Help! feeding Bamboo shark

B

Blaine

Reefing newb
I recently hatched a baby Bamboo shark 2 1/2 weeks ago and I cant get him to eat. I tried everything but no luck. I believe he has to be eating something or he would be dead by now.I put food into the tank late at night when he comes out but never see him eat. If I put food in front of him he swims away.
 
howdy, I too have a bamboo shark that hatched about a month ago but i'm not having that problem...

first off, what is he curently being fed/trying to feed him with? any other things in the tank with him that he might of nibbled on?

how big are the food chunks you are giving them... as far as bamboo sharks go the way their mouth is setup they can't have very large chunks of food for quite a while. My shark eats about 1/4 of an inch of a silverside (one about the legenth of a quarter) in 3 pieces. sometimes the baby shark will still have part of the plecenta attached which would cause it to not eat for a while.

Try and get us some more info and i'd be happy to help you out :)
 
Blain whatever sharkie says dont ask why just do it, she is a GOD with sharks and ichy damsels ha ha sorry sharkie damsels are mean:mrgreen:
 
aww joker!! thanks :) im no god, but i do know quite a bit about these creatures sinces its my major/job and all ;)
 
I have tried to feed him. Squid strips, clams, silver sides,shrimp and live brine shrimp. I cut all into thin strips 1 inch long.Do you think after three weeks he would be alive and very active at night if he was not eating something?
 
okay soooo i can see first off that the chunks are too big. 1in is much bigger than their small mouth opening. my shark right now at about a month old has a 1/4 in mouth opening, which means their throat is even smaller. Try going with tiny tiny pieces because that way they will be more apt to eat. Bamboos are sorta hard to get to eat in the first place, some sharks are really picky eaters. mine took a liking to silversides and squid. it could also bee that your shark is lacking iodine which is a thing they will need later on.... Try soaking the food bits in garlic extract and then feed it as much as you can get him to eat without over feeding (don't wanna go from starving to gouging it).

have you ever tried handling your shark? I know most people would say thats something to never do since they are a "wild animal" but since its my major (marine bio) and i use my tank for home research (or at least thats how it started ;D LOL) i have handled mine from day one.

have you ever used copper in your tank? what are the levels, temp, and salinty of your tank... sharks require everything to be a bit higher, and how much flow do you have goin' on in your tank? give us some info man!! LOL :D post a pic of this lil dude! I wanna seeee :)

and heres a myth buster for you... even tho thse are wild animals it doesn't mean they are going to be more "alive" at night, yes sharks are nocturnal but not to the extent that people believe... these lil sharks tend to be out and about all throughout the day, not just at night... plus how long did you have him from an egg? at the aquarium we've seen that sharks who have their lights on for the normal daylight time and then off at night tended to go to "sleep" when all the other fish, where as the sharks with the lights off in the day and on in the night time would react different, it was up during both times with little resting periods
 
Hey thanks. No I never use copper because of my live rock. salinity is .024 temp around 80 steady. flow is 1200. He like to stay in the rocks by the over flow box. I thought about brine shrimp from my hand but have not tried it yet. I also thought about trying a small tank filled with live brine but don't want to stress him out.I will try to post picks. The egg was in my tank for 4 weeks before hatching. when he hatched there was no yoke sack.
 
okay, i wouldn't go with brine because it is SUPER tiny and lacks pretty much all nutrients that a shark will need... your best bet is to try and get him to eat small chuncks of squid or silversides... at most LFS' you can get cubed squid.. i usually break that down and then hand feed it to my shark... have you ever handled it at all? it could be afraid of both your hand/whatever you're using to feed it with... you need to establish a way to show the shark where food comes from :) both my eel and my shark are aware that a hand equals handouts LOL. they both will come to the top of the tank and take the food gently from my fingers... some aren't so nice about it and may require tongs tho.

Handle that lil sucker as much as you can without stressing him out.. .I've found the best way to establish a good hands on relationship with my shark is to just gently pick him up from underneath and if he wants to swim away elt him. be very gentle and dont rub the scales backwards... it'll hurt the lil dude.

btw, have a name for it yet? :) get me some pictures dude! LOL

most hatchlings wont have the yoke sack, but sometimes they do... if he doesn't eat within the next few days i would suggest either taking him back into the LFS you bought him from or maybe shipping him to someone who can get it to eat that knows quite a bit about sharks...

is this your first shark as well?
 
Thanks. I will try feeding him like you said and holding him . He does let me touch him. I use two diff feeding tongues, once I got him to take a few nibbles of some krill but that was it.when I put food by him he just turns away. I post pics tomorrow. thanks for all your help.
 
lol its doing great :) eatin' every 2-3 days like a normal sharkie :) i spoil mine a bit when he gets fed but i'm trying to get this experiement/project on a roll.. not to mention looking for a bigger tank for him!! for now him and the eel are together but i'd like to upgrade to something larger and then possibly get another eel... a zebra this time :)

hes grown about a 1/2 inch maybe since he was hatched :) i'll have to post some new pics/videos of him
 

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