Leopard shark question

[Iwishihadgills]

Say i was to build a (LARGE) cold saltwater tank. Could i go out and catch a leagal size leopard shark and keep it as a pet or do you need permits? Or is it even legal to keep one as a pet in california ? Just pondering

 

[ocellaris123]

You could legally aquire one if you got one of the appropriate size (36 or more inches). Small ones are illegal to have I believe and catch. Not really worth trying to keep one as they require tank sizes which are not realisitc to the average hobbiest.

 

[Iwishihadgills]

Im not your avergae hobbiest lol Its just a thought though.

 

[ocellaris123]

haha fair enough, working at a public aquarium I can tell you that we have numerous leopard sharks in our 123,000 gallon aquarium and even though the leopards are not the most active sharks in the collection, they do use every bit of space in the exhibit. The filtration is done via sand filtration and ozone to handle the bioload.

 

[palmer373]

nahham isnt "average"! do i sence a new build thread coming up?

 

[Iwishihadgills]

haha fair enough, working at a public aquarium I can tell you that we have numerous leopard sharks in our 123,000 gallon aquarium and even though the leopards are not the most active sharks in the collection, they do use every bit of space in the exhibit. The filtration is done via sand filtration and ozone to handle the bioload.

Yeah ive read up on those sand filters. I was looking into a large turf scrubber or industrial size skimmer. My dream is to work at a public aquarium, very jelous

 

[Iwishihadgills]

nahham isnt "average"! do i sence a new build thread coming up?

lol Lets not jump to conclusions just yet. I like to gather all the info before i start all the money spending And im not sure if i want to do a tank or pond yet. Or even build it under ground so i wouldnt have to run a chiller.

 

[ocellaris123]

Yeah ive read up on those sand filters. I was looking into a large turf scrubber or industrial size skimmer. My dream is to work at a public aquarium, very jelous

The pay is not great but you gain alot of knowledge doing it. I work life support systems so I deal with the exhibit filtraion, pumps, ozone, heat exhangers, skimmers, deal with the animals if husbandry is not present, etc etc. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[vtrieu88]

Sorry, don't mean to high jack your thread, but are there warm water leopard? There is a guys selling them here in the South Bay and I wondered myself. I saw some at SeaWorld in Orlando, but didn't think of it until I see this thread.

 

[Iwishihadgills]

Well you can find leopard sharks i believe from mexico all the way up to washington. Yeah the water in mexico is warmer but cooler water will pro long their life from what ive heard.