Thank you guys for the compliments! Will try to get a video or two up soon
So yeah, my plan is to add quite a few more weathered maritime pieces (like you said, bouys, driftwood, etc...) and attach them to the frame. I actually just ordered few nautical themed decorations this morning!
As for the sharks... One of my male C. plagiosum has become a little aggressive toward the other male. Surprisingly, it's the smaller of the two that has been the problem. He will bite onto the larger male's pectoral fin, and stay attached for several hours. It almost looks like mating behavior, but I'm assuming that he's trying to assert dominance (could be wrong here, and would appreciate your thoughts). Has never attempted this with the female. Has been doing this since the beginning, but at first it was only once every several months, and only for a couple minutes at a time. Over the past few months, this behavior has been getting to be much more frequent, and for a longer duration. I haven't noticed any visible damage to the larger sharks fins, but decided to relocate the aggressor temporarily to a newly vacant 300 gallon rubbermaid container for the time being. Thought that a little "time-out" might be helpful.
I also recently took in a small pair of Heterodontus francisci. They came from an acquaintance of mine who has had them for 4+ years, and had to part with them due to a long-distance move. I have to question the quality of care that they received, as he said that he kept the water around 77-78 degrees, and they are still quite small (male is about 16", and the female is around 14"). He did mention that they only grew a couple inches in 4 years. I'm far from an elasmobranch expert, but everything that I have read suggested that they will grow more rapidly at the higher end of their temperature range. They also looked very thin when I first acquired them, but are now starting to fatten up a bit. I had them in the 300 rubbermaid for 3 months, and treated with Prazi thinking that some type of worm could potentially be a factor in their slow growth rate. Over the 3 months of QT, I gradually reduced the temp from 77 down to 72, which is the temperature that I keep my pool. I'm assuming that they will likely grow a bit with better care, so If I have to add a second pool dedicated to the sharks, or the H. francisci exclusively, I have no problems doing so.
I actually stole the idea for the hanging plants from the hotel where my wife and I got married 2 years ago (Hyatt in Key West). They have a bunch of orchid baskets hanging over a large turtle pond, and I thought I would borrow that idea for the pool.
