Great White Lessons

[dennycrane]

I've noticed in this forum that two of the lessons hardest to learn is what species is compatible with another species, and what animal can fit in what tank. Usually this has to do with a shark and some other species such as an angel or trigger. It seems many aquariests just go on what color combinations will look coolest in the aquarium, or how big a tank necessary for a juvenile.
Fear not, fellow hobbiest. Because it seems that even the professionals are having trouble with this.

I caught a MONTERAY BAY AQUARUM special on one of the nameless HD channels this weekend about their successful venture into captivity of a GREAT WHITE SHARK. They seem to have perfected a method of open water net cage captivity where the animal gets accustomed to being fed and then a tranfer to a housed aquarium where the shark avoids the stress of learning to eat in an alien environment.
Before anyone asks, they have like a 5 million gallon tank, and no you can't get one for you tank. :hilarious I'm kidding.
Anywho, with all do respect and congratulations for passing the captivity issue with this animal, it seems these same brilliant minds stuck this 78 lb Great White Shark in a tank with countless other inhabitants (including a prized shark collection, various fish, and tuna).

The animal did great in captivity. Too great, in fact. After growing 17 inches and putting on 100 extra pounds :scared: the aquariests at MBA began to take into consideration this animals potential full size - Over 20 Feet!!!

Then problem #2 arose...their Great White Shark started acting like a Great White Shark. It began stalking and eating various inhabitants of the tank (mainly the other sharks). So our heroric MBA Aquariests decided in the end perhaps they didn't have enough tank and the shark should be set free... which of course, they did.
See? Even the Pros screw this up

At least they proved it could be done.

 

[jr2857]

if it was kept alone in a like 10 million gallon tank it would be ok.

 

[pontius]

what was the screwup? was the experiment to keep the shark alive, or to have it live peacefully with other animals? they were successful in the first case.

 

[aw2]

They knew they were risking it potentially eating tankmates...they just didnt know it would happen so quickly. Having many good friends at Shedd Aquarium, in Chicago, I got to talk to a few of the researchers/biologists/scientists that work at MBA and were working on the Great White project. They fully knew the risks, but were concerned when they started coming to work every morning and realized there was one less shark/fish in the tank.

Their main goal was to capture, relocate and study the specimen in a public aquarium. Of the hundreds of attempts, by public aquariums around the world, they were the first to do it successfully.
They are planning on other captures, of juvenile Great Whites and doing the same as they did with the first. The one restricting thing, as I was told by one of the MBA people...finding a tank big enough to keep it by itself.

 

[fallnhorse]

yes a sucessful failure i believe they call that. Now your getting Jr. all excited about shark talk.

. Well i'll scratch the regret not majoring in marine biology a little less.

 

[psusocr1]

i saw the site of a blacktip shark that got eatin by another blacktip shark(if not a blacktip it was a tiger ) at the aquarium in the mall of america...anyone else see this??

 

[jr2857]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
i saw the site of a blacktip shark that got eatin by another blacktip shark(if not a blacktip it was a tiger ) at the aquarium in the mall of america...anyone else see this??
oh yeah i went there 2 years ago and heard of a shark getting eaten and another getting injured.

 

[dennycrane]

It was an interesting show, nevertheless. You got to applaud their breaking that barrier with such success. One concern I had about the shark just from watching the program, was that although the shark looked happily ill tempered (as I suppose you want your Great White to look) there was what IMO looked like substantial impact damage to the animal's nose. In fact it looked as if the tip of the nose had worn off. To be fair, I don't know if this occured while in the tank or prior to being captured, but it looked suspicious.
I'd like to see further successes from the MBA with this project in the future.

 

[nyhcx516x]

I wathced that show, and i was glued to the TV for the first time in a while.

 

[keleighr]

I just missed seeing her. THey released her right before we had planned our trip!! Oh well she is back where she was supposed to be.
Also, if you are from out of town and want places to go in Cally, Monterey is amazing!! The Whale watching IS AMAZING!
http://montereybaywhalewatch.com/
There is nothing like seeing a Killer Whale in the wild. THANK YOU for video cameras!!!!

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by DennyCrane
I've noticed in this forum that two of the lessons hardest to learn is what species is compatible with another species, and what animal can fit in what tank. Usually this has to do with a shark and some other species such as an angel or trigger. It seems many aquariests just go on what color combinations will look coolest in the aquarium, or how big a tank necessary for a juvenile.
Fear not, fellow hobbiest. Because it seems that even the professionals are having trouble with this.

I caught a MONTERAY BAY AQUARUM special on one of the nameless HD channels this weekend about their successful venture into captivity of a GREAT WHITE SHARK. They seem to have perfected a method of open water net cage captivity where the animal gets accustomed to being fed and then a tranfer to a housed aquarium where the shark avoids the stress of learning to eat in an alien environment.
Before anyone asks, they have like a 5 million gallon tank, and no you can't get one for you tank. :hilarious I'm kidding.
Anywho, with all do respect and congratulations for passing the captivity issue with this animal, it seems these same brilliant minds stuck this 78 lb Great White Shark in a tank with countless other inhabitants (including a prized shark collection, various fish, and tuna).

The animal did great in captivity. Too great, in fact. After growing 17 inches and putting on 100 extra pounds :scared: the aquariests at MBA began to take into consideration this animals potential full size - Over 20 Feet!!!

Then problem #2 arose...their Great White Shark started acting like a Great White Shark. It began stalking and eating various inhabitants of the tank (mainly the other sharks). So our heroric MBA Aquariests decided in the end perhaps they didn't have enough tank and the shark should be set free... which of course, they did.
See? Even the Pros screw this up

At least they proved it could be done.
accually I watch the discovery channel all the time also and the travel channel they recently had a veiwing of the largest aquarium in the world .they have managed to keep a young great white for the maximun period of 2 weeks for medical reasons only . if the largest aquarium in the world still cannot keep an adult great white in captivity no others will be able to acheive this either.this shark is unlike any other shark known to man when it comes to its habits and requirements to keep one for long periods of time.

 

[dennycrane]

That used to be the opinion of the scientific community until the MBA tried it. I jokingly flamed them about their choice to keep the GWS in a "community" tank, but actually they were quite successful. The animal was very well adapted to its captive environment to the extent that it was displaying all behavior patterns of a non-captive GWS. The animal was kept at the MBA from 6 months to a year (I can't remember which) and then released alive because it started eating it's tankmates. The shark would have continued to live in its captive environment probably until it outgrew the aquarium. Should they have had a tank size dedicated to this fish and with proper tank mates, MBA would be able to keep a GWS for display. They put a GPS tracker on it and at its last contact the shark was 150 miles away from where it was released which, curiously was the the area it had been caught. Effectively, it swam home. :joy:
So there you go. You learn something new everyday.