I was at my lfs an saw a two foot nurse shark for sale for $300 . It was in a 135 gal with a lot of live rock in it . It was upside down and breathing fast. There is another small shark in it to.Dont nurse sharks get to be over 200lbs in the wild. You would need a huge tank for that guy.
NURSE SHARK
- Thread starter TOM A.
- Start date
135 is way to small, and the last time I checked they are not supposed to lay on their back half dead?
Yea, it does sound like the poor shark was going to die soon.
On it's back & breathing fast, are generally very bad signs.
But still - as a generally rule a Nurse Shark is a bad choice for a pet shark in your home aquarium.
Although they usually are very hardy sharks. They get very large - mature at about 7-8ft, and usually reach about 9-10ft in captivity. Also for a bottom-dwelling species they are fairly active(every notice nurses swimming around at a public aquarium).
The fact is to keep a nurse shark for it's entire life - you'll need a large shark pool(at least 6,000 gallons).
And because Nurse sharks are so cheap(if one can call a $300 fish cheap)- - it makes it the 2nd worst shark available for home aquariums, & to shark hobbists(actually Lemon sharks are worse - because they are require a much larger pool & have been known to attack people, - unprevoked).
I would have added Bull Sharks to the list - but Bull Sharks run about $6,000-8,000
a piece. So these are general out of the price range to most shark hobbists. Also most dealers that sale Bull Sharks, will only do so to very experienced profressional keepers or large public aquariums
Just, don't buy a nurse unless you have a huge shark pool !!!
On it's back & breathing fast, are generally very bad signs.
But still - as a generally rule a Nurse Shark is a bad choice for a pet shark in your home aquarium.
Although they usually are very hardy sharks. They get very large - mature at about 7-8ft, and usually reach about 9-10ft in captivity. Also for a bottom-dwelling species they are fairly active(every notice nurses swimming around at a public aquarium).
The fact is to keep a nurse shark for it's entire life - you'll need a large shark pool(at least 6,000 gallons).
And because Nurse sharks are so cheap(if one can call a $300 fish cheap)- - it makes it the 2nd worst shark available for home aquariums, & to shark hobbists(actually Lemon sharks are worse - because they are require a much larger pool & have been known to attack people, - unprevoked).
I would have added Bull Sharks to the list - but Bull Sharks run about $6,000-8,000
a piece. So these are general out of the price range to most shark hobbists. Also most dealers that sale Bull Sharks, will only do so to very experienced profressional keepers or large public aquariums
Just, don't buy a nurse unless you have a huge shark pool !!!
krj-1168;485619; said:
at least 6000????
your gunna needed a 100,000 aquarium to house those huge ass mofos
and they get more like 12-14 feet
Well, Delgado - your right about Nurses growing up to 14ft - but that's in the wild. And also it's the top 2-3% of all nurse sharks(which makes them very rarely seen). I've personal seen dozen of them(mostly in various Public Aquariums along the east coast - from Virginia to Florida), and none were larger than 10 ft. Plus most experts agree that 9-10 ft seems to be the species average.
The 6,000 gallons estimate for a minimum tank - was my bad. Although I most point out that this is still about 25% larger than Scott Micheal's estimate of just 4,800 gallons.
But if you used Scott's Tank estimate for Bottom-dwellers, and used the Nurse's maximum length. You would like end up with about 10,000 to 11,000 gallons.
And Yes, 100,000 gallons would be most ideal for these sharks - but then most shark hobbists don't have a pocketbook like Donald Trump ot Bill Gates.
Still the whole point is the Nurse is a very large shark, and require a Very, Very large pool or tank to house it. So don't even think about buying the little shark in your LFS, if you can't build a large swimming size pool or tank to keep it in as an adult.
By the way - a friendly piece of advice - If you like the looks of the nurse shark - your better to consider the Brownbanded Bamboo. Because these little guys will usually look like a small (3ft long) nurse when they're full grown. And you'll be about to keep them in a large(240 gallon +) aquarium for their entire lives.
The 6,000 gallons estimate for a minimum tank - was my bad. Although I most point out that this is still about 25% larger than Scott Micheal's estimate of just 4,800 gallons.
But if you used Scott's Tank estimate for Bottom-dwellers, and used the Nurse's maximum length. You would like end up with about 10,000 to 11,000 gallons.
And Yes, 100,000 gallons would be most ideal for these sharks - but then most shark hobbists don't have a pocketbook like Donald Trump ot Bill Gates.
Still the whole point is the Nurse is a very large shark, and require a Very, Very large pool or tank to house it. So don't even think about buying the little shark in your LFS, if you can't build a large swimming size pool or tank to keep it in as an adult.
By the way - a friendly piece of advice - If you like the looks of the nurse shark - your better to consider the Brownbanded Bamboo. Because these little guys will usually look like a small (3ft long) nurse when they're full grown. And you'll be about to keep them in a large(240 gallon +) aquarium for their entire lives.
krj-1168;485741; said:
OMG!!!!!!!! a 3ft fish in a 8x2x2??????
the minimum should be 500 gallons
im sorry but a 3ft fish in a 2ft wide tank just wont cut, regardless of how flexible the fish is.
krj-1168;485741; said:
agreed, that would be good for just one fish, but if your like most mfk hobbyiest
chances are you want to indroduce some friends to keep em company
but i should ahve stated that, my bad.
Nurse sharks, XXL sharks like zebras, and very large requiem sharks should not be sold @ lfs unless they brought them in for a XXL display aquarium. Its sad really that some places offer such animals to general aquarists. The ignorance that goes on in this country in retarded! I dont know how they got it, because sharks arent allowed out of FL any longer (legally). Unless the collector has a licence, which sells to the store owner who also MUST have a licence, who sells to the aquarist who MUST also have a licence. Unless the store transhipped the shark in from the styx someplace... Something smells fishy