Hatching Bamboo shark eggs

arasa

arasa

Member
I got a great setup for the bamboo shark since the last time I posted. (400 gallon custom made) It has been nearly a month and Im considering an egg. I wish I can share the pictures with you but all have is a 90s film camera.
Anyways, has anyone been able to hatch these eggs in captivity and some how gotten them to eat within a couple of days. Is there anything you can do to help it hatch, perhaps water parameters, temp?
I recently went to my LFS and saw an egg that had the brown and black markings already visible. Would this be a good hatch?
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Hatching bamboo's is always tricking. It's a tough call to say most of them don't make it, but the numbers of bamboo hatchlings that perish is rather depressing.
I was able to successfully hatch a bamboo for my LFS quite some time ago. He was doing great in the egg, slowly using up his yoke. Then he finally used all of it and we were waiting for him to hatch. Well, about a solid week went by, everyday I ran inside from the car after work everyday hoping to have a hatched Bamboo, only to find him still in the egg. That weekend we made the call to artificially hatch him (tear the egg open). Well after some struggles, we finally cracked it open enough (more like tear strand by strand) to plop him out. Initially he just acted limb, and we thought "Oh no!" but trying to slide him out of the egg he sprang to life. After about 15mins, he finally settled down. Took about 2 weeks to finally get him on food, mysis and the tiniest pieces of silversides.
If you do decide to try this, here are some pointers;
make sure your tank is thoroughly established first and the parameters are perfect. Unlike most other fish, sharks are easily bothered by even moderately high nitrates (anything over 35ppm is a risk). Also your tank should have soft sand. Crushed coral will wreak havoc on their bellies. The strong recommendation is to let these guy hatch on their own. However once the yoke sack is gone, it should be about time to hatch. Give them other week to a week and a half before attempted to hatch him yourself. Make sure you have a well covered tank as well. Mine was a jumper at first. After they hatch, they will take a seemingly forever amount of time to get to eat. You will have to be very, very, very patient with them. Lastly once they do eat, make sure you research the proper food for this guys.
EDIT: Forgot, never expose the live egg to air. You run several risks by doing so.
Here a couple pics I managed to find.



 
arasa

arasa

Member
Thanks for the great help, really appreciate it.
I was wondering if I could however go with a bottomless tank than any sand or crushed coral. At least then, red belly shouldnt be a concern for me, right?
 
arasa

arasa

Member
Wait a minute it seems like you have decided to use a bottomless tank in the pics. Should of been more observant

Yeah I fully understand about the patience required. I remember trying to feed my black ribbon eel, took more than a month before he decided to munch on something. In this case sharks seem to bee a little better.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
I would still run some sand. There's always the chance of scratching himself on some debris (rock chips, etc) or even some coraline that forms. When this guys grown, even just a little bit, they become quiet powerful and can easily topple rock structures. Plus these guys like to dig somewhat to get their 'perfect' cave. Make sure you have some nice coverage for him to hide in. Once my guy find out how that tube "worked"
he never left it.
Also I would avoid any dead coral skeletons as they sometimes can be razor sharp.
That tank is bare-bottom, because that's a sump for one of my tanks. I could observe and remove anything that was risky.
 
arasa

arasa

Member
I got a great looking bamboo egg today!

I was warned to not let air into the egg, so would i have to treat it like a sponge and sea squirt or can I get away with dripping and picking it up and putting it into the tank safely?
 
arasa

arasa

Member
ok now Im afraid. My egg is near the top of the tank, but it is already smelling pretty bad.
What's probably wrong? Could it be already dead in the egg? I shone a flashlight behind it and I could see that something is inside. HELPPP
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Eek! I don't remember the smell of the egg to be that unpleasant as I was tearing the shark out.
Can you describe what you see in the egg with the light? Does it reassemble a shark at all? And most importantly, is it moving at all? If you watch for 10mins, it definitely should move unless it's a tiny embryo.
 
arasa

arasa

Member
To be honest, when I shone the flashlight behind the egg, all I see is a black lining representing a bubble sort of thing. But nothing clearly defined. Definitely not a shark, at least for now. But something does appear to be present in the middle of the egg.
Is it ever possible to make an incision prior to hatching to make sure that the egg is alive? or is this too risky?
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
I wouldn't incise the egg at all. There should already be a small 'vent hole' in the egg, so fresh saltwater can circulate in and out, but not too big to cause too much flow to get in and scramble the egg.
If you have some time, on google images, enter "shark egg." Some of the images of bamboo eggs have nothing but a small central "blob" like you describe. I would give it some time. It has taken other aquarists months and months for their egg to hatch. Just depends on the development stage of the embryo you receive.
 
tonysi

tonysi

Member
Hatching an egg isn't really the hard part-it's getting them to eat.Once you do your pretty much in the clear,just make sure you keep up on the water chemistry.Good luck with your shark.
 
ZACKATTACK

ZACKATTACK

New Member
I got a mermaids purse about a month ago and the guy at the fish store said it should hatch in a couple weeks but its been over a month and he still hasn't hatched theres also white stuff building on the putside
 
ZACKATTACK

ZACKATTACK

New Member
I think its dead inside i shined a flaslight through it and i saw nothing its been like that for about a week and a half
 
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