Lighting for shark tank?

[arnjer]

Not trying to tell you what to do but don't get a shark. There are many reasons, one being that is still not enough room for the shark to properly grow. Unless you live in a temperate climate and can give your back yard up for a small lagoon I don't think we can provide them with a satisfactory environment.

Jerry

 

[Miklos]

Well I was thinking about buyinga 300g tank that measures 96"l,30"w,24't for a catshark(banded)/bamboo sharkf.It has so many common names.Anyhow It only grows two two feet max meaning the size tank I have will be enough room for it to turn around and is 4 times as long as the shark.According to Scott Michael and Fenner,this tank is big enough for this shark.And this shrak is a good aquarium resident.But I agree with you 95 percent of the sharks sold in the hobby should be left in the wild and not sold.
Nick

 

[arnjer]

I am glad to see you have done some homework on this. Like I said I am no expert but have always been told to leave them to a zoo to keep. I have heard that the smallest could grow to 4 feet.

Jerry

 

[Miklos]

Well if I buy a 300g tank and only keep sharks and liverock with some other large fishes,what would be the proper wattage for lighting?Can I just go with two 4 foot long hoods with one 40 watt bulb in each hood.This would only give 80 watts of total light for the tank which is only .26 watts per gallon.Will this low of light effect the fish and live organisms on the rock negatively.

 

[haven_knight]

I have keeped the banded shark in a indoor pond. I had a lot of live rock and I was keeping corals in the tank with him. I was using a 400w halide and everything was kicking butt. The only problem with the 400w bulb was after about a month he got a pretty good tan. If you think I'm joking about this you should have seen it. Personally I wouldn't put regular lights on a 300 gallon tank. I would go with 2 48" or the 72" VHO 50/50's. The only thing bad with the 72" vho bulbs is that they break a little easy. That way you dont have to worry about if the live rock is getting enough light. Also you wont give the little guy a tan. My experience with the regular lights, they don't have enough power to penetrate through that much water.

 

[davelin315]

The cat shark (depending on which one) can get much larger than 2 feet. My opinion is that you should not keep any type of shark in anything with corners. Sharks will bump up against the corners, and any flat walls, and that's not good for them. You could do a cat shark in a 300 gallon, but like I said, it's not good to have any 90 degree angles. As far as lighting, cat sharks are nocturnal, and will hide during the day. Their habits are to hide under rocks and in crevices during the day, and to hunt at night, so they will not be much to look at regardless of your lighting during the day.

 

[Miklos]

What type of fish can you keep with catshark and how many would you be able to keep comfortably in a 300g tank?
Nick

 

[davelin315]

Cat sharks are relatively docile, and you can keep most fish with them. They are not active hunters, and will bypass a fish for the most part. They enjoy eating molluscs and crustaceans for the most part. It's more a question of which fish do you want to keep away from cat sharks, such as triggers and eels, and some of the angels, as they all will nip at the shark and bother it, or in the case of the triggers and eels, possibly eat it. You're pretty safe, though, in not putting anything in there that it can fit in it's mouth. A quick anecdote: the first time I hatched a banded shark (a member of the cat shark family), it was in my reef, and I had these little blennies that looked a lot like tiny lawnmower blennies, except they were not aggressive towards each other; I would feed my shark tiny pieces of shrimp on a skewer, and the little blennies (less than 1/2" each) would steal it out of the sharks mouth.