# How do they prevent the sharks in aquariums from eating all the other fish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606 "2006-12-26T10:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606/41 "2006-12-30T04:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] And, uh, how _does_ one teach tiny fish defensive tactics, pray? And welcome, **Barrington**! [/QUOTE] The ones who don’t teach themselves defensive tactics are food. The quick learners survive to make the next generation. There’s the quick, the clever, and the food. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Anglerfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6de8d8/32.png) [@Anglerfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anglerfish)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606/42 "2006-12-30T14:20:30Z")
Yay a fishthread! Must register and add my 2 cents: The fish in Renee’s picture is a “Humphead wrasse” (_Cheilinus undulatus_). As the name says, it’s a member of the wrasse family, not a grouper (although it looks quite a bit like it). The humphead grows to immense sizes (more than 230 cm (4,25 feet) and 190 kg (419 lb)) and is unfortunately quite endangered due to it’s slow growth and tasty flesh ☹ The groupers are all ferocious predators as someone guessed above. You got most of the points in keeping big sharks in aquariums: Keep them well fed, keep injured and sick fish out of the aquarium, choose other species that can either keep out of the way or are too small to be of interest to the shark(s) in question. (Keeping in mind that the different kind of sharks are specialized in different prey species/types!). Even keeping all of the above in mind, accidents do happen: a local aquarium here in Denmark once lost a valuable “Bonnethead” (small species of hammerhead shark) to one of the big “Sand tiger sharks” in the shark pool! ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606/43 "2006-12-30T16:35:44Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] And, uh, how _does_ one teach tiny fish defensive tactics, pray? [/QUOTE] In schools. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606/44 "2006-12-30T18:45:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] In schools. [/QUOTE] Just for that I’d vote to have you sleep with the fishes, then I realized you _do_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606/45 "2006-12-30T18:56:50Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] Boo! Boooo!! The worst part is, I actually laughed. I’ll get you for this. [/QUOTE] See, the problem with having Jets underwater for the Sharks to fight is that the ocean is three-dimensional. That means it’s hard to get the fish all on the same plane. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606/46 "2006-12-30T23:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] See, the problem with having Jets underwater for the Sharks to fight is that the ocean is three-dimensional. That means it’s hard to get the fish all on the same plane. [/QUOTE] Not in Hollywood. Fish! On a plane! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-prevent-the-sharks-in-aquariums-from-eating-all-the-other-fish/385606.md?page=2)