200g large enugh for a brown spotted catshark?

devillion

devillion

Member
I have decided to buy a 200g(instead of trying to build one like i talked about in a previous post)aquarium,and was wondering if a brown spotted cat shark would be ok in this size aqaurium,and would i nead a soft substrate for him like ls?THANKS. A.S. :D
 
ichthyologist

ichthyologist

New Member
I would have to agree with mark on this one. They need a very large aquarium. the only shark that could live a good life in a 200 gallon is the horn shark.
Dave :)
 
dlight692000

dlight692000

Member
for a substrate make sure you get live sand or any kind of soft substrate, no crushed coral, sharks will scratch their stomachs easily and get infected, i dunno it is a IFY situation i would say , you can do it just make sure it is small before you buy it.
 
devillion

devillion

Member
the one that i have in mind to buy is only about 7in. long,so do they only grow to there enviroment or will they out grow the tank size,and get to large and have to be transfered to something bigger?
 
dlight692000

dlight692000

Member
well it is possible that it will grow out of that, but not for a while, sharks that you keep in home tanks arnt very interesting all they do is lay on the bottom, and you are spending a lot on a filter, UV sterilizer,skimmer and all the substrate, even tho the eppulaute(spelling?) is one of my favorite little sharks, i think you would be wasting your money, i to wanted a shark, i thought they were gonna be cool and i could feed them stuff and watch them go crazy, util i found out all they do is sleep and eat just like a cat, so i got triggers which would destory a shark, and they are a lot more interesting. now if you got a shark in that size tank you really couldnt put anything erlse in it except maybe a eel. but if you decidee not to go with the shark, the possibilities are endless, triggers puffers, eels etc..
 
dasnake03

dasnake03

Member
If you want a horn shark you would have to buy anexpencive chiller to keep the water cold since they are a cold water species.You could go with a coral banded shark,they are small enough, and are warm water fish, so you could keep some other fish with it unlike the horn shark.
 
mark24

mark24

Member
Well whether or not youll need to get a chiller is a small issue. Your tank is too small, you need a 300 gal tank period. I cant wait for lionfish to come back, most of you guy will get an ear full.
-Mark
 
L

lepardshrk4sale

Guest
dlight692000 you said sharks are like cats and that they just lay on the bottom and sleep, I think your exactly right in a way, "cat"-sharks are normally liek cats in that they sleep and just sit there, especially a baby cat, but I have to disagree and say that a shark liek a lepard shark are highly active and just liek triggers are fun to watch eat :D
 
risc

risc

Member
I breed and raise sharks exclusively, and a cat shark will do well in any tank from a 50 gallon to a oceanarium. In fact I even have all my cat shark eggs inside 30 gallon tanks until the day they hatch. I have a male brownbanded bamboo that is 37 inches long and has lived his whole life in a 125 gallon and a 540 gallon tank. He was just recently moved to the larger tank because I am trying to breed him with a 28" female. Some people don't like some sharks because they lie around all day and don't do anything, however if you plan right and with the right training you can get your sharks to be active most of the day. With the exception of a Wobbegong. If you don't have the time you can always buy a red spectrum light to view them at night while they are active since sharks do not see in the red spectrum. Many sharks require large tanks, eg: requiem sharks, especially Black tips, White tips, Nurse, Wobbegongs and the like. But there are many sharks that do very well in smaller tanks until they outgrow them. If a shark owner plans to keep the shark its whole life you definately will need to plan according to its size. If you don't plan to keep it then a 300+ gallon tank isn't required. You also want to be sure when buying a shark that you will be able to afford its habbits of lifestyle. I can tell you that it costs me $100 per tank to feed my sharks every month. Not to mention my +$400 electric bill to supply them with the appropriate habbitats.
A word about horn sharks and others from the Heterodontidae family... they don't require cold water. I have had port jacksons and horn sharks in 78F water for 3 years. The only advantage of keeping your sharks in colder water is that in the summer months when they have their growth spurts they will not grow *as much*. Warmer water causes them to get very large very quickly. And you can easily keep a horn shark in a 240 gallon its whole life. A port jackson on the other hand would require something more in the lines of 800-1000 gallon. Another thing a shark owner should always do before entering a new specimen into a tank with other tankmates is acclimate him in a spare tank with very low salinity 1.015 - 1.017 this will generally cause any carrying parasites to die off. It is also a good common practice to have some cleaner wrasse, hawkfish, or golden trevally in the tank to take care of any aquired parasites on your shark.
My two cents...
Jim
 
risc

risc

Member
Thought you guys might enjoy seeing this rare event. This is my 4 month old nurse shark with my 2 year old Brown Banded Bamboo Cat. This can show you the massive size differences between these different species. (This was taken from the top down so it's not a very good picture.) Hopefully this works =/
 
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