Sharks

[buff82driver]

Does anyone know of a wholesaler or store where I might find a nice
selection of sharks for purchase in good health and still smaller in
size? I'm in the process of buying a house with a large detached
garage and was seriously thinking about building a several thousand
gallon shark tank. I'm more interested in active sharks rather than
the cats and horn sharks etc...I was thinking more along the lines of
dogfish, leopards etc. but not anything like a reef shark which would
die in a few years in all but a very large swimming pool size tank/
public aquarium.

Jeff

[Pszemol]

"buff82driver" > wrote in message ...
> Does anyone know of a wholesaler or store where I might find a nice
> selection of sharks for purchase in good health and still smaller in
> size?

No, I doubt you can find one.
Probably for the same reason there is nobody selling
"nice selection" of baby whales for home aquariums :-)

> I'm in the process of buying a house with a large detached
> garage and was seriously thinking about building a several thousand
> gallon shark tank. I'm more interested in active sharks rather than
> the cats and horn sharks etc...I was thinking more along the lines of
> dogfish, leopards etc. but not anything like a reef shark which would
> die in a few years in all but a very large swimming pool size tank/
> public aquarium.

Jeff, maybe you should go for couple of tiger sharks instead?
Why not?

Do you really think a several thousand gallon tank will be
a good habitat for a large and active fish like a shark?
Stop kidding yourself.

If you want to see sharks watch them in nature - cheaper and helthier.
Shark in aquarium will NEVER expose natural behaviour, so
what is the point of observing them? Its like a polar bear in a cage.
Rather stupid idea.

[Peter Pan[_2_]]

> No, I doubt you can find one.
> Probably for the same reason there is nobody selling
> "nice selection" of baby whales for home aquariums :-)

That's funny!!!

[buff82driver]

> Jeff, maybe you should go for couple of tiger sharks instead?
> Why not?
I'm no fool and I know that would be pretty stupid.
>
> Do you really think a several thousand gallon tank will be
> a good habitat for a large and active fish like a shark?
> Stop kidding yourself.
I have not been there for years but the Camden, NJ aquarium had/has a
50' long about 15' or so wide...I'm guessing oval tank with all kinds
of smaller sharks that hunt in schools like dogfish and arabian cat
sharks.
You could actually rub your hands on them as they swam past provided
you washed your hands and then rinsed them very well in front of staff
at the sink there.
>
> If you want to see sharks watch them in nature - cheaper and helthier.
> Shark in aquarium will NEVER expose natural behaviour, so
> what is the point of observing them? Its like a polar bear in a cage.
> Rather stupid idea.
You are somewhat right about that. Sharks will always grow faster in
captivity when fed on a regular basis b/c they have to expend far less
energy to hunt and they are always successful at taking food off a
pole. Any captive animal that is large in size and roams more than a
feasible pen/tank would allow is going to act differently in
captivity. You can't really observe natural feeding behavior and
tactics in an enclosure unless you want your other stuff to be
attacked and then its not realistic b/c the prey can't escape in an
enclosed space.

[Pszemol]

"buff82driver" > wrote in message ...
>
>> Jeff, maybe you should go for couple of tiger sharks instead?
>> Why not?
> I'm no fool and I know that would be pretty stupid.

For me there is not a big difference, Jeff :-)

>> Do you really think a several thousand gallon tank will be
>> a good habitat for a large and active fish like a shark?
>> Stop kidding yourself.
> I have not been there for years but the Camden, NJ aquarium had/has a
> 50' long about 15' or so wide...I'm guessing oval tank with all kinds
> of smaller sharks that hunt in schools like dogfish and arabian cat
> sharks.
> You could actually rub your hands on them as they swam past provided
> you washed your hands and then rinsed them very well in front of staff
> at the sink there.

OK, and do you really think recreating this in your garage is
worth the trouble, time and money? Do you really want to
expend the work required to keep these animals in good
health just to rub your washed hands on their bodies in
your garage??

>> If you want to see sharks watch them in nature - cheaper and helthier.
>> Shark in aquarium will NEVER expose natural behaviour, so
>> what is the point of observing them? Its like a polar bear in a cage.
>> Rather stupid idea.
> You are somewhat right about that. Sharks will always grow faster in
> captivity when fed on a regular basis b/c they have to expend far less
> energy to hunt and they are always successful at taking food off a
> pole. Any captive animal that is large in size and roams more than a
> feasible pen/tank would allow is going to act differently in
> captivity. You can't really observe natural feeding behavior and
> tactics in an enclosure unless you want your other stuff to be
> attacked and then its not realistic b/c the prey can't escape in an
> enclosed space.

Exactly - you will get sad, fat and ugly fish sitting bored in an empty
tank doing NOTHING INTERESTING. Pretty sad picture compared
to watching sharks in the natural habitat... Sharks are really not ment
to be kept in captivity. Like any other big predator for that matter.
Face the truth: your garage will never imitate ocean for sharks...
Whatever you do it will always be a pudle of dirty water with a bored
and very sad and confused fish swimming in circles in it.

Please do not do it...

[KurtG[_3_]]

buff82driver wrote:
> Does anyone know of a wholesaler or store where I might find a nice
> selection of sharks for purchase in good health and still smaller in
> size?

I think there are certain breeds that can be maintained in captivity,
but that's usually for marine and medical experiments. You'll need to
do a lot of research.

Frankly, if you're going through all that hassle, why not just get scuba
certified and go have some fun in the water?

--Kurt