500 + Gallon Shark and Ray System

[trigger happy]

Well, this isn't much of an update photo really, just a teaser! LOL!

I just got these "goodies" from Digital Aquatics for the Reef Keeper Lite so this weekend I will install the float switch, SL2 module, and the PH probe I hope! D.A. is still updating the salinity probe right now to a more accurate model so that will have to wait. At least part of my weekend is planned out already!
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[trigger happy]

Thanks BigJohn!

Your so- right it has been a lot of work in a rather short period of time and while parts of it was easy some parts were almost impossible. I think I started this in September of this year (2010). If someone were to do this and leave out all of the mortar mixing crap and apply the epoxy straight to sanded wood it would have went ten times faster if not more. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say....:doh:, maybe next time I'll get it right!

Take care,

 

[trigger happy]

I've made a little bit more progress so I thought I would update the photos.

I added four green chromis (not pictured) today and will add a good many more, not to cycle the tank, that was already done by dead shrimp a month ago. There just there to season/mature the system for a little bit till the permenant residents arrive.

(see pic) I have added the Automatic top off system and it works great so far. Yes I used a Rubbermaid trash can for the R/O supply tank.....but it's a new trash can!:yes: The pump is a Sicce (approx. 600-650 GPH) and it is almost an overkill for this application but I needed a pump strong enough to get over the vertical head feet and it had to be dependable and it certainly seems to be at this point.

(see pic) The Digital Aquatics float switch was very simple to setup the worse part was programming the channel, which truthfully wasn't bad at all.

(see pic) The bulk of the upgrading was the addition of hundreds of dollars of live rock which puts me about five or six large pieces of live rock from being completed with the "reef" section of the tank.

Digital Aquatics still hasn't released their new and improved salinity probe to the general public but I did get the PH probe installed and calibrated and it seems to function very well.

That's all for now...... Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy and safe holiday season!!!!:yay::thumbs::yay:
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[trigger happy]

My friends, it's been a while since the last update. I am now finished with the "reef" area of the tank as you can see in the photos below the rock portion has a descent sized cavern that runs from one side to the other. The "sea grass" is starting to spread really nicely, I just got to make sure it does not go asexual is all! LOL!:lol2:

The photos may look a little more "blue" since I traded out two of the 20K flourescent bulbs for two more actinic blue bulbs for a total of six 48" actinic blue bulbs and 48" two 20k bulbs. I am also ordering two PAR 38 LED 12k bulbs which are suspended on the back side of the ceiling. The blue is softer on the eyes in person since you are looking down on all of that white sand it was too bright for me and the sharks too I think!

I now have two Epaulette sharks I'm proud to say! I obviously changed my mind about these sharks....thanks guys and gals for the advice they truly are very beautiful animals!

One of them is a male and the other one a female which are in the size range of 14"-15" long. They are either the common form of Australian Epaulette Shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) or the PNG Hallstrom's Epaulette Shark (Hemiscyllium hallstromi) but since it can in some cases be difficult to tell I want to get an I.D. check from some of the shark experts on sharks and rays central before I would say for sure. The LFS did not know for sure other than their livestock supply list saying H. ocellatum but it can be common for Hallstrom's to appear under this name too and the fish supplier they use is known to mislabel their livestock according to the store.

I also made a huge mistake and forgot to take pictures of the sharks during the acclimation process! Doh-!!!:doh: They are eating very well ever since the first night! They are still most elusive and it has only been a week since I got them so they are still adjusting and will barely come out of the rock caverns and at that it is only to feed. They do have some larger spots around their epaulettes and quite a few of those large spots so that is why I think they could be hallstrom's but I need some good photos and some second and third opinions.

On another note... I don't know if I said this before, but I passed up on the whole "stingray and shark tank idea" since I think it will be best to focus on one species of elasmobranch such as these epaulette sharks. I hope to breed this type of shark and eventually I would like to sell the pups and/or eggs to the local market in order to offset the need to import wild caught sharks and for the most part captive breed sharks are healthier and in this particular case could be cheaper too.

You can see one of the extra large green reef chromis in the photo swimming around. I just wanted to add that part in since someone might be wondering what that little fish is swimming around! Oh yeah, btw the " plastic grid guards (pictured) in front of the overflow boxes was a needed addition due to two of my green chromis getting stuck to the strainer caps and dying. If you ever try a DIY strainer box,etc. go ahead and add some grids to it since the fish will go where some of the food goes and.....well it's just not a pretty site!:sad:

The "blob" like picture is a really bad photo of the female shark,it's the best I could get so far. Think of it as a really abstract art photo!:lol2:I'll try and get some "good" shark photos A.S.A.P. but it may take a little while!

Take care everyone!:up:
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[trigger happy]

Hello everyone,

I have now had a pair of epaulette sharks in the tank for about two weeks and both are eatting very well. I just wanted to post some photos for you all to see. They are both approx. 14-15 inches long right now but I think they have already grown a little in the two weeks that I have had them.....they have at least grown sideways due to getting feed Ocean nutrition's shark formula, frozen krill, fresh table shrimp, and fresh squid tenticles. Thanks for looking and enjoy the snow and ice!:thumbs:
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[gixxer600]

The sharks look really good. good luck with everything and keep us updated on how things are progressing.

 

[nanonano]

Awesome!!!!

 

[rizmaher]

<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Wow that is really cool, and their bellies are huge, kind of like mine after working from home the last two days.</span></span>

 

[glxtrix]

Amici;599200 wrote: May even be worth it to have a large floating one made just for viewing them.

+1 That would be awesome! :up:

 

[zoajohn]

this is so awesome. what do you feed them?

 

[trigger happy]

Hello everyone, sorry I did not get a notification about updated post being made. Thanks for the very kind words! The floating viewer is a great idea, I'm going to get one!

About the sharks diet........I have been feeding them a combination of table/peel and eat shrimp and squid tenticles from Publix, Ocean Nutrition frozen krill, and Ocean Nutrition Shark Formula which despite the gel binder they actually seem to love it which is good since it is fortified with vitamins and iodine, etc!

I have since added a two piece wooden/screen cover for the top of the tank for when they are unsupervised. I don't want them to jump out!:doh:

I sent several photos of these sharks to get a species identification from a new found friend up in Canada (Crumbs, in case you know of him) who is one of the more successful breeders of privately breed sharks in the world. At any rate, he told me that the sharks looked like Hemiscyllium Hallstromi a.k.a. Hallstroms Epaulette sharks from PNG (Papua, New Guinea) to him which was my initial guess but I wanted to make sure. These are quite a bit more rare than the standard Hemiscyllium ocellatum and they are currently listed through the IUCN endangered species list as (VU) which means they are vulnerable to extinction in the wild. I think the shark finning over in asian waters is the largest reason for this problem. Since these guys stay smaller than the regular epaulette and they grow to an unlikely max size of 30 inches in length I am planning on trying to get two more females for a 1 male to 3 females breeding colony. I hope to at least increase their numbers around the local Atlanta market and maybe else where if all goes really well with them! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Below I added some new photos of each shark (top photo is the male shark and the bottom photo is the female shark) and a comparative photo of a stand australian epaulette shark (last photo) just incase you ever see another hallstrom's/PNG shark that has been mislabled you'll know the difference! Hallstrom's are worth a good bit more money at retail...of course don't tell the store this if it is mislabeled just pay the nice people and be on your way! LOL!
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[trigger happy]

Just a few more photos. I hope to have some female Hallstromi sharks to share with you all in the near future! Take care.:thumbs:

I found these sharks by shear luck at a local Atlanta (O.T.P.) pet store which happens to also be an Atlanta Reef Club supporting sponsor so that was really a nice bonus I thought!!!!!

Oh yeah I almost forgot...I just use the Instant Ocean 200 gallon boxes of standard sea salt for this tank. I figure if it is good enough for the Georgia Aquarium and their whale sharks it is good enough for me and my sharks! LOL!
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[marko22]

Your build is awesome. Ive been following this for a while and would love to do something like this in the future. Well done.

 

[trigger happy]

Thank you very much Mark! You live close so if you want to check it out in person before building sometime just let me know and we'll make it happen! It's not even close to perfect but so far it holds water and I am happy with that! LOL! :lol2:


On another note....:confused2:

I need your help folks on gauging local interest on a new and exciting shark that is potentially coming into the aquarium hobby and I may get a pair.

I have mentioned this before about people buying nurse sharks for their tanks which can get 9-13 feet long with no reasonable way to ever keep the shark for their whole lives...there is a "costly" substitute that is just now becoming available to this problem.

Here's my question:

Would you or any one you know be seriously interested in a short tail nurse shark? These sharks are almost visually identical anatomically to that of the common nurse shark and just as durable yet here's the trick.... it's max. recorded length (EVER BTW!) in the wild is 30 inches...yes that's right 30 inches in length for the largest one ever found!:yes:

I know a shark importer who has a pair right now which I could purchase for breeding. A few others around the globe are already breeding these and this dealor will preferably sell to those whom want to setup breeding colonies since some of us in the marine shark community want to bring this shark into the trade as the ultimate answer to the common nurse shark problem so that they can be left in the wild for good where they belong. The problem is they cost over or around $1250 per shark if not more and adding shipping in the mix a pair may set me back about $3000+. If the interest was there I would go for it......well..... maybe:blush:, but I would like to try and make them somewhat affordable to customers since a common nurse shark costs from $150-$300 I would likely try and price the captive bred pups around approx. $500...maybe even a 20% ARC member's discount could be applied to that price for all of your help and support!:up: I would like an even better price point than $500 for the general public but the time, energy, up keep cost, low amount of fertile eggs hatched... etc. would demand a good price on it's own.....plus you just can't get them anywhere right now to be honest since they come from remote locales around Kenya and from southwestern asian waters.

These sharks are tropical (75-80 F) and require basic tropical marine water parameters sg, ph, etc.

Please tell me your thoughts and/or interest levels! Thanks in advance! :thumbs:

 

[atlweb]

I think that is a pretty awesome idea. Nurse sharks seem like a good fit from what I know about them. Unfortunately I do not have a system that could support sharks, but in the future I would love to venture down that road

 

[trigger happy]

Here is a picture of a S-T nurse shark and "crumbs" has a video of his two short tail nurse sharks on You tube if you want a better look...search under S-T nurse sharks and you will find it!

Scientific name: at least I think this is it:
Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum
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[epauluke]

Great progress Trigger!

Start planning for the inevitable bio-load increase in the next couple of years.
In open top vessels the ticket is Chaetomorph algae and mangroves. Then fire up a 400 MH with a cheap Home Depot bulb and watch things grow!
I have some Chaeto if you need some to get started... Also, check Ebay for live mangroves from HI. I've ordered twice from him and will again when things warm up this spring. They add a nice tide-pool / lagoon feel to the system and it looks more natural. As you add more sharks to the system, you will notice awesome connections amongst the sharks. The "colony" entertains itself and they lay on top of each other while sleeping. Eppies, much like puffers, are almost dog-like in their demeanor. Fun to play with their sense of smell too... I will let a couple of drops of fish juice land in the sump and almost instantly 5 Eppies just light up in a display 10 feet away! Get red led's and enjoy the show at night. Keep a net over the top or you will lose a loved one. It's happened to me once and will never again... I applaud your efforts!
:thumbs:

 

[epauluke]

BTW, I LOVED the "happy helmet" Stimpy built for Ren!
Disturbing and hilarious cartoons!

 

[trigger happy]

Thanks EpauLuke!

I have a full screen/net covering over the whole tank that I added a few days ago. "crumbs" suggested it as well and I kinda thought I was gambling with the open top as it was. That would stink to lose one that way especially since they are so difficult to find! Sorry to hear that it happened to you! I think I was very lucky mine did not jump out.:doh:

Thanks for the offer for some Chaetomorpha algae but I have a basketball sized clump of it in the next door reef system that I could use. I really had thought about adding the mangroves directly to the top of the reef area kinda like "crumbs" did with his lagoon but now when the screen is on they would not have room to grow out the top so maybe I should make some changes on the cover to allow for this since my sumps are unlit/covered and so forth.

Man that is great you have a colony of five eppies!!! That is one busy male I guess! LOL! I am looking for another female at the moment but I have had no luck yet looking at the usual places locally or on the web.Please pm me if you see one up for sale! Thanks again for your help and kind words!:thumbs:

Oh yeah, I loved Ren and Stimpy along with Pinky and the Brain! Man, they don't make them like they use to!

 

[trigger happy]

For those seriously interested in the short tail nurse sharks here is a better photo!:thumbs:
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