black tip reef sharks

[jim27]

I just got back from one of my local fish stores and I have to say they have an AWSOME set-up there, its a 1000 gallon tank with two baby black tip reef sharks about 1 1/2-2 feet long each, some sort of moray eel and a volitan lionfish.It was sooooo cool looking! After seeing the tank I started to wonder how long those two sharks will be able to live in a tank that size. Anyone know?

 

[grouperhead]

they wont live in that tank, its not nearly big enough. black tips get very large and need huge tanks. bo

 

[mark-24]

Black tip reef sharks need at least 100,000 gallons to live in. Very Very Very Very few people have tanks big enough for black tip reef sharks (only risc has a big enough tank). My lfs has a black tip reef shark in a 180 gallon tank, I've voiced my opinion over and over again, but they just dont want to listen at all. I just went there today and in that 180 gallon tank they have the black tip, 5 leopard sharks, and a nurse shark in it. It wouldn't be so bad if those sharks were smaller species like bamboos, or horns. Seeing those sharks really really bugs me.
-Mark

 

[jim27]

Originally posted by Mark-24:
<STRONG>I just went there today and in that 180 gallon tank they have the black tip, 5 leopard sharks, and a nurse shark in it.
-Mark</STRONG>
How big are those sharks? Do they even have enough room to swim without bumping into each other in that small of a tank? I never knew people could be that cruel to sharks. All the fish stores by me that get sharks in stock(most of the places you have to ask them to order you one) have 100g tanks for there baby sharks and never seen more than 3 sharks in them at one time.
[ September 09, 2001: Message edited by: JIM27 ]

 

[mark-24]

The biggest one is the black tip, it's a bout a foot and a half, still pisses me off, theres also an atlantic stingray in it.
-mark

 

[kingklowntrigguh]

What would be the smallest size tank for black tip reef sharks?

 

[jim27]

I wouldn't buy from a store that treats sharks like that.

 

[dlight692000]

if they are a foot and a half, it will be fine, let it go. yes in like 4 years they may need to upgrade, and they probably have plans to do so... i think a 1000 gallon setup in a lfs is awesome, even if they didnt have those awesome sharks

 

[jim27]

Originally posted by dlight692000:
<STRONG>if they are a foot and a half, it will be fine, let it go. yes in like 4 years they may need to upgrade, and they probably have plans to do so... i think a 1000 gallon setup in a lfs is awesome, even if they didnt have those awesome sharks</STRONG>
I'm not complaining about black tip reef sharks in the 1000 gallon at my lfs, I'm talking about the 7 sharks and 1 stingray in the 180 gallon that Mark-24 told me about.

 

[dlight692000]

ooo lol holy s*** my bad, that just isnt right.

 

[risc]

Anyone who has a Black tip in anything less than a 1,000 should be shot. That is animal cruelty. Seeing that Mark-24 you mentioned having all those sharks crammed into a 180 gallon tank... that is just screwed up and wrong. Black tips are born between 12 to 20 inches. That already is far too large for a 180 gallon. Not to mention Black tips need to swim constantly to survive... and a 180 does not give ample space for them to live happily. Black tips never get very large about 40 inches max. You can safely house 4 of them in a 3,500 gallon tank. Assuming your tank is about 28x4x4 feet. However I recommend something more in the lines of 5,500 gallon. Black tips are also very destructive and can and will try to jump out of their tanks. Not exactly something LFS should be selling AT ALL in my opinion. Having them as a attraction to draw customers is just about as bad, because now you are going to have hundreds of people with 200 gallon tanks wanting to cram these beautiful creatures into their aquariums sending them to their deaths. Wrong... period.
Jim

 

[mark-24]

What's weird is that besides that 1 tank, it's one of the nicest lfs I've been to. The actually feed frozen food to all the caravorious fish. The guy that works there is really smart, knows his stuff. But i've told the owner many many times how much i hate that tank. It was a great lookin reef til one day I went in there and they had 2 black tips. Also, the reason I say nothing less then 100k is that the aquarium I work at has a black tip reef shark in a 93,000 gallon tank, and it's stunting its growth, but it's big for a black tip over 3 feet.
-Mark

 

[risc]

Mark-24:
That is pretty odd that a 93,000 gallon tank is stunting his growth. More likely all the fish in there with him is the main cause of it. Sharks magnetic sensory organs that provide them with their main sense of movement and locomotion direction sounds like it's more to blame. They are sensing a lot of presense around them and it causes them to feel cramped. I've seen blacktips in 2,100 gallon tanks full grown and they look wonderful. Of course they are the only fish in the tank.
Jim

 

[mark-24]

There are an awful lot of fish in there inculeding a 5-6 foot zebra, 3 full grown bamboo sharks (they hide all day), a huge school of sea perch, a bunch of cow nosed rays, and lot of smaller fish. Next time I go, I'll take to Jessica about it. But needless to say black tip reef sharks get way too big for amlost everyone.
-Mark

 

[risc]

Mark-24:
I don't know if you have heard of Underwater World here in Minnesota. It's a large public aquarium. They have fresh water and saltwater both. One part of it is called Shark Cove and it has over 50 sharks and stingrays. It has Sandbar sharks, three 10 foot Nurse sharks, a Sandtiger, a few bonnet-heads, a few black tips, and our giant Loggerhead sea turtle. They also have some southern stingrays with 5 foot spans. The aquarium is really packed with other fish too. I believe it's somewhere in the area of 130,000 gallons. The only shark with any problem in that whole tank is the sandtiger. I believe he is just suffering from a curvature of the spine too. Other than that all are doing well.
Jim

 

[mark-24]

Won't those souther stingrays eventually get eaten by the sandtiger. We lost a southern stingray and an atlantic stingray was harrasses by one other the 4 sandtigers in the 850k gallon Caribbean tank.
-Mark

 

[risc]

Uh no... the Sandtiger isn't even of any size close to what would be able to devour those rays. The rays are one of the largest animals in the tank... and there is 3 of them I believe.

 

[mark-24]

Well the biggest sandtiger in the tank here is 9' 6", I'd say its's pretty big.
-Mark

 

[aquaman2]

ive been to that place, you can pet sharks and sting rays their relly neat. They said the clip the rays stinger every two weeks.

 

[whaa...?]

places like seaworld have tanks big enough for sharks like that cause they have a butt-load of sharks in a tank that had an escalator coing through it anyone no how many gallons it is?