lemon shark

[pYrOmAnIaC]

ok on some websites they offer lemon sharks but they dont offer the scientific name so i cant do an image search on what they look like. does anybody know how i can find out what they look like. i found some pictures but i dont think you can keep the 1s that i found in an aquarium

 

[Hypostomus]

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/LemonShark/LemonShark.html

Clearly inappropriate for aquariums. IMO, no sharks should be kept by private owners, period. They belong in the wild or in spacious public aquariums where they receive constant care.

What size tank do you have? People could suggest appropriate fish- it doesn't have to be big to be interesting.

 

[Atari]

AFAIK, Lemon sharks get to around 10 feet and are at least a foot long at birth. It's not at all feasible to keep one at home.

 

[Atari]

Oops, double post.

 

[pYrOmAnIaC]

well im thinkin of building a tank around 700 gal

 

[Atari]

Still nowhere near big enough IMO, not to mention the specialist training you'd probably need to care for such an animal.

 

[Hypostomus]

I agree with Atari.

700g doesn't cut it.

 

[brndfrb]

when are you going to build this tank? I have heard you talk about building one anywhere from 100-300 and now 700. Have you decided on an exact size yet? And where are you going to put such a large tank? Just wondering.

 

[RocketSeason]

a ten foot shark needs a 3000 gallon tank.

 

[reefrunner69]

Just tagging along

 

[pYrOmAnIaC]

i stilll havent decided on how big im gonna build my tank but it will b at least 700 gallons since i found different ways to build it that are of lesser cost. i would put the tank in my basement (got plenty of room to build in-doors and such). dont worry i wont buy a lemon shark now that i know what they look like and know how big they get.

 

[RocketSeason]

Thats a pretty big project. and pretty expensive. Many, many, many thousands of dollars expensive. Why not try something a bit more manageable? 125 gallon tanks can offer alot of space for many SW fishes. (as long as it isnt a shark.)

 

[Atari]

LOL, imagine if you wanted to put all live rock in there.. 1000 lbs of rock... ouch! Not to mention the lighting!

It's an awesome project to do aslong as you've got $10k lying around

 

[reelalure]

Well my opinion on that is that when look on a website that says how many gallons the fish or shark has to have they tell you that amount at its maximum growth level, also it depends on what type of shark it is because some sharks have a muscle in there gills that allows them to not have to move and still be able to breath. Also atari I don't think you can buy a 10 ft. lemon shark anywhere and most sharks are about 4-6 inches at birth. plus if you buy a shark say 1 foot in lenght it will take it quite a few years for it to reach that growth because sharks have a very short growth rate specially in captivity, a lemon shark won't even reach 10ft. in captivity but possibly in the wild. My neighbor has three sharks in a 500 gallon tank and they seem to do fine they are 1 nurse shark and 2 banded cat sharks they all do very fine and he bought them a few years ago at about 20-24 inches and they are only about 34 inches know. He does not have any special training on these sharks except for some research. So pyromaniac I think you should do some reasearch on which sharks you want and build your 700 gallon tank if you want to and put some sharks in it.
go for it pyro

 

[pYrOmAnIaC]

i will build my tank out of plywood and glass or make an indoor pond.

 

[Atari]

reelalure, I didn't say anything about buying a 10 ft shark.. I said they get up to that size and are at least a foot at birth.

Also, I can't possibly encourage someone who has had nothing more than a couple 10 gal tanks in the past (according to profile) to jump straight into caring for such an animal. But if he goes ahead with it then good luck to him.

 

[Hypostomus]

Well my opinion on that is that when look on a website that says how many gallons the fish or shark has to have they tell you that amount at its maximum growth level, also it depends on what type of shark it is because some sharks have a muscle in there gills that allows them to not have to move and still be able to breath.

This is absolutely not an excuse to keep a shark in an environment where it can't move, or can only move very little. To do so is cruelty.

 

[Atari]

Decided to do a little research and found out that the minimum recommended size for keeping nurse sharks is 1400 gal.

 

[vega]

reelalure, your neighbor's nurse shark have slow grow rate is due to the size of the tank and probably he did not properly feed the shark with right diet.

Any aquarist can tell you that a fish will only grow relatively to the tank size it kept in. If i do not wrongly remember, i think a nurse shark could reach approx 8 feet.

As with others, i totally agree that shark and certain sea creatures (eg. turtle) should only belong to the wild or in a huge public aquarium with profesional looking after it.

 

[quarryshark]

I have seen Lemon Sharks in the wild while diving in the Bahamas. These sharks were 6-7 feet in length and "very" active swimmers. This is not mention their aggressiveness.
A shark this size would need a Sea World size aquarium to thrive in. I have also seen many Nurse Sharks in excess of 8 ft.
I know there are fish stores that sell these animals, but it is IMO extremely irresponsible to keep them in captivity in an a tank less than 10s of thousands of gallon.
I realize that Nurse Sharks do spend a lot of time sleeping on the bottom and seem rather lazy. Don't let this fool you, they also spend lots of time swimming in search of food, much of it at night. It would be cruel to keep them in any size home aquarium, simply not enough room for them to thrive. Like living in a closet.
What would one do "when" it outgrows the system? Offer it to the local zoo? What if they don't take it? Its a condemnation for these animals when we buy them, it give the industry reason to keep capturing them for people with insufficient systems to properly house them.
Sorry for the rant, but it makes me a little nuts to hear of people who "think" they have a large enough system to house sharks when in reality a shark need more room than most of us can ever offer. The ocean is being depleted of these magnificent animals as it is for soup and other BS. Lets let our community of caring hobbyists encourage our local fish stores to leave them in the sea where they belong.