My Sharks in HD

[griseum]

Heres a crappy video but its in HD! lol. These are my breeding groups of Chiloscylium griseum and C. plagiosum. Common names, Grey Bamboo and White-Spotted Bamboo sharks, respectively. I believe the Grey Bamboo to be the best aquarium suitable carpetshark and I hope to inspire others to captive breed these sharks as well. They average just 22"-24" and are much better suited for aquaria than the always available Brown Banded Bamboo shark, which averages more like 40"-46". A Grey Bamboo would be well suited in the Marineland 300 DD because its 3x the length of an adult in length and 1.5x the sharks length in width. The height of the aquarium isnt so important. An Adult Brown Banded would need atleast a lagoon type tank like my shark breeding lagoon in the video.

Just adjust the settings to 1080p or for a little faster buffering but less Definition go for 720p.
I held the camera the wrong way to get a full screen video so make the video frame bigger.
Dull at first but gets better at 0:25. I promise lol.

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[eel guy]

how much $ do they run would a 125 be bigenuf ? where do you think i could get one im up gradeing to a 180 soon

 

[E Rosewater]

how much $ do they run would a 125 be bigenuf ? where do you think i could get one im up gradeing to a 180 soon

Uh oh, having flashbacks to last week.

Sharks get REALLY big. You may be able to get away with something in the 10000-15000 gallon range for a while before you need to upgrade.

 

[griseum]

My post in no way was to promote the keeping of sharks period.

Just look what i built to keep one of the smallest species of bamboo shark in a group.

Do not keep a shark in a 125 or a 180. You need a footprint that is as long as an adult shark multiplied by 3 and a width as long as the adult shark by 1.5

And thats a minimum for the most non-active species. Cat sharks are smaller in adult size, but they are more active than bamboo sharks, hence this needs to be taken into consideration.

My lagoon is 12' x 12' and i think its suitable for several groups of carpet sharks. Do not take what i said as an advertisement to get a shark.
If you are not experienced enough, the shark will die. And it will die QUICKLY.

After a full days work heres new lighting over the lagoon: 2 x 175 watt Metal Halides:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E2CBmGRO744" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[griseum]

Currently making big changes to make this lagoon more aesthetically appealing. Gotta take the netting which was from when I had some smooth hound pups that were jumping like crazy. Also looking for more big reef fish to fill the open areas and make the 15 fish in there more confortable.

Those returns and feeds lead and return from another 500 gallons of tanks and macro algae filters, and LR Tanks.

 

[E Rosewater]

It is an impressive tank.

 

[hkarmy25]

So essentially, you turned your sump into a 12' by 12' shark lagoon? Thats Bad***

 

[griseum]

Not exactly. The pond was originally built for my 3 foot bumblebee grouper. I also kept some swimming sharks for brief periods of time, something I regret and try to dissuade people from keeping these types of sharks thru my first hand experience. There are only a handful of people willing and CAPABLE of providing those sharks with the room and water quality they truly need.

For a brief period the pond was dry in '09-'10. When I set it back up, I've kept various Elasmobranchs, groupers, jackz , snapper, fusilier etc...
Then I began an interest in captive marine breeding. So I began to acquire breeding groups.
The adjacent room is my tank room. I have about ten larger tanks in there, the smallest tanks being breeder size tanks. As time went on I incorporated all of the tanks into one loop. Except for my QTs.
I'm a biologist and the biodiversity of microfauna that develops in Macro tanks fascinates me. Plus I believe for Macro to be a viable nutrient exporter, you need A LOT of it.

I'll post pics or a video of the tank room later

 

[mattiej]

Very nice set up griseum. Keep us posted.

 

[griseum]

a little more work:

 

[griseum]

I follow a lot of what Anthony Calfo has written, as well as Dr. Adey, Martin Moe, Julian Sprung and others. These Aquarists mostly condone the "natural reef" theory. This is what i try to reproduce at home. With my large Macro-Algae tanks, high index of Biodiversity, Live Rock tanks, and agressive Protein skimming, i try to acheive a natural reef environment. I dont take it to the extreme of a Biotope because i am too fond of fishes from all around the world lol. The only Biotope i would ever consider might be a Great Barrier Reef Biotope. lol.

Anyway, here is one of my macro tanks with a small amount of LR and barebottom, Invert heavy as CUC.

Well Uploading seems not to be working ATM. Too be continued...

 

[mattiej]

Tanks ran more 'naturally' seem to be much more stable and easier to mantain. I like how you have the rock in the pond in shark safe containers.

 

[griseum]

Ahhh. Had to resize the image. Might look a little grainy.
One of my Macro tanks:

 

[griseum]

Thanks Mattie,
With all of the sharks lost to secondary bacterial infections, I try to keep the sharks as safe from scratching themselves as possible. As well as cartilaginous fish being prone to bruising and easily breaking that very cartilage, i did not want insecure LR caves or piles that could shift and crumble as sharks like to try to rearrange their surroundings to become hidden during the day. The crates also offer protection and safety to some of the 15+ Show size Reef fish in the lagoon and counting. I am constantly on the look out for large tangs, Genicanthus and Apolemichthys Angels, and butterflies to add to the Lagoon. I have two prized 1 foot each Vlamingi Tangs in there as well.

Ive always been afraid to add real LR piles and structures right into the pond. The pond is double line with 2x 90 mil Firestone pond liners. On the bottom, there is 3 inch styrofoam under the liners and then there is a 3/4 inch plyboard. I worry the LR in any quantity would put little nicks and cuts in the liner that would at first, drip leak and with time lead to a full explosion of water everywhere. UGH

And i know How UNSIGHTLY the crates are, but i cant afford that super expensive custom-made hand-painted acrylic(?) fake Coral structures. They will change or be removed in due time. Im thinking of enclosing the crates in a man made LR type rock or maybe ceramic, so the caves remain open and the LR stays off the double layered 90 mil Firestone pond liners.

 

[mattiej]

I tried to make my own artificial inserts in the past but they were more work then worth the effort, so I just bought pre-made ones that were fairly affordable.

My first pond was an above ground pool that was 15' wide by 32' long and I used two pond liners on top of the pool liner. This set up lasted for several years until an over eager finetooth bit through all three liners. The only thing that saved me was the tear was just below the water line and so I "only" lost about 2000 gallons of water. My newest lagoon is solid concrete lined with marine grade plywood and sealed with a two part potable epoxy that is marine safe.

 

[griseum]

Mattie - Thats impressive. And redundancy sure paid off with the liners. Everyone should learn from you and your builds. This is what a true commitment shark keeping is all about. To keep these animals you must take it to the next level, above and beyond.
I applaud you dude. Dedication.

Once im out of grad school, I may be right behind you lol.

 

[griseum]

I am a strong advocate for a circular flow pattern in FO and Pond/Lagoon systems.

This came to mind when i fed today, a combination of Gulf shrimp and Chowder clams. The clams were torn to shreds and for the first time ever, i fed the pond too much shrimp. Normally nothing is left behind. But back to what i was pondering. In round pools (or oval) it is very easy to create a circulating current. You aim your returns along one wall, any closed loops or flow pumps down the other and have your pump intake , not too close, but near the returns and your water comes full circle. If you see in my videos how the returns from the tanks in the adjacent room are at about a 45 degree angle, thats because i tried to replicate this flow pattern in my square lagoon.
The pump intake is in the center of the close side of the square. The sump returns are in the corner of the close wall and the right wall. Theres nothing on the far wall, but this doesnt seem to matter, and then you can see my 45 degree returns on the left wall.

No when i fed today, and the clam pieces and cubes of shrimp were left uneaten, I thought to myself: "I guess im goin in". But i waited a few minutes to see if any fish would finish them off. And then in the close left corner where i was standing, all of the uneaten food began to appear, slowly drifting by, towards the pump intake. All i had to do was stand there and collect the pieces as the current picked them up and drove them by me.

Its great when a plan works. lol.

Anyway, this idea of circular flow is good for mechanical reasons like i said, but it also benefits your biological filtration as well. Making sure that all of the water gets a chance to be pumped through your bio media, in my case a LR tank and a Ecosystem Miracle Mud sump, is a gaurantee that your nitrifying bacteria gets a chance at consuming and precipitating ammonia and nitrite. I also have my skimmer's pump intake along that wall and on the LR tank is my biopellet reactor as well, feeding into my big skimmer. So this also gets a chance to take the precipitated nitrogenous waste and consume it (BP bacteria) or turn it into nitrogen gas (Miracle Mud).

 

[mattiej]

Don't forget that even our fish need exercise and swimming against a current will benefit them greatly, as long as they do not have to expend too much energy.

 

[griseum]

Yup!
I often find some of the bigger tangs right near the returns, face first battling the current.
These are the fish that live on the outter reef crests that get battered by big waves, where its turbulent and where theres high DO levels.

 

[griseum]

Put a piece of LR covered in Caluerpa mexicana under one of the halides.
Anyone think I can grow macro or soft corals 38" under the 175 watt MH?