# sharks **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2009, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616 "2009-12-26T09:41:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sharktits3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@sharktits3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sharktits3)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/1 "2009-12-26T09:41:49Z")
has anyone ever owned a pet shark ever in history ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/2 "2009-12-26T13:33:11Z")
Lots of people have small sharks in their aquaria. Generally without tits, though. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/3 "2009-12-26T14:24:50Z")
Friends of mine have kept chain dogfish in home aquariums. (There are over 350 species of sharks. Maybe you want to be more specific in your question.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/4 "2009-12-26T14:38:27Z")
There is a little freshwater bottom-feeding fish that aquarium shops often talk you into taking-and they call it a “shark”, because it kind of looks like one. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/5 "2009-12-26T16:54:59Z")
As was already mentioned, smaller sharks are kept all the time. If you are thinking about something along the lines of a great white though, they don’t tend to do very well in captivity. They don’t eat, and they tend to swim around and just keep bashing their heads into the side of the tank. You’re lucky if you can keep one alive for more than a week. Some big sharks do OK, though. The Georgia Aquarium has a whale shark, which is about as big as you get. I wouldn’t really call that a “pet” though. It’s not like most folks have an 8 million gallon aquarium in their back yard. Here’s a list of common pet sharks: > [@](#): > > Most people want to get a shark that looks like the Great White Shark of “Jaws” fame. Well, the Blue Torpedo Shark priced between $35.00-$50.00 is the one for you. It looks like a tiny Great White. The Blue Torpedo shark is not as common as the others presented below. Most sharks will cost between $5.00 and $6.00. > > TYPES OF COMMON AQUARIUM SHARKS (Sharks presented below are the fresh water variety). > > Rainbow Sharks - Energetic and rather aggressive. The Rainbow Shark will get to about 9" long. Very pretty with red or pink tails and fins. > > Red Tail Sharks - Really beautiful shark with its red tail and they are quick swimmers. The Red Tail Shark will get to about 5" long, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in aggressive behavior towards other sharks. This one does well in a group of 6 or more sharks. > > Bala Shark - Plainer looking shark, but absolutely lovely. This type grows to about 7" long or more. Bala’s have been reported to get up to 14" long. That is one big shark for an aquarium. > > White Tip Shark and Black Tip Shark - These sharks are good for both the fresh and saltwater tank. These sharks are a little friendlier than the others. > > Other types of aquarium sharks and their full-grown size: > > Apollo Shark - Grows to 8" long. > > Black Shark - Grows to 10" long. > > Iridescent Shark - Grows to 12" long and is Non-aggressive. Good fish for the first-time shark owner. > > Silver Shark - Grows to 8" long. Peaceful shark. That list comes from this web site, which has a ton of information about pet sharks (care, feeding, diseases to watch out for, etc) [http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/petsharkaquari\_syyl.htm](http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/petsharkaquari_syyl.htm) According to Wikipedia, some dealers will sell you larger sharks like juvenile nurse sharks, which tends not to work out very well. These end up growing too big to be practical for a home aquarium, and then you find out that public aquariums generally won’t accept them if they get too big for you to handle. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/6 "2009-12-26T16:58:53Z")
Sharks, along with skates, rays, sawfish, and a couple of other specialized forms, are the larger of the two main groups of Class Chondrichthyes. AA perch or guppy is cladistically far more closely related to us, giraffes, and dinosaurs than it is to a shark. Almost all sharks are salt-water fish; there are a couple of species adapted to brackish water, and there may be a species that lives in tropical fresh water. And, like all other large groups, they’ve adapted to a wide variety of niches – there are two large plankton feeders, there are scavengers, there are large and small active hunters, there are shellfish-eaters, and probably a bunch of other roles. The Green River shales have a bunch of small fish including sharks of less than a foot in length in a variety of small-vertebrate econiches. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/7 "2009-12-26T17:06:46Z")
Sorry, **engineer\_comp\_geek** , but the freshwater fishes known in the aquarium trade as red-tailed, bala, and iridescent or rainbow “sharks” are not true sharks at all; they are in the family Cyprinidae, and are relatives of carp. True sharks are salt water fishes; there are no true freshwater sharks (although the Bull Shark is sometimes found swimming in freshwater rivers that open to the sea). True sharks are sometimes kept by marine aquarists, but they are very challenging to keep. Most species grow too large for home aquaria, and they are very sensitive to electromagnetic fields, so the fluctuating signals sent off by the filters and pumps can sometimes drive them crazy. So yes, some sharks have been kept as pets, but it’s not common. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/8 "2009-12-26T18:11:35Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > As was already mentioned, smaller sharks are kept all the time. If you are thinking about something along the lines of a great white though, they don’t tend to do very well in captivity. They don’t eat, and they tend to swim around and just keep bashing their heads into the side of the tank. You’re lucky if you can keep one alive for more than a week. The Monterrey Bay Aquarium has done quit well- they have had something like 4 GWS which have fed and grown and then had to be released after quite a few months. [http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr\_whiteshark/whiteshark\_ours.aspx](http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_whiteshark/whiteshark_ours.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/9 "2009-12-26T21:04:44Z")
No self respecting Bond villain would caught without a [pet shark!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBncb56Z_xI) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/10 "2009-12-27T00:49:37Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Lots of people have small sharks in their aquaria. Generally without tits, though. I want to know what this means. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/11 "2009-12-27T00:53:14Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I want to know what this means. Did you not notice the OP’s screen name? (I am kind of nervous about what they intend to do with those sharks.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/12 "2009-12-27T00:53:14Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I want to know what this means. Check the OP’s username. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/13 "2009-12-27T00:54:10Z")
Check the OPs screen name. ETA: those other posts weren’t there a second ago… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/14 "2009-12-27T01:01:40Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Lots of people have small sharks in their aquaria. Generally without tits, though. Perhaps the OP originally came from the oceans of Eroticon 6. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharks/522616/15 "2009-12-27T16:59:36Z")
Nope, I didn’t notice the OP’s name. Although that just transfers the question.