My BIG sharks - in HD!

[griseum]

Thought I'd share an updated video. Hope it came out halfway decent.


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[Dmorty217]

Great video

[JohnniG]

No shots from the side? :)

[jjk_reef00]

Really cool! How big is the tank/pond?

[moriarty]

Looks great! Did you change the lighting again?

[griseum]

Thanks!
Outside dimensions are 12'×12'. The edge is topped with 2"×6" so the internal dimension would be more like 11'×11'.

[coral102]

Cool! LOL

[Dmorty217]

What were the fish that were in the tank with them?

[G4546]

Awesome as always my friend! Cheers!

[griseum]

I've been slowly removing most of the fish that are in with the sharks. I recently purchased the 300DD from Marineland and put it inline with the system and moved some fish to that.
But in with the sharks are 2x vlamingi tangs at 14"-15", 3 yellow tangs, 2× soldierfish, big Colombian catfish, Durgeon, maculosus angel, Barred flagtail and two Epinephelus sp. Groupers

[Dmorty217]

Do you notice any nipping from the tangs or angel? Or are you moving them just so they don't become a meal?

[griseum]

Never any nipping. I had male-male aggression between grey bamboo males which resulted in bacterial infection. They have laid a total of about a dozen eggs now. Atleast one female is laying them. The first 6 were wind or eaten. I have five that have visible embryos in them.
So it's more for the latter. Increased food and temp has created very agressive sharks. They were/are attacking the fish.

[Dmorty217]

Makes sense I was just curious since typically angels and tangs aren't good tankmates with sharks, but it's nice to see your "were" working out

[griseum]

Makes sense I was just curious since typically angels and tangs aren't good tankmates with sharks, but it's nice to see your "were" working out

I would say that its still a gamble keeping tangs and angels with sharks. I can only attribute them not causing any injury because of very frequent feedings, ample hiding places for both the sharks and the fish.

When properly kept, adult bamboo sharks should be more of a danger to smaller teleosts than vice-versa.

Just an update: found another egg this morning, waiting for the other to show up soon.

[griseum]

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/27/3514cb431b651833f2f363366d4fa972.jpg

Basket of eggs !!

[Dmorty217]

Thats awesome

[humaguy]

too cool!

[caribfan]

Omelet time! Anybody....nobody...

[griseum]

Omelet time! Anybody....nobody...

I have to say that one of the most awful smells I have ever engaged my nose in smelling is that of a "fouled" shark egg. Absolutely awful.

Thanks for the compliments! Was able to locate the other egg last night. I have an egg-eating shark that I have to beat to the punch every time they lay an egg. My big White-Spotted Female. Caught her about a month ago with a freshly laid egg in her mouth and she was shaking her head back and forth rather viciously trying to rip it open. I had to lift her out of the water in order for her to finally drop it. Prior to that, I found a few eggs that were pushed in on one side completely, and void of embryo and yolk. Those were her first victims.

One of the reasons I have focused so much on the Grey Bamboo as a breeding project is their Adult Size. Compared to the much more available Brown-Banded and the White-Spotted Bamboos, the Grey Bamboo has a much smaller total length. I would say that the females, which grow slightly longer and larger than the males, are barely 24" plus/minus an inch. Whereas the C. punctatum and C. plagiosum are literally, at the same age, a good 6"-10" longer and still growing.

I recently heard a statistic somewhere, and I'm not positive how it was determined, or its accuracy... But the average lifespan of aquarium sharks, that are sold to marine aquarists everyday at the LFS or E-tailer, is less than ONE month!!
This is something I have known, intuitively, but had never heard someone else, perhaps on the television or the internet(?) validate it!
All too often, wild caught sharks, after the stress of shipping or improper handling, never eat for the LFS or for the customer. Suffering from Ammonia/Gill Burn, Brown Blood syndrome, internal parasites, external Monogenea spp., scratches and scrapes which almost always result in secondary fungal and bacterial infections that can kill a shark within two or three days. (Thats why you see my beautiful milk crates and not a lot of LR.)

Just as Captive Bred Clownfish, Filefish, and Dragonets are much hardier and take aquarium foods almost immediately, I believe these captive bred Greys will be as well. From the only two scholarly articles I could find, both stemming from India, the eggs should hatch in roughly 60-100 days from day 1. The difference in size of these egg cases compared to those of the Brown-Banded that you may see at your LFS is incredible. Grey bamboo egg cases are about a third of that size! Roughly 2 inches long and ~1.5 inches wide, and not very thick either.

Ill try to take some more and better quality photos, with a real camera for a change.

[humaguy]

excellent info here...thanks!

for the average hobbyist, is keeping a shark a good idea?
which sharks are easiest to keep?
do they all need sand beds?
is lr a bad thing for them?

lol, sorry about all the questions, just curious...

thanks,

ted

[TNTtropical]

Great info man keep up on the captive breeding!

[alprazo]

Great work

I want to say epaulettes are the easiest shark to take care of in the home aquarium. But pricey coming from Australia. How often do you see a 30+ inch Eppie though? It rarely ever happens. Like mentioned before, they seem to die before maturity like the grays and brown banded. I think people do a terrible job with them. It is sad and maybe a captive grown sustainable stock is the way to go for these. Glad to see someone putting the effort into breeding.

[Dmorty217]

It is truly sad how many are bought on a whim and die because the purchaser knows little to nothing about sharks and is ill prepared to do so. I think most would be appalled at the actual number... This holds true for more difficult fish that are easily obtainable like regal angels, copperband BF, tamarin wrasse... Basically any sticky there is on RC about a specific fish. You would think that just saying the word shark people would be scared away but instead it seems like the guy with the 55g gravitates towards the shark when he knows full well that he will never keep the shark for the duration of it life or should be life

[griseum]

Great work


Only lucky enough to have your incredible experience and knowledge available. I owe many thanks to you !!


excellent info here...thanks!

for the average hobbyist, is keeping a shark a good idea?
which sharks are easiest to keep?
do they all need sand beds?
is lr a bad thing for them?

lol, sorry about all the questions, just curious...


No problem with questions! I'll try to answer to the best of my ability, and with as much objectivity as possible, LOL.
Depending on what you mean by "average aquarist", experience, knowledge, available information, budget, access to medications and other experienced shark keepers, as well as time, because this end of the hobby can be extremely time consuming, and patience.

These may all be common threads throughout marine and Reef aquarium keeping, yet I feel as if this takes it to another level. Perhaps on par with the demands of the larger and more complex ULNS, SPS tanks.

The biggest problem, right out of the box, is that LFS bring in juveniles of 3 or 4 common shark species. These are Brownbanded, white-spotted, Hasselts (or Indonesian) Bamboos and one catshark species, the Coral catshark. Not enough people have aquariums that are anywhere near large enough to house these sharks as they grow. Nevermind having a large and proper QT for them and the knowledge and Meds to carry out a good quarantine.

As far as the "easiest" to keep... Without a doubt the Family of CarpetSharks called Hemyscillidae, under which two genera fall, Chiloscyllium and Hemyscillium a.k.a. Bamboo sharks and Epaulette sharks, respectively. The Eppies truly live up to the name "walking sharks". Some new species have been recently discovered, often native to the Western Coast of Australia up to Papua New Guinea, and now, the newly described H. halmahera in Indonesia.

The Bamboo sharks do not "walk" as much, and spend much more time swimming, IME. I have found that once fully acclimatized, with the large square footage of my pond, Bamboo sharks shed that veil of being lazy, nocturnal and inactive, often swimming all day long!

As far as sand and live rock... I wouldn't say they NEED a sand bed. They could live well in a properly maintained bare bottom system. However, I believe they would be more comfortable with a shallow sand bed. They are capable of kicking up tons of sand, as this is how they hunt for invertebrates like marine worms, small snails and crabs, etc. So a deep sand bed would not be a good idea unless it was connected remotely. When choosing sand for a shark tank/pond the size of the grain is what's important. The best would be a shallow layer of sugar fine or Oolitic aragonite sand. Larger grain sizes, especially when nearing crushed coral or dolomite in size, the sand may irritate the shark's skin and in turn result in secondary infections.

The same goes for live rock... when thinking about live rock, one must think of the overall strength of an adult Bamboo shark, which is weighed in kilos compared to even the largest bony fish which may way a few hundred grams. A 30" shark, with a considerable girth at that size, is extremely powerful. They could easily topple a pile of LR. This could result in the crushing of a shark or an injury, that once again could result in a secondary bacterial function.

I mention secondary bacterial infections because they are IMO the fastest and surest way that a completely healthy shark could/can die within 48 hours. A shark keeper would be prudent to have a large arsenal of medications on hand at all times. Several gram negative, or broad spectrum antibiotics are a must-have. If possible having two or three that work synergistically is best!