black tip reef shark diet

[wakesetter]

I am getting ready to get a black tip reef shark for a 2500 gallon tank and I am curious as to what others have fed theirs. I am thinking about squid, fish chunks, and shrimp. Any other ideas? How about how often to feed it? Probably end up feeding it kittens from the pound eventually (just kidding). Thanks in advance

 

[stykthyn]

diet sounds good. I would feed it 3 times a week.

 

[thor32766]

wow, make sure and post pics when you get this thing running!!!!

 

[RayAllen]

someone doing a shark tank right! Way to go. Pics will be cool.

 

[wakesetter]

this tank is going to be pretty awesome. It will be a 12 foot+/- tank with a double bow and a fake coral strutcure in the middle. The heigth is 72" (the acrylic, not the whole thing) and teh max width at the center of the double bow will be about 5 feet. It will be installed in about 6 weeks and the shark won't come for a few months later. I am just getting all the ducks in a row. I will post pics along the way.

 

[krj-1168]

Sounds nice.

But the tank will only be big enough to hold a blacktip for a couple of years.

 

[crazyelece]

If I remember right the LFS here has a 10,000 gal black tip tank and they feed them 1-2 lbs of frozen fish every other or every third day.

 

[buddie]

my wife has 2 cats if you need food

 

[Lrgclasper]

When the fish gets to0 big you can make some soup and throw him on the BBQ... Make sure you feed it good quality food, other wise it won't taste as good down the road.

 

[stykthyn]

when it comes time for the bbq cut them into steaks and not fillets. the steak holds the texture so much better.

 

[krj-1168]

Or better still - either give it to a public aquarium or just build a large pool/pond or tank for it.

 

[JHemdal]

Hi,

I normally don't act as one of the "fish police", but I wanted to offer you my opinion here because of some unique issues. Most people who buy a black tip keep it in a smaller tank - it soon outgrows it and they have to find a new home for it while it is still reasonably small and easily transported. In a 2500 gallon tank, it will be able to grow much larger before you need to find a new home for it. The problem is then that when it does come time to move it, the odds of you being sucessful (unless you live right next door to a public aquarium) is going to be close to zero. I've kept a female BT in a 6000 gallon tank for 17 years at a small public aquairum. Luckily her growth slowed way down because she is right at the cusp of outgrowing that tank, and has long since outgrown my ability to transport here anywhere safely.

FWIW, here is a section on BTs from my Advanced Marine Aquarium Techniques book:

Pacific Black Tip Shark Carcharinus melanopterus Carcharhinidae

Occasionally imported from Indonesia, this species is simply not suitable for home aquariums. While 14” juveniles can be housed in round aquariums as small as 300 gallons, they do not stay that size for long. As adults at perhaps five feet long, they require a full 5000 gallons of unobstructed, round-sided swimming space. They are prone to developing goiter, and usually require iodine additions to their diet to combat this problem. Not commonly known, most pelagic carcharhinid sharks such as these periodically push out their spiral valve (equivalent to their large intestine) into the water in order to rinse off any indigestible material that might be present. This act takes just a few seconds and always happens at night, so is rarely observed. However, when kept in small aquariums with other sharks, it does happen that a nearby shark will nip at the exposed tissue. When the shark retracts the now damaged intestinal material back inside their body, they may look normal, but they have been mortally wounded and may soon die from peritonitis.


Jay Hemdal

 

[Lrgclasper]

hmmm reef sharks are not pelagic... but they do need a huge tank. Public aquariums move large fish all the time...

 

[JHemdal]

hmmmm, and how many adult black tips have YOU moved out of a small tank? It is NOT "all the time", even by large public aquariums.

I used the term pelagic rather than "obligate ram ventilator" - less precise, but gets the point across.

jh

 

[Jeffie]

Listen to Jay... He knows what he is talking about...

There are better sharks to house in your pond long term if you do some research. A blacktip in a 2500 gal. pond is going to be very short term IMO.

 

[Lrgclasper]

Actually I have moved many large sharks (salmon sharks and sleeper sharks) through my research and my past life as a fish distributor (everything from reef sharks to wobbys). You can move just about anything with enough $$.

There is a huge difference between obligate ram ventilator and pelagic- two totally different meanings. You can have a pelagic shark that is not an obligate ram breather (i.e., spiny dogfish). I do admitt dogfish are not a great example because they are both coastal and pelagic. But I am not going to make a huge issue about semantics because it really isn't that important!

Scott Michaels book talks about the rectal issue and has a nice photo of a shark with a protruding spiral valve.

 

[tcmfish]

Now correct me if I'm wrong... These sharks get about six feet long and you want to keep one in a 12' x 5' tank. Sweet idea but not so nice for the shark. Think about their life in nature. They do not sit around in one little spot they use up lots of space. Thats basically like saying you would keep a large wrasse that lets say grows to a foot long in a 24" x 9" tank. Not the best environment. And on the topic of moving the shark once it has outgrown the tank. I highly doubt this guy has the money or the equipment to move the shark just like you did as a fish distributor. It just isn't a good idea you should turn the tank into a tank for very large predatory fish. That would still look awesome and would still get wows out of people. Especially if the fish were big and colorful. I'm sure many fish would be pretty happy in a tank like that but a shark just isnt the best idea.

 

[krj-1168]

Agreed the 2,500 gallon tank is still too small to keep a Blacktip in for than a year or two. By the time the pup is half grown - it will need a bigger tank.

Scott Michael's recommends a tank of at least 6,000 gallons. Personally I would recommend doubling Scott's minimum to about 12,000 gallons.