Hammerhead?

photoman

photoman

Member
Ok. Now I am finally moved into my house and have my 30 gallon set back up. My office is huge and I have room for a rather large tank now. My dream would be to have a large tank with a hammerhead. ......Is this possible? Where would you get one? What size tank would I need? Any input would be greatly app.
Thanks,
Chris
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
how big?
huuuuuuuuuuuuge!!
they are unlike most of the sharks that are kept in the home aquarium because they are swimmers instead of sand-sitters.
go to you local aquarium and check it out. youd basicaly need a huge pool, and i still dont know about it if it is even legal. And think about how much it would cost to feed a huge hammerhead?!
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Yeah, I would just give up on that idea right now. You would need like a 2,000-3,000 gallon aquarium! You must have an imporant job to have an office that size. I don't even think a tank like that would fit in the oval office.
 
photoman

photoman

Member
Well Its not my work office.....Its my office at home. I have about a 12 foot wall I can use for a tank. If a hammerhead wont work then what kind of shark do you suggest? The main reason I said hammerhead is I saw one in a tank in Panama City Beach. Tank wasnt that large (200-250gal) but your right all it did was swim in cirles.....amazing fish. How fast would they grow?
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
wow!! how small was the shark then?
like any large, agressive fish, hammerheads will grow very quickly because of their high protein diet.
different types of catsharks are very popular, and you have have 2 or so in a 220 gallon.
shovelnose and even lemon sharks are popular, but you would need a bit of a bigger tank for those.
 
fishtanknewbie

fishtanknewbie

Member
Are you sure that was a hammerhead and not a bonnethead sharks? :notsure: The reason I asked is that there is a guy on this forum who has bonnets heads is his rather large shark pool and they look rather the same but bonnets heads are a litllte smaller. I could of been a bonnet head! :thinking: Did you take any pictures of the sharks you ssaw in those tanks?
 
fishnerd

fishnerd

Member
Originally Posted by fishtanknewbie
Are you sure that was a hammerhead and not a bonnethead sharks? :notsure: The reason I asked is that there is a guy on this forum who has bonnets heads is his rather large shark pool and they look rather the same but bonnets heads are a litllte smaller. I could of been a bonnet head! :thinking: Did you take any pictures of the sharks you ssaw in those tanks?
Sounds like a Bonnethead to me.
I work at a public aquarium, and our shark exhibit is 225,000 gallons with no hammerheads. bonnetheads still need a tank over 3,000 gallons.
 
photoman

photoman

Member
I am 100% positive that it was a hammerhead. I even asked one of the staff. Unfortunately I didnt take a pic. It was about 10inches long. Does anyone have any pics of the sharks that was spoken of above? How big of a tank can you fit in a 12ft of space? My 30 is my "tame" tank so I am looking to go aggressive in my new one.
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
The largest standard tanks are only 6 feet long. A custom tank of 24x24x144 would be 360 gallons. If you want to go stupendously big, you might want an architect to look at your floor and give you a load rating.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Well how high is the area and what you are looking at as far as width? There is a guy on here that just custom built his 2700 gallon aqaurium, and as you can see from the pics, that takes up a lot of space. Are you willing to put all the money into such a large aquarium? It is definitely going to run you $10,000-$20,000 just to get it built, filtration, etc.
Also a hammerhead would not last in a 240 any longer than 6 months, maybe close to a year if it has VERY slow growth. As mentioned, they are constant swimmers, so they need as much space as physically possible. Definitely not a fish for the home aquarium, unless your aquarium is almos as large as a public aquarium.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I don't even see how that is possible (not that I am calling you a liar). I am putting $2500 into my 210 and that is without fish as well. Did you get your stuff on extreme discount or something?
 
requiem

requiem

Member
Photoman, Requiem here and what you are talking abought is probably called a Scalloped hammerhead shark "Sphyrna lewini". They can reach 14.5' in length and are more commonly seen at 11'-12'. Scalloped hammerhead shark or Sphyrna lewini are free swimming sharks called requiem sharks or Pelagic sharks. Meaning they can not stop swimming or the will DIE. It is possible to keep one of these sharks as a juvenile in an aquarium around 15000 gallons or 24'x16'x5'. But as the shark grows it will need an aquarium around ½ of a million gallons. As a marine bio and a hobbyist. I urge you not to even indulge in the thought of keeping one of these sharks in a home aquarium. If you are thinking of keeping sharks that look like hammerheads. Then I suggest you go with a Bonnet heads. They only reach a max length of 4' and will live in aquariums around 2700 gallons or 14'x5.5'x5' for life.
PS I work at a zoo and we do not even keep a Scalloped hammerhead.
There are only 3 places that I know of in the USA for a fact that keep full grown Scalloped hammerhead sharks they are the Monterey bay aquarium, Living seas aquarium, and Atlantis paradise island aquarium.
DO NOT KEEP THE SCALLOPED HAMMERHEAD SHARK IN HOME AQUARIUMS.
REQUIEM :D
 
fishnerd

fishnerd

Member
THANK YOU REQUIEM!!!
If it makes it any better, I don't think anyone would ship a hammerhead, and if they would, freight alone would be an easy $1,000
My work (Public Aquarium) recently got Australian Sawfish, and freight was around $4,000.
 
photoman

photoman

Member
Ok ok ok......lol.....I will kill my dream of a hammerhead as we speak (type)
. Does anyone have any other ideas as to possible stock? I want something really beautiful that doesnt require a 2700 gal tank.lol
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
As far as beautiful fish, that all depends on what you think is beautiful. Angels, butterflies, tangs, lions, etc. can all be beautiful and you definitely do not need a 2,700 gallon aquarium for them. 200-300 will be plenty for a "beautiful" tank.
And as far as those sharks, I have a picture of what requiem was talking about (I was at Atlantis in the Bahamas where they have a ton of them in an outdoor lagoon)
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
I personally would find it interesting to have a large school of smaller fish rather than a single large specimen.
 
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