Hatched Coral Banded Catshark!

MSB123 · Sep 13, 2018

Alright. First one is still breathing and staying relatively still. I think it was hatched early and still has a small sack attached.
Shark Number 2 is doing really well! Ate a ghost shrimp today and it seems as if it was eating some brine I put in for the other fish. Lots of movement and I am hoping it moves a lot tonight. Going strong!

FishDoc · Sep 13, 2018

Why do people keep sharks...;Facepalm

MSB123 · Sep 13, 2018

FishDoc said:
Why do people keep sharks...;Facepalm

have you read the entire thread?
In post #7 I clearly state that these guys are going to my local aquarium to help kids learn about our oceans.

MSB123 said:
Yes and no. We all want a bigger tank, and it is definitely in the plans for when we move in about 6 months. I wanted to hatch these guys and have fun with it- my local aquarium wants them once they get to 8”.

I get it, you see "Shark" and want to be the morally right person in the situation, but if we are discussing morals, is fish keeping morally right?
We all have different reasons and opinions, but lets keep this thread happy. If you have issues with me raising sharks for the aquarium, Please let me know and we can have a thoughtful conversation about it. Asking a flippant question does not help anybody advance or help anyone learn.
Thanks!

James M · Sep 13, 2018

Why don’t people read the whole thread ;Facepalm

just joking around

kangadrew · Sep 13, 2018

They'll get to 8" in no time, 3 months at most. I'd plan on having them around 1.5-2 months before they are a solid 8 inches, if you get them eating well.
Like others have said - getting them eating well is paramount for now.

I know you plan to get rid of them after 8 inches - but what's the long-term plan for them after that, as far as tank size?
Brown banded bamboo sharks (there is no "coral banded catshark", catsharks belong to the family Scyliorhinidae while bamboos are in the Hemiscyllidae family), should reach at least 3 feet in length, 42 inches isn't far-fetched. Once you get above that, you've got a really large one.
They may not seem active, and during the day they really aren't - but if you've seen them at night, they are actually quite active. Two adults will require a pond either 12x4 or 12x5 in an oval/rectangular shape or at least 8 feet in diameter if it's a round one. Bigger if more elasmobranchs are going to be included.
Systems that size (900+ gallons) tend to follow a slightly different set of rules than, say, reef and FOWLR tanks under a few hundred gallons. The main one would be filtration - a large sand or bead filter is going to be a far better means of filtration than a skimmer (running both would be the superior method, but if choosing just one - run the sand/bead filter, to focus more on mechanical filtration of large waste).

I don't agree with FishDoc's opinion, that nobody should keep sharks. There are certainly aquarists who do it, and who do it well (there's a forum, that's relatively inactive, with shark keepers on it - some members have lagoons well over 10k gallons). But I do agree, the majority of aquarists are not prepared to handle sharks. And many are in it for the wrong reasons - they think having a shark is "cool", and use it as an ego booster. IMO (and the opinion of many of the most successful private shark keepers), keeping the apex predators of the oceans requires a special dedication and a special respect to the animal, that very few other aquatic animals requires.

Best of luck with them
Drew

tweeter · Sep 13, 2018

That is so cool!!!

MSB123 · Sep 13, 2018

kangadrew said:
They'll get to 8" in no time, 3 months at most. I'd plan on having them around 1.5-2 months before they are a solid 8 inches, if you get them eating well.
Like others have said - getting them eating well is paramount for now.

I know you plan to get rid of them after 8 inches - but what's the long-term plan for them after that, as far as tank size?
Brown banded bamboo sharks (there is no "coral banded catshark", catsharks belong to the family Scyliorhinidae while bamboos are in the Hemiscyllidae family), should reach at least 3 feet in length, 42 inches isn't far-fetched. Once you get above that, you've got a really large one.
They may not seem active, and during the day they really aren't - but if you've seen them at night, they are actually quite active. Two adults will require a pond either 12x4 or 12x5 in an oval/rectangular shape or at least 8 feet in diameter if it's a round one. Bigger if more elasmobranchs are going to be included.
Systems that size (900+ gallons) tend to follow a slightly different set of rules than, say, reef and FOWLR tanks under a few hundred gallons. The main one would be filtration - a large sand or bead filter is going to be a far better means of filtration than a skimmer (running both would be the superior method, but if choosing just one - run the sand/bead filter, to focus more on mechanical filtration of large waste).

I don't agree with FishDoc's opinion, that nobody should keep sharks. There are certainly aquarists who do it, and who do it well (there's a forum, that's relatively inactive, with shark keepers on it - some members have lagoons well over 10k gallons). But I do agree, the majority of aquarists are not prepared to handle sharks. And many are in it for the wrong reasons - they think having a shark is "cool", and use it as an ego booster. IMO (and the opinion of many of the most successful private shark keepers), keeping the apex predators of the oceans requires a special dedication and a special respect to the animal, that very few other aquatic animals requires.

Best of luck with them
Drew

Thank you for talking the time to do this great write up! Very helpful! I am doing it for the challenge. I love doing projects like this and it always feels good to succeed. They are going to an aquarium with many full grown sharks. They have massive tanks along with many dedicated keepers. I personally want to keep them to about 8” because that is as big as I want them to be in my tank. The aquarium is the Monterey bay aquarium.

dodgerblew · Sep 13, 2018

Where did you find shark eggs? Good luck and thanks for sharing. SB is one of my favorite places to be. I didn't know they had a public aquarium. I'll need to check it out.

P.S. I wish Pallazios on State St would reopen!

MSB123 · Sep 13, 2018

dodgerblew said:
Where did you find shark eggs? Good luck and thanks for sharing. SB is one of my favorite places to be. I didn't know they had a public aquarium. I'll need to check it out.

P.S. I wish Pallazios on State St would reopen!

We don’t have an aquarium

I am talking them to Montery bay because I have family in montery and we will be there for thanksgiving and again for Christmas.

MSB123 · Sep 13, 2018

dodgerblew said:
Where did you find shark eggs? Good luck and thanks for sharing. SB is one of my favorite places to be. I didn't know they had a public aquarium. I'll need to check it out.

P.S. I wish Pallazios on State St would reopen!

Same here! Are you local?

MSB123 · Sep 13, 2018

Here is some un eaten shark chow- can you spot the ghost shrimp who thinks he is a saltwater fish? Been in the tanks for about 2 hours now- still alive!

dodgerblew · Sep 13, 2018

No, Palmdale but love the 2+ hour ride to get there to hang out. My wife spent a lot of her childhood up there with an aunt who lived up by the mission. My son played some ball up there at UCSB and Westmont. Always looked forward to it and then dinner at Pallazios. Heck, we'd drive out there just for dinner, order larges and then eat the leftovers for dinner next night lol

MSB123 · Sep 14, 2018

dodgerblew said:
No, Palmdale but love the 2+ hour ride to get there to hang out. My wife spent a lot of her childhood up there with an aunt who lived up by the mission. My son played some ball up there at UCSB and Westmont. Always looked forward to it and then dinner at Pallazios. Heck, we'd drive out there just for dinner, order larges and then eat the leftovers for dinner next night lol

I also Get free saltwater from UCSB!

kangadrew · Sep 14, 2018

MSB123 said:
Thank you for talking the time to do this great write up! Very helpful! I am doing it for the challenge. I love doing projects like this and it always feels good to succeed. They are going to an aquarium with many full grown sharks. They have massive tanks along with many dedicated keepers. I personally want to keep them to about 8” because that is as big as I want them to be in my tank. The aquarium is the Monterey bay aquarium.

No problem, always happy to help

That's a great reason to keep sharks. The times I personally have an issue with it are when people do it for an ego booster - which you clearly are not. Kudos to you.
I thought you had meant a LFS for some reason - I have no doubts that Monterey Bay will take excellent care of them! Someone on the shark/ray forums was actually in charge of the sharks there for many years, haven't heard anything from her in a few years though.
Have you confirmed with Monterey Bay that they will be taking them? I would get it in writing that they have confirmed taking them in, as many times public aquariums won't just take in animals.

If you're talking about a standard 6x2x2 180 gallon, you'd be fine for two bamboos up to 12 inches each. 13" or 14" if absolutely necessary, but I'd get them into something bigger past a foot long.

Drew

MSB123 · Sep 14, 2018

kangadrew said:
No problem, always happy to help

That's a great reason to keep sharks. The times I personally have an issue with it are when people do it for an ego booster - which you clearly are not. Kudos to you.
I thought you had meant a LFS for some reason - I have no doubts that Monterey Bay will take excellent care of them! Someone on the shark/ray forums was actually in charge of the sharks there for many years, haven't heard anything from her in a few years though.
Have you confirmed with Monterey Bay that they will be taking them? I would get it in writing that they have confirmed taking them in, as many times public aquariums won't just take in animals.

If you're talking about a standard 6x2x2 180 gallon, you'd be fine for two bamboos up to 12 inches each. 13" or 14" if absolutely necessary, but I'd get them into something bigger past a foot long.

Drew

Thanks! I have spoken with them many times about taking the sharks. I also cannot stand people who keep fish for ego reasons- ie- tangs in a much too small tank.

Dsnakes · Sep 14, 2018

Very cool! I hope the little guys keep eating for you

kangadrew · Sep 14, 2018

MSB123 said:
Thanks! I have spoken with them many times about taking the sharks. I also cannot stand people who keep fish for ego reasons- ie- tangs in a much too small tank.

Perfect - great to hear that you've got arrangements for them. I believe they've taken a few other sharks in before.
I don't think tangs and sharks can be put much on the same level. Tangs are often kept in too small of tanks, but sharks almost always are outside of public aquaria. There are exceptions to this rule, of course.
A few that come to mind:

Chris Aliva of Canadian Marine Aquaculture, responsible for many new species of benthic sharks coming into the US/Canada, bred many of them as well
Matt Hall, private hobbyist that built a 36,000 gallon for his sharks
Josh Seguine, "shark dealer" that originally built a 7,500 gallon lagoon for some sharks who were rescues, that eventually went into a lagoon around 20,000 gallons. He's out of the hobby now I believe, but he had plans to build up to about 50,000 gallons for his sharks. Also brought over some of the first grey reef sharks in the US
Griseum, he's on the "other forum" but he's got something like a 3,000 gallon system including a 2,000 gallon bamboo breeding pond and multiple macroalgae and reef tanks, mostly naturally maintained. He buys fish from the LFS with diseases, puts them in his "natural" tanks, and they usually heal up pretty well

There are a few other guys, but those are definitely some of the best keepers, IMO. They're dedicated to their hobby on a level that is really required to have success with these animals.
I had dreams of a zebra shark someday, not sure that will ever happen. Maybe when I'm retired I'll build a big lagoon and hatch one, but I don't have the time to maintain something that size right now

Drew