Transporting Sharks

[regionreef219]

Just a general question I have about how large sharks (or any large fish for that matter) are transported. I am not buying anything large but am generally curious.

Most fish when purchased from a store are in small bags and easy to transport. I was just at a pet store that had 4ft white tip and black tip sharks for sale ($8000 each). If someone was to purchase that animal I have a few questions.

Sharks were in a tank like 20ft by 10ft and like 4 ft deep. How would they get the shark out of there?
What would the sharks be transported in? Would you need a truck with its own tank for transportation?
Do you think they would verify the person had a suitable tank for the sharks to go in?

Just trying to connect the dots on how this shark would be moved. I only have a 40 gallon set up so again this is just because I am curious.

Thanks,

TB

 

[regionreef219]

Not sure why this ended up in the SPS discussion, needs to be moved to Fish discussion section.

 

[Dburr1014]

Generally I would think if you could afford that big of a tank... Someone installed it for you and they would also stock it for you.
Not always, there is a thread on here of the massive concrete tank home build.

 

[kenchilada]

Why didn't you just ask all this at the store?

 

[Tired]

I know when public aquariums move sharks that are of species which can't simply sit on the bottom, they either do it in large transport vats, or they put them in a narrow transport container that has flow constantly moving through the shark's gills. Nurse sharks, cat sharks, and other sharks that can sit on the bottom are much easier- just find a container big enough to hold them.

Some LFS will ask a customer what size their tank is if they're purchasing large animals, but many of them will sell whatever the customer wants, regardless of if it's likely to do well.

 

[regionreef219]

Why didn't you just ask all this at the store?

I had 20 minutes to waste before going to a family event. Store was busy and since I wasnt buying anything I did not want to bother the people who were dealing with actual customers.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

If someone was trying to buy an $8000 animal with very specific care and enclosure needs, I'm Sure the seller would be asking questions..

The company that stocks The lake I was a member of, used to truck the fish down from Idaho to Southern California.

They would show up with trailers with about an 8 ft circular vat that had a pump inside. Creating a circular flow in the fish would just be stationary holding their position. I think you could likely move a 4-ft shark like that as well

 

[Joe31415]

they would also stock it for you.

But the question isn't how to stock it, it's how do they physically transport these large fish.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I’ve seen them moved in large bins on trucks even better with heaters and powerheads. It really depends but obviously they aren’t put into little bags like fish typically are.

 

[Aspect]

They would be transported on a trailer in a huge vat with jets moving water over their gills as they cannot breathe without moving. Odd that a fish store carries them that large, typically they would obtain pups and sell them at their smallest size. Would a fortune to ship them out like that and would be a huge process with multiple people needed to acclimate that shark and then move into the new tank.

 

[Krj-2501]

Yes - they would use a truck with a good sized (500-1,000 gallon) stock tank with air pumps, or basic filtration to transport sharks and large fishes locally. Shipping Large Fishes 4 feet or more across country is possible with a bit better filtration.