Legalities of owning a marine shark

[Wippit Guud]

Huh... 2 our of 3 LFSs won't special order more mundane fish, let alone rare ones (and none have any SW fish as all 'cept for display). But being an island, and assuming that very small sharks are endangered, could conceivable be covered as a conservation program.

Probably more luck with more local stuff, but who wants to have carp in their tank...

 

[OrionGirl]

Not sure about shipping to Canada, but this place has a few species of shark listed. You might check them out. They might be able to get a different species on request.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=41

If the shark you're wanting is endangered, forget it--it's not legal to own/privately keep endangered species without a butt-load of permits.

 

[Elmo]

If they will ship to Canada, you could still run into some problems at the border. I think there are some customs fees as well as a lot of paperwork for anythinglive being shipped across the border.

 

[blee358]

I dunno on this one. Most sharks get really big, and the rest still are big at around maybe a foot at least. The only shark I've seen in a tank would be a nurse shark. Those still get pretty dang big

 

[slipknottin]

sharks techincally are fine in tanks that are 3/4" the sharks length from front to back. Most of their body is cartilidge and it can easily turn around. You should have a reasonably long tank however, as it will most likely be swimming around alot.

If you have the option a circular tank is a much better choice. Not only could the shark swim laps without having to change direction, but it gives it the impression of being a larger tank.

However, i do NOT think it is fair to the shark to keep it in a small tank. Id think anything smaller than 2x the sharks length deep, and 4x its length wide would be wrong.

 

[Wippit Guud]

As it stands, the only shart I'd want is the dogshark, which max's at 8" in the wild, so would be good in some of the larger conventional tanks.

Mind you, finding it will be a problem. And the site above doesn't ship out of the US. (and doesn't have one on their stock anyways)

 

[FishBait]

The dwarf dogfish you refer to will never make it into the aquarium hobby (at least I pray it won't) as it's natural habitat would be very difficult to replicate. Another name for it is the midwater shark...appropriate name as it is a very deep dwelling shark.

I myself have talked numerous times about setting up a shark tank. Once I have a place with a good basement I'm going to construct an 8' x 4' x 2' tank which will house a coral catshark. These guys only reach about 2.5' and are the smallest available specie in the trade. They, like the bamboos/epaulletes are NOT moving all the time (although the catshark will become quite active at night) and are adapted to living in tight spaces...not that that makes putting them in small tanks appropriate as too little water volume will be the big problem there.

That said, unless you are willing to comit yourself to a long-lived animal that requires a good bit of attention, just let them live happily in the ocean.

 

[BiggerWurm]

Wippit Guud,

Have you though about cuttlefish. Can be trained like dogs and are wild and crazy looking. My buddy uses to have one that would spit water for food. I am sure you would have to look into the husbandry but you can get them to breed with some luck and research. They die i think yearly but with breeding them you would always have more even maybe a business. Way off track but you said you wanted something no one has. Probably someone wont like this idea either but other than the cold water species(Natilus to name one) its not that unusual anymore.

 

[Wippit Guud]

Cuttlefish... you can get those? It'd be sweet to get something like that, especially if you could train it to color shift on command.

I once thought about an octopus, but I'd almost need an air-tight tank to keep it from getting out.

I should go check Dept of Fisheries, see if there's anything native I can pick up (being surrounded by ocean on this sandbar), maybe get something free off the docks.

But not lobster. Lobster is food, not pets

 

[OrionGirl]

Actually, you don't need an airtight tank to keep an octopus, you just need to take reasonable precautions.

We've had 2, and while they are the coolest critters you can put in a glass box, it's heart breaking to see them die. We've had females each time, and they get comfy in the tank, then lay eggs and die. Neither of ours were even fertile, so it was really sad.

We had a 29 setup with a glass cover, with cut outs for the in & out flow tubes. We covered the ends so she couldn't climb through them. Had to have serious weight on top of the glas cover so she couldn't push the lid off, but that was it. Very cool creatures.