All About the Banded Bamboo Cat Shark
- Jan 07, 2023
- Anshika Mishra
- 445 0 0
Did you ever want to take care of a shark? In this article, we are talking about one of the most common sharks seen in the saltwater hobby. This is the Banded Bamboo cat shark.
Banded Bamboo Cat Shark
These are bottom-dwelling sharks, so you are not going to see these constantly swimming around like a great white chasing a predator. Instead, they are typically hung down on the sand bed. During feeding, you start to see them get active and make circles around the tank because they know that the food is coming.
Prices: These sharks can be bought when they are still eggs for around $80. Because as they start to get older in that egg, you start to see them poke out and wiggle around and get out. You can also get one that's already hatched swimming around for about $200 and higher.
Tank Size: The tank size must be huge for adult fish. Fresh out of eggs, they are usually about 3-4 inches long. So a 55-gallon will last for the first year. But you'll have to update them as they do get larger.
Care Level: They are an expert care level, especially those newly hatched. They will be picky eaters and require pristine water quality with excellent filtration because any spikes in the water or jump in the levels will hurt them first.
They are aggressive fish to keep. Most of the time, they will be relaxing, but once they get into feeding mode, they will eat anything and everything in their way.
Reef Compatibility: You can keep the sharks there, and they will not harm your corals. But they can bump them or lay on them. However, they will eat the invert.
Water Parameters
- Temperatures: 72-78
- dKH: 8-12
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Salinity: 1.020- 1.025
Acclimat them to double what you do with other fish, and make sure not to do any copper-based medication as this might harm the shark.
Appearance
These fishes can get about 3 feet long, but this will take some time. They usually grow about 6 inches yearly, so you can understand how big of a tank you need.
Diet
Diet is one of the most challenging parts of these sharks. In the beginning, you will want a variety of food to help you figure out what the shark is enticed by. Start with feeder shrimps while training on things like raw shrimps. But they will get aggressive when eating, so be very careful of their bites.
Compatibility
They should not be housed with similar fishes and inverts as they will see them as food. Larger fishes are great companions.
Tank Setup
These fishes need a soft sand bed with a long open space for the shark to roam.
About author