I'll second that. Sharks are NOT the easy keepers it looks like you think they are.
Some are do-able though IF you study up and make sure everything is ready for them. Definitely learn more before you jump into this.
Even the smaller ones like whitespotted bamboo, brownbanded bamboo, and epaulette need at the very least a 180 gallon tank for one. There's a really interesting article in the Oct issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist that you could read.
1. Figure out which one you might like to keep and read up all about it. One biggie to find out is is it a obligate ram ventilator or non-obligate ram ventilator. Obligates must swim constantly without breaking their "stride" too much in order to breathe so they naturally will need larger tanks which means longer and deeper. There's a nifty chart on each, obligate and non, to figure up how much you need in length, width, height and such in the TFH mag I mentioned.
2. You'll need to go to extra lengths to secure any decorations in the tank like liverock because these critters can easily topple them. I'm not talking about piling sand around the bottom either! I'm talking about it could be a good idea to actually STRAP it all down securely!
3. Lighting will actually be easy on you because they're a low light kind of animal.
4. They eat quite a bit of frozen squid, krill, fish, and silversides. Frozen so that any pathogens or parasites that could be in the foods will be killed off by the freezing process but then you have to soak them in vitamins to replace what the processing taks out of it.
5. These guys are EXPENSIVE!! To quote: "...let's look at the banded catshark, a non-obligate ram ventilator. The shark itself costs about $70." "For a tank with the necessary dimensions (440 gallons) you are looking at a cost of about $6000. Add on a nice homemade stand for $200; the necessary filtration and plumbing equipment (biotowers, skimmers, etc.) for about $3800; lighting for approximately $350; another $750 for sand or salt; $150 a month for food; and $200 for treatments." That all adds up to $12020 and that's one of the LESS expensive keepers! The total cost of keeping an obligate ram ventilator like a bonnethead shark skyrockets to about $31306!!!!
Definitely do your homework!!!!
