Doc
I don't work for anybody
So, picture this. I am headed to the fish store to pick up a few things. I wander toward the back and...there it is. My brown-banded bamboo shark. He is perched up on the substrate, and I swear there was a small beam of light from heaven illuminating him for me. I think I heard the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah as well, but I may have been mistaken. I quickly asked some dumb-ass clerk to toss in some krill to see if he was eating.
BAM
He sucked up krill like it was going out of style. I almost messed myself. I jumped at his price tag...$30. He looked a bit small (about 8 inches), but I told myself "He can tough it out against angelfish - he is a shark afterall.
Faast forward to home. I acclimated him into the 125 and released him to swim about his new home. He passed the Sohal tang, who ignored him completely. But then, as he came to rest on the sand bed.......it happened
The angels came at him to check him out. At first, they did a swim-by and then flew in for a nip. They kept nipping. I was appauled! I grabbed my net to grab him out, but he slid under a rock. the angels would not leave him alone. Clearly, he is not big enough to imtimidate them. I had one that was just over a foot long do great with a Niger trigger and an emperor so I am confident this species can and will survive angels, but this little guy does not have the chops....yet.
I literally dove into my tank to nab him and I rushed him upstairs to the 90. I dropped him in and said out loud..."huh....I wonder if this is a dumb idea...?" Now, it is too late. He has made a home under the rocks and seems quite happy. He lives with a royal gramma (soon to be edible size) and two clowns (which will not be at risk since they live about 1 inch away from their BTAs at all times, and a few colorful shrimps, who may end up being lunch.
Here is my question. What the hell do I do NOW? Granted, I am a dumb-ass and got a shark on impulse that is too small for his intended home (stop laughing Biff and Yote, like YOU have never bought a fish on impulse). Do I tear apart my tank to catch his cute-little butt and take him back to the store tomorrow? DO I risk him eating my shrimp and gramma over the next few months, while he grows and then try him back in the 125? I doubt he is a risk for anything else in my tank and I know he will not touch my corals or my clams. He is too little to rearrange my rock-work, but he!!, he is a shark after all? Ideas?
-Doc
BAM
He sucked up krill like it was going out of style. I almost messed myself. I jumped at his price tag...$30. He looked a bit small (about 8 inches), but I told myself "He can tough it out against angelfish - he is a shark afterall.
Faast forward to home. I acclimated him into the 125 and released him to swim about his new home. He passed the Sohal tang, who ignored him completely. But then, as he came to rest on the sand bed.......it happened
The angels came at him to check him out. At first, they did a swim-by and then flew in for a nip. They kept nipping. I was appauled! I grabbed my net to grab him out, but he slid under a rock. the angels would not leave him alone. Clearly, he is not big enough to imtimidate them. I had one that was just over a foot long do great with a Niger trigger and an emperor so I am confident this species can and will survive angels, but this little guy does not have the chops....yet.
I literally dove into my tank to nab him and I rushed him upstairs to the 90. I dropped him in and said out loud..."huh....I wonder if this is a dumb idea...?" Now, it is too late. He has made a home under the rocks and seems quite happy. He lives with a royal gramma (soon to be edible size) and two clowns (which will not be at risk since they live about 1 inch away from their BTAs at all times, and a few colorful shrimps, who may end up being lunch.
Here is my question. What the hell do I do NOW? Granted, I am a dumb-ass and got a shark on impulse that is too small for his intended home (stop laughing Biff and Yote, like YOU have never bought a fish on impulse). Do I tear apart my tank to catch his cute-little butt and take him back to the store tomorrow? DO I risk him eating my shrimp and gramma over the next few months, while he grows and then try him back in the 125? I doubt he is a risk for anything else in my tank and I know he will not touch my corals or my clams. He is too little to rearrange my rock-work, but he!!, he is a shark after all? Ideas?
-Doc
