Shark Tankmate Suggestions Wanted

[swtanks]

I currently have a whitespotted bamboo shark that is roughly 18 inches in length. The problem is that she (yes it's a female) kills any tankmates I have tried except for a 6 inch foxface (for some reason they are buddies).
Over the past year or so I have tried a purple tang, a clown tang, an emperor angel, and the latest victim was a 2 foot long snowflake moray.
I am getting tired of the empty looking tank. The shark hides under a ledge during the day so all you see when the lights are on is the foxface and the rocks with the occasional duststorm from the shark digging.
I would like to add something to the tank that would not be killed but would also not jeopardize the shark.
Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[risc]

Lionfish, hawkfish, large wrasse, and groupers.... would be ideal for a bamboo with that sort of aggressive nature.
Jim

 

[swtanks]

Would a harlequin tusk be alright? I really don't want to put a lion into the tank. Too lazy to train it to eat prepared foods (the stores all feed them goldfish). I would like to add some color and movement to the tank.

 

[risc]

A Harlequin Tusk is a wrasse... just make sure its two times larger than your sharks mouth is.
Jim

 

[swtanks]

Everything I have tried so far has been more than 2x the size of the sharks mouth. If the shark can't eat it, then she takes bites out of it and mutilates the fish. The smallest fish I have tried with it has been the purple tang and that was about 4 or 5 inches and nice and fat.

 

[risc]

Well then maybe you will need to go with a grouper... Lionfish aren't hard to train to eat krill or shrimp. I have even gotten mine to eat vegatables. With all my lionfish and shark experience I have had more problems getting bamboo sharks to eat food other than squid than I have had getting lionfish to eat just about anything.
Jim

 

[swtanks]

Maybe I'll try a miniata or blue dot grouper. My bamboo gets 2 of the 1 inch by 2 inch pieces of frozen shark formula blocks or 3 large shrimp at feeding times. I alternate feedings between the shark formula and the fresh shrimp. This one started eating right away.
I'll look into the lion. Maybe I can get one to eat frozen foods. I would hate to get one and have it starve to death.
Thanks for all of your help.

 

[@knight]

IMO a lionfish would look great in a tank with a shark. groupers are nice also and both fish are relatively inexpensive and cool fish to have.

 

[mark-24]

When what size tank is this? And It sounds like your adding all these fish after you had the shark in the tank, so the shark feels as though the whole tank is her territory. You need to research your fish better. Community fish like tangs and angels don't mix with sharks. The only reason you shark hasn't eaten the foxface is that the foxface is posionous. The shark and foxface share waters in the wild so, they reconginze the danger. Even if the shark didn't eat the angel it would have died from poor water quality. And how much rock do you have in the tank? Do yourself and your fish a favor, and go buy a good saltwater book. Also research your fish before you buy it.
-Mark

 

[aceiswild7]

you can put cowries with sharks ive seen it done with no problem but the water needs to be in good shape

 

[acuraman2]

He obviously is researching if he is here dont flame him. He probably listened to his LFS Ive seen this too much on boards we assume they are cruel because they dont know what we do.

 

[risc]

Mark-24: I have 1 queen and 3 emperor angels and 2 lions in my 540 gallon with a nurse shark and a tassled wobbegong. No problems.

Jim

 

[swtanks]

Ouch. Good thing I have tough skin. I did research the shark. That is why I have the whitespotted. I liked the fact that it keeps some kind of pattern as it matures unlike the other bamboo sharks. I have had this shark for a little over a year. It was about 5 inches when I got it and it is about 18 inches now. The purple tang, snowflake, and emperor were in the tank before the shark. She decided she did not like them anymore and killed them. I added the clown tang hoping it would be alright since they are not what you would call community fish. I had it in a QT for 2 weeks and it was eating very well. The shark tore it apart after a week. The foxface was added specifically because it has venomous spines for protection and because it was very large. These 2 get along great. For those who are interested, the tank is a custom glass 300. The dimensions are 72" long, 36" wide, and 24" tall. I use a fine sand for the substrate along with roughly 100 lbs of LR to construct hiding places. There is open space around the rockwork to allow free movement of the shark. I also have mushrooms, button polyps, and feather dusters in the tank to brighten it up a little bit. The parameters are as follows. pH runs around 8.2, calcium runs 400 to 425, zero ammo and nitrite, nitrates are at 20, SG is 1.024, and the temp is 80.
My tank is very well maintained. The fish would not have died from poor water quality. This tank has been established for almost 3 years now.

 

[risc]

swtanks: it has been shown that sharks will feed more aggressively and grow quicker in higher degree water. They also tend to act differently at higher temperatures. I would consider lowering the temperature in your tank to something like 76F. 80 is pretty high for bamboos even. When my temperatures increase in my tanks higher than normal my nurse sharks will feed on tankmates. When it stays relatively normal this never happens.
You may also want to try feeding your shark a little more than you do. I feed my 25" bamboo 3 or 4 pieces of shrimp, 2 cubes of marine supreme, and about 6 pieces of squid every 2 to 3 days depending on how active he is. The more active they are the hungrier they are.
Jim

 

[swtanks]

I had never thought about the temp affecting its behavior. I knew the higher tamp would make it grow faster but I didn't know it could make it more aggressive. It makes sense now. Over the summer I took some mushrooms and button polyps from my reef and added them to this tank. When I did that I also added 4 96 watt PC bulbs to the current lighting. The extra heat from the lights plus the summer weather caused the tank to go to 80 during the day. To avoid temp swings, I reset the heaters to keep it constant at 80. The shark was fine with tankmates until about a month or so after the temp was raised. Looks like it's time to lower the temp again to calm this bad girl down a bit.
Thanks for the help risc and for not jumping all over me for posting a shark question.

 

[mark-24]

Ok, sorry bout that. Just kinda instinct that people want to cram sharks into small tanks. Kinda rash.
-Mark

 

[swtanks]

No problem. Most people do not approve of keeping sharks in captivity since the majority of the people that buy them don't have large enough tanks and believe the nonsense about fishes only growing as large as the tank they are in. I have seen it myself. I tried for weeks to buy a brownbanded bamboo from a guy that visits a LFS. He kept it in a 29 gallon tank and was going to move it to the big 55 when it got older. He never let me have it and it ended up dying when it jumped out of the tank.