Port Jackson Shark ?

[oscarnivbrant]

Hello!
I was at an LFS today and they had some port jackson shark pups that i found very interesting.. What kind of habitat, tank size, diet, lifestyle do these guys require? Great looking animals, i am thinking about setting up a system and keeping one. So if anyone has info / experience, i'm glad to hear
Thanks, Oscar

 

[johnb0184]

large tank like a 300 gallon.

 

[paulc35]

sharks

sharks

Well I use to hatch and raise bamboo sharks, white spotted and banded also kept leopard sharks. Unlike the Leopard shark, which swims almost constantly the other sharks here and I believe the Port Jackson are mainly nocturnal they like to hunt at night. Frozen squid they all love. Depending on what size this shark is now you need at least 125 gal if its a baby around 7 -9 inches. If it is more like 2 feet I would think around 200 min and more like 300 gal. You can keep other larger predators with them, but thats about it. I don't know if leopard sharks are still available, but if they are these are the best for conversation pieces with the neighbors. Nothing like it when a stranger comes in and sees a pair of small leopards 9 inches swimming around constantly throw a piece of squid in and watch them attack it. Everyone that came to my house always noticed the leopards before anything else and aske the big question( Are those real sharks).....I loved all the sharks I kept from nurse, bamboo,leopard, and horn....YMMV

have fun

 

[Andrew]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6988580#post6988580 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by johnb0184
large tank like a 300 gallon.

Where did you get this info from? Since they do reach up to 5 foot in lenght, I wouldn't keep one unless you had one huge tank. Your talking about thousands of gallons.

 

[paulc35]

shark

shark

Yes can reach up to 5 feet, but their not born that size and do you know how long it takes to get there. In a large home aquarium it doesn't happen over night...few years. I hatched a white spot bamboo at about 6-7 inches and he grew to about
18" in two years. Now if they live long enough to get up to 4 feet plus the guy is going to have to get about 500 gal, but for juveniles 2-300 is plenty. mine from birth were born in a twenty long moved to 125 gal and finally to 96x36x36 before I sold them to a guy tha had a custom 1000gal

 

[Andrew]

It doesn't really matter is gallons. They could have a 5 foot long tank thats really high. I wouldn't put one in a tank less then 10-12' long and 5-6' wide.

 

[Blown 346]

Any shark of 2 feet should have no less than a 7 or 800 gallon system. For any sharks over that 2 feet in size, i wouldnt have any thing less than 2000 gallons.
The tank alone will be thousands, $10,000+. The filtration alone can be more than $20,000. Think about how much you will spend to heat it, I belive you will need a gas heater( pool heater) depending on the size of the system to heat it.
Water changes, water and salt will be outrageous. I think unless you have millions it should be left to the national aquariums and the wild.

 

[paulc35]

Shark

Shark

Well I can see where this going....Well I actually kept these sharks. Tanks size does matter length width height as they grow, but I'm thinking your picturing a large grey tip reef shark.
Guys these sharks are "Tiny" when born " I mean 6- 7 " and the diameter of a small eel...Good lord we can argue the adult size on large Angels, Tangs, groupers and Carpet anemones...The guy was asking about keeping a port jackson shark, which I'm sure if its in a LFS its a pup 30cm or so. They can be kept just like the other fish, but if they do live and grow you will need to move them somewhere bigger. Oh and an 8ft by 3ft by 3ft is alot of room for bamboo, port jackson, or even leopards. It takes a long time for them to get BIG....

This thread should stop...He gets the picture

 

[paulc35]

Shark

Shark

.

 

[Blown 346]

More info never hurt anyone.

 

[oscarnivbrant]

Thanks everybody, all comments appreciated. I can see where everybody is coming from and conflicting opinions may well be due to conflicting ideas of what exactly is going on, details of sizes etc- nobody is trying to imprison a shark in an aquarium too small for its liking. I think this may be a later project for me, I only left school last year and now i'm working at a surf store while i take a year off before med school. So resources for this kind of project may be a way off for me.
However, one day i WILL make this happen and set up a shark tank, I'm somewhat fascinated by the more predatory side of marine aquarium keeping - i currently have a radiata lionfish.. sharks will have to remain an upscaling for the future and i'll put this on hold.
Thankyou all for the information, especially interesting to hear of your raising the creatures paulc.
Cheers, Oscar

 

[dogstar74]

Another thing about the PJ sharks is that they don't natively live in sandy bottoms. Their interesting coloration is due to them living in smooth rocky bottoms. This may provide an interesting tank scape though. Good luck with whatever you do.

 

[skylsdale]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18...ref=sr_1_1/102-9848287-8964907?_encoding=UTF8

My local library actually has this book on the shelves (if you don't want to buy it).

 

[Amphiprion]

These are subtropical sharks and need lower temperatures than those found on reefs, so they will most likely need slightly chilled water.