While visiting extended family in Cincinnati for Christmas, we stopped at the Newport Aquarium across the river in Kentucky. It was quite good. There was one section which consisted of a long hallway, surrounded on all sides by glass (basically we were inside a long glass tube, and all around us were hundreds of fish. Some were small, and some were huge. Swimming among the other fish were around 10 sharks. I could not help but wonder what was keeping the sharks from eating the other fishes in the tank.
Since I don’t know the first thing about fish besides that they taste good, could someone explain to me why these sharks don’t feed on the fish?
Our local newspaper ran a Q&A article when the Georgia Aquarium first opened, and this was one of the questions. The answer was, basically, “You don’t”. The staff can not make a predator fish stop doing what comes naturally. Aquariums expect (and dstock for) some level of predation loss. They can minimize their losses by keeping the predators well fed with easy meals, but nature is gonna rule in the end.
This isn’t the best picture, but check out the bottom left corner. I took the picture at the Okinawa Churaumi aquarium (More pics, if you want to look))
Yup. You just stock the tank with plenty of the fish the shark naturally likes for food. The rest of the aquarium you stock with fish the shark doesn’t prefer to eat (I don’t think there are many species the sharks won’t eat at all). A well fed shark has not much incentive to get creative with his meals.
Ditto for all predator species. Believe it or not, there are many species for which the problem is more severe than with sharks. There are several hunting crabs that will really take care of your aquarium population in not time. To make it worse, they won’t eat the whole fish and mess up your water quality as the carcasses rot in the water.
Discovery has a recent program about the Aquarium in Somecitio in Japan where they have 3 whale sharks. They show them feeding. It is just amazing.
I believe the sharks go for the easiest prey. If fed sufficiently, they will avoid chasing their prey and eat only their fodder. But still, I would go swimming with the sharks! :eek:
Captive predators can rarely re-enter the wild without intensive training, captivity is too easy for them. Keep the sharks fed with easy food and the thrashy exhaustive prey will seem less inticing, although keeping a stock of the other species seems to be a good idea too
Sharks prefer to eat sick or wounded fish. Aquariums either get rid of those or heal them up. Sharks also just eat so much (outside of a “frenzy”), and they are kept well fed.
Look at a nature film about reefs and you’ll see sharks swimming along right near schools of fish.
However, note that the first time a Great White was sucessfully kept (at the Monterey Bay Aquarium) they had to release her as she was getting “too agressive”.
Renee, are you sure the big fish is really eating the small one? To me, it looks like he’s just swimming underneath the big guy’s head at a 90 degree angle. What’s everyone’s take on this?
How do they “get rid” of them, I wonder? Net them out, take 'em to the kitchen, cut 'em into chum and feed them back to the fish eating fish as fillets?
Reminds me of the cafeteria sushi in the aquarium building.
