Any sharks or stingrays stay moderately small?

[jamal-188]

Looking to keep a single shark or stingray in a new tank but all I've seen require huge tanks. Any sharks/stingrays that stay 1-2ft or so?

 

[afilter]

Just curious, how big of a tank do you have?

 

[jamal-188]

Don't have one yet for it, going to look at work tomorrow at our warehouse of damaged/returned/display tanks to see what I can get Just want to know how big I should be looking for before I get over there.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

As big as you can get. A long low tank with a lot of surface area.

 

[jamal-188]

Yeah that's what I was hoping for something as long as possible. I know they had one today that wasn't big enough but it was 60x18 and only 15 tall with 4 holes drilled in the back.

 

[jamal-188]

I've been reading some various sites including some great info on wetwebmedia. It seems the bamboo sharks will be about my best option and require a tank of 220g. These sharks are also supposed to be one of the hardiest sharks to keep in captivity. Now I'm really worried about the weight because the artice says even a concret slab may not support this much weight.

 

[afilter]

Sounds like quite the undertaking. The more I read about sharks and see them I think I am of the opinion that sharks may not really belong in the home aquarium trade. I do enjoy them in public aquariums. Because of size many inexperienced end up buying juvenals from less less than reputable LFS willing to sell them without educating people on the long term care requirements.

I am not saying this to squash your ambition as it seems you are at least checking it out before jumping in. I have just seen them a few times at two LFS I frequent and in all cases they are basically rescues where the originally owner ran out of room or became bored with it. In fact one LFS has a 4000g tank with 2 nurse and a bamboo that they took in years ago. The nurse sharks are close to 6 feet. For the LFS they are a novelty and draw people in and I think the tank which is basically a concrete block structure under all the display tanks serves as a large sump.

It just seems to me there is a lot you could do with a 220g tank other than house one animal that may require larger accommodations anyway . Just a thought.

 

[afilter]

Here is a link to an article about the one store with the 4000g shark tank:

http://www.onmilwaukee.com/articles/print/aquaexhibits.html

I guesss it was 3 nurse sharks. There a a pic of the sharks in the article. Overall one of the better LFS I have visited. When I lived near there and was in FW I use to buy discus from them.

 

[jamal-188]

That is a cool link/store. This idea will probably not work out but I'd love to have one. I think I'm going to pick up a book tomorrow at work and read some more. I know I could do a ton of things with a tank this big but I just want to do something different I was also thinking of a seahorse tank. I was even reading up a lot of having an octupus a few weeks back but they only live 1-2 years. Not sure what to do

 

[Hypostomus]

There are some freshwater stingrays that stay in the 1' range, though if you want saltwater...eh. :/

 

[afilter]

I don't know if anyone else has had a different experience, but I heard seahorses can be short lived even in the best conditions. One LFS by me carries them, but only because there is a demand. I think feeding requirements is the biggest issue.

 

[jamal-188]

I think feeding requirements is the biggest issue.

From what I've read Captive breed seahorses are the way to go. They will eat prepared food where as wild caught most often will only eat live food which can be very expensive and difficult. Captive breed are also much less prone to diseases are are "supposed" to be much easier to care for and live much longer. At any rate I'll have to do much more research before I buy anything.