Why are sharks not reef safe??

[blondenaso1]

Other then the obvious reason that they are canivorous, why are they not reef safe? If kept in a large reef tank with corals and other larger fish like Naso Tangs then would they be able to coexist. Do they harm invertibrates? What if you kept them well fed? Would they hurt the corals? I just think it would be cool to have a shark such as a coral banded in a large reef tank and wondering why not? Has anyone ever attemped this?

 

[josh]

Hi,
I believe that some are reef safe, it's just that you would need thousands of gallons for them to swim. Just because the fish can physically fit in an aquarium dosen't mean it should be.
-Josh-

 

[blondenaso1]

I am sure that there are plenty of people out there that have coral banded sharks and nurse sharks without "thousands of gallons for them to swim". I was looking at the agressive forum and reading about peoples sharks and I don't see why one could not be kept in a "reef" tank with other larger fish. The sharks I have seen such as the coral banded seem to be fairly dosile and I don't forsee it attacking larger fish. Am I wrong? Hypothetically, in a 180gal reef tank could a coral banded or nurse shark be kept?

 

[josh]

Hi, again
No I am sure you could get them in there. This is just a personal belief. I didn't mean to scare you off the topic or anything, I just happen to feel that sharks need a lot more room than most of us can provide ( the thousand gallons was just a embelishment to make a point ). Maybe your question would be better suited for the aggresive forum. They are by far more knowledgable about this than I am. Remember that is just my opinion, and you know that they say opinions are like @##*^*& because we all have one I would take this question over the waters to some folks who could better guide you.

 

[joe's reefer]

u can probably keep a bamboo shark in a 300-500 with some large groupers or a school of jacks <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" />

 

[uncle fester]

Never having kept one myself, I would have to think that the amount of food necessary to keep a shark alive in a reef tank would also cause a large burden on the biological filtration of that system to the point of causing nitrate levels to rise to the unacceptable point for corals.

 

[fallen04]

i have a nurse shark and they love inverts especially crabs and shrimps. they will cruise the sand bed and find every little critter you have. i keep mine in with a snowflake eel, a yellow tang, and a miniatus grouper. everybody is ok so far they are in a 240. my lfs was going to kill the shark for eating one of his pricey angels so i got him for 40 bucks pretty good since he was charging 160.00 she is about 18" long and hand feeds. actually all of my fish hand feed reef or otherwise

 

[richierich2000]

I was always told that it had to be 300 min. for any shark and even then most people get rid of them when they get big. if you are going to put one in a reef better ave some great skimmers