure actually with lots of windows and a very open country kitchen (gourmet kitchen, breakfast room and family room in one) and the share wall between al three will be a very large brick fireplace, and very large wood stove closer to the kitchen and storage in between for firewood. The wall on the den side will share the wall with what I would like to call "the man cave". Now, he has never asked for anything like this AT ALL so it would be a surprise. The likely builders are excellent family friends, perfectionists like myself, and I have even assisted on some of their designs for "credit one day" lol

I WAS just going to make it a gigantic reef tank but during a game of "what ifs", my fiance disclosed to me that he would really love a predator tank like he used to have and that sharks are just mesmerizing to watch. He loves reef tanks but brought up how much work they are if he were to have something close to a "what if" 1,000 gallon tank. I asked him which sharks, naming them off, etc. etc. and he mentioned the "dogfish shark".

I googled the aforementioned fish and can't seem to find anything in the ballpark of captive information, tank mates, temp, salinity, tank size, etc. so I have turned to "old faithful" to help me out! Please please please! Has anyone kept or known anyone who has kept this kind of shark? Or just be able to give me any off hand advice? He is a really high end mechanic and works really hard all week to try to please the types of customers that are usually never pleased. It would just be so wonderful for his to come home and sit and relax and gaze and smoke his "e-cigs" (yes he gave up smoking for me AND HIMSELF, too). If I could give him any gift it would be this.

The builder's son and I have known each other since age 12 and we think we can go as big as 4,000 gallons to take up the entire wall and move the entrance with all filtration, etc. in walk in closets on either side. His father has no idea how the well company will tank this scheme.. hehe!

Thanks for my reading my lengthy question! I appreciate any feedback, even telling me I am crazy ( I am used to it ;-) )

JuanGutz · Jun 14, 2013

Haha I love the details to everything! Don't know at thing about your shark but here's a bump, for you. Congrats on the proposal and good luck with the house sounds like its going to be picture perfect and out of a dream! Best of wishes!

backpack · Jun 20, 2013

Spiny dogfish are pretty cool sharks. My cousin catches them by accident sometimes. They are poisonous though. At 3 feet they aren't huge but you will need some space. Not many people keep them but you might ask the Monterey bay aquarium. They have one on exhibit.

MelissaKathryn · Jun 21, 2013

Oh wow! Thank you so much for your response (both of you) but especially for the info on the Monterey bay aquarium! I knew a lot of fishers caught them by mistake and we might need a chiller for the tank since they aren't really tropical. My fiancÃ© likes the venomous spines... Haha.. As for me?? I'd much rather a smooth dogfish shark!

1.0reef · Jun 21, 2013

Get the largest tank possible, rounded edges, HUGE amounts of filtration. I think these are Cool water so you'll need a huge chiller. Tank mates should be large fish that won't get eaten and won't pick at the shark. Maybe some Cortez rays (I think that's what they're called, they are quite small)
Have you thought about a circular or oval shaped SW pond?

ohio reefer · Jun 21, 2013

They get around 4 feet long and unlike bamboo sharks like to swim a lot. I would not put one in a tank smaller than 15-20 feet long and 5 feet wide. This would make or happy for most of its life, maybe it's whole life. I think it would be hard to find one for sale. If I were you I'd get a gray hound shark or even better a bamboo. A bamboo could go in a tank that is 9-12 feet long and 4 feet wide. They don't swim as much. As for filtration. Go big. Like insanely big sharks are very messy. I'd go with a bamboo. They're tropical sharks so you can keep mostly anything with them because they can go in tropical temperature. You could also do a reef with the bamboo or my favorite the coral cat shark. Farley gets over 26 inches. Post some pictures of the tank!

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ohio reefer · Jun 27, 2013

There's one on eBay right now.

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JuanGutz · Jun 28, 2013

ohio reefer said:
They get around 4 feet long and unlike bamboo sharks like to swim a lot. I would not put one in a tank smaller than 15-20 feet long and 5 feet wide. This would make or happy for most of its life, maybe it's whole life. I think it would be hard to find one for sale. If I were you I'd get a gray hound shark or even better a bamboo. A bamboo could go in a tank that is 9-12 feet long and 4 feet wide. They don't swim as much. As for filtration. Go big. Like insanely big sharks are very messy. I'd go with a bamboo. They're tropical sharks so you can keep mostly anything with them because they can go in tropical temperature. You could also do a reef with the bamboo or my favorite the coral cat shark. Farley gets over 26 inches. Post some pictures of the tank!

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With bamboo and cat sharks I thought you wanted to make it mostly sand and not a reef because they have soft skin and they could get infections from scratches.

ohio reefer · Jun 28, 2013

That's true. I thought you were going with a reef with a sandbed. They tend to stay towards the bottom. Mine never really swam. Just crawled on their fins

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