Australian Marbled Catshark

[reefs4life]

Hello, I was wondering if any one here has kept or is keeping one of these beauties. I am considering buying one for my 210 but I am having a bit of difficulty finding info on them. Please let me know what you know about them. And mainly, what size do they reach? I've read they only grow to about 60cm (24") but also that they grow to a max of 40" which is a big difference. Thanks in advance, Fortunato

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

210 would be like a prison cell why the hell would you do that? They get about 3-4 feet on average. No shark should be kept in under a 1000+ gallon tank. Look at jarrett's thread that tank is 1000 gallons and is very small for 2 4 footers.

 

[Fishluva513]

They are bottom sharks and stay pretty small compared to their cousins. Max I believe is 36". They don't swim much. They lay there and wait for food.


Matty'sCornerAquariums

 

[reefs4life]

210 would be like a prison cell why the hell would you do that? They get about 3-4 feet on average. No shark should be kept in under a 1000+ gallon tank. Look at jarrett's thread that tank is 1000 gallons and is very small for 2 4 footers.

Did you ever keep one?

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Reefs

 

[Domboski]

I've kept them. They are like Catfish, Hide all day and come out at night or when feeding. They are super agile and do well in aquariums. 24" is more likely the size they will attain assuming they are Atelomycterus macleayi. They will knock stuff around in your tank as they squeeze in between rocks. They are jumpers too so you need to have the tank covered. Below is a pic of my one Atelomycterus macleayi with a pair of Atelomycterus marmoratus. These sharks are at the top of the list of species that do well in aquariums IMO. They need to eat a lot so be prepared to spend some money on them. I wrote an article on reefs magazine in the past where I charted the average monthly cost to keep them. Go in the archives and see if you can find it. Found it: http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/...ng-difficult-species-thinking-inside-box.html

You should also buy Mazuri shark vitamins.

 

[reefs4life]

Thanks for the info Dom....what size tank do you keep them in? And the shark on the article talks about bullsharks doesnt it?

 

[Domboski]

240 gallon. Yes it does talk about the Japanese horned Shark but the diet should be exactly the same to keep them healthy. As you see from my pic, they like to be in tight places to feel secure. All 3 squeezed into a 2" PVC I fed my sharks every other day.

 

[FMF0331]

60 cm average lenght of the species . Roughly 23.6 inches

 

[reefs4life]

240 gallon. Yes it does talk about the Japanese horned Shark but the diet should be exactly the same to keep them healthy. As you see from my pic, they like to be in tight places to feel secure. All 3 squeezed into a 2" PVC I fed my sharks every other day.

Thanks...they seem to be great sharks to keep, even in a 210 because of their small size, I originally started this thread because I have access to getting one so I was debating it but by biggest fear about getting a shark is the fact that it would knock over all my rocks or get stung by one of my many anemones. I guess I'll leave them where they are for now and maybe in the future if I get a bigger tank I'll get one or maybe I'll set up another 210/180 just for them

 

[Domboski]

Thanks...they seem to be great sharks to keep, even in a 210 because of their small size, I originally started this thread because I have access to getting one so I was debating it but by biggest fear about getting a shark is the fact that it would knock over all my rocks or get stung by one of my many anemones. I guess I'll leave them where they are for now and maybe in the future if I get a bigger tank I'll get one or maybe I'll set up another 210/180 just for them

The anemone would be the biggest issue based on the info you provided.

 

[reefs4life]

The anemone would be the biggest issue based on the info you provided.

Yeah I guess it will be a project for the future, let's just hope I make a lot of money when I'm done with college because I have so many things I want to do with fish tanks when I get my own house LOL
Thanks for all the info and help Dom

210 would be like a prison cell why the hell would you do that? They get about 3-4 feet on average. No shark should be kept in under a 1000+ gallon tank. Look at jarrett's thread that tank is 1000 gallons and is very small for 2 4 footers.

BTW...Triggerman, you should take notes on this thread and see how you should respond to a thread instead of jumping down people's throat on the first post over something that you don't even seem to know about

 

[lfsmarineguy]

+1 what Dom said. They are nocturnal so even though they seem lazy and sluggish during the day they are very active at night, hunting throughout the tank. They will topple rocks as they try to push into crevices. Diet is a big concern with sharks as well as water quality, they can be very sensitive and if you don't know what to look for you can miss a lot of the warning signs they display if there is an issue. As far as information goes, you should get a copy of Scott Michael's book on sharks. A lot of good info in there even if it doesn't touch on this species in particular (can't remember if it does or not).

 

[Fishluva513]

I kno wst u mean about them being jumpers i was feeding 1 day and my eel bit my shark and the shark flew out the tank like a missile. Ofcourse it hit my right in the face lol


Matty'sCornerAqauriums

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Yeah I guess it will be a project for the future, let's just hope I make a lot of money when I'm done with college because I have so many things I want to do with fish tanks when I get my own house LOL
Thanks for all the info and help Dom





BTW...Triggerman, you should take notes on this thread and see how you should respond to a thread instead of jumping down people's throat on the first post over something that you don't even seem to know about

It seems like you are jumping down my throat guy..all I said is no shark should be kept in a tank that small I don't care if it only grows 2 feet or not. As far as the size there is mixed information all over the internet and I have done lots of research on them because at 1 point I really wanted a small shark. I saw that they can get up to 4 feet and that was enough for me to say no. I would never want to have an animal be miserable hence why many sharks do not live long in captivity especially in a home aquarium. Think about it in a 210 even at 2 feet it can barely spin around after doing a lap. Yes they are lazy boring sharks and sit around mostly but I bet if you put them in a 10,000 gallon tank they would do more swimming. Either way I personally would not do it. I know there is people that do but I would not. Plus the fact they are expensive to feed and boring so why even bother?
for example live aquaria says 3'3,I have seen other sites say females 3' males 4'. Obviously we don't know for sure how long they will live or how big they will get but like I said even 2 feet is too small for a 210.

I'm curious Dom how long were you able to keep them alive in a 240?

 

[Domboski]

I'm curious Dom how long were you able to keep them alive in a 240?

Several years (6+ years) and they died because of a power failure in my new home right after the move two+ years ago. I'm not interested in a debate but will say this, I judge fish based on breeding. The shark species I mentioned above and other similar catsharks have been bread in tanks as small as a standard 125. These catsharks do not get 3' and not all of the information about fish on Liveaquaria or pet education is accurate :wink1: You should use fishbase.com as it is more accurate. Having said all of that, bigger is of course better. My opinion is one catshark from the Atelomycterus genus will do just fine in a 210 and live happily assuming the proper aquascaping and nutrition.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Well I'm not saying it's scripture because it's on live aquaria lol. I just used that as one example I knew off the top of my head. I looked them up about 2 years ago. I did research on them for a while when I was thinking about it I saw the majority of info out there was saying 3 feet. Also you are saying 1 shark and that's it in that tank with proper aquascaping meaning not tons of rock. According to reefs4life's tank thread he has 400lbs of rock in it and among all the other stuff in there fitting a shark of any size would be impossible it would probably knock down the rocks on top of itself as well as maybe eat other fish and for sure any inverts.

 

[Domboski]

Well I'm not saying it's scripture because it's on live aquaria lol. I just used that as one example I knew off the top of my head. I looked them up about 2 years ago. I did research on them for a while when I was thinking about it I saw the majority of info out there was saying 3 feet. Also you are saying 1 shark and that's it in that tank with proper aquascaping meaning not tons of rock. According to reefs4life's tank thread he has 400lbs of rock in it and among all the other stuff in there fitting a shark of any size would be impossible it would probably knock down the rocks on top of itself as well as maybe eat other fish and for sure any inverts.

All of the downfalls were pointed out to him and he made the right decision. At least he asked first One of the things to keep in mind here is tank "gallons" and rock "pounds" is not the best gauge on a system. I had well over 400lbs of rock in my shark tank but it sat on top of a 4" square PVC so the sharks had a cave the length of the tank. A 125 gallon tank could be 6 feet long or 8 feet long.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the available "books" and "information" on the web are either outdated and/or inaccurate. I'm speaking from my personal experience. I'm also not saying it is easy to keep these sharks. It's a daily committment of time and money that I noted by posting the link to the article I wrote. The numbers in that chart were reflective of my routine monthly. Atelomycterus sharks spend most of their time swimming within the reef rock work/structure avoiding being eaten. They are well suited to move around small spaces that is amazing when witnessed. So they are a good candidates for larger aquariums (at least 6' long or larger cubes). Much better than the Banded Catshark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) which does get much larger and requires much more space.

Regardless, I'm not taking sides on the issue but rather passing on my experience .

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

All of the downfalls were pointed out to him and he made the right decision. At least he asked first One of the things to keep in mind here is tank "gallons" and rock "pounds" is not the best gauge on a system. I had well over 400lbs of rock in my shark tank but it sat on top of a 4" square PVC so the sharks had a cave the length of the tank. A 125 gallon tank could be 6 feet long or 8 feet long.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the available "books" and "information" on the web are either outdated and/or inaccurate. I'm speaking from my personal experience. I'm also not saying it is easy to keep these sharks. It's a daily committment of time and money that I noted by posting the link to the article I wrote. The numbers in that chart were reflective of my routine monthly. Atelomycterus sharks spend most of their time swimming within the reef rock work/structure avoiding being eaten. They are well suited to move around small spaces that is amazing when witnessed. So they are a good candidates for larger aquariums (at least 6' long or larger cubes). Much better than the Banded Catshark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) which does get much larger and requires much more space.

Regardless, I'm not taking sides on the issue but rather passing on my experience .

I respect that, I'm not claiming to be an expert I'm just saying me personally I wouldn't do it. A 2 foot shark in a 6 foot tank just sounds messed up. It's like when people but a 3 foot iguana or 2 foot bearded dragon in a 55 or a 16" pacu etc