Inadequate aquariums<\/h2>\n
Lise Watson, the assistant director of animal operations and habitats at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, doesn\u2019t think so. \u201cGenerally speaking, most home aquariums are inadequate for even the smallest shark species. \u2026 Sharks kept in undersized aquariums often suffer from long-term health issues, including stunted growth and deformities as they mature,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cEven smaller species require specialized diets, life support systems, and veterinary oversight. Resources typically only available in professional aquarium settings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jay Hemdal, a retired aquarist and curator who worked with sharks in a Midwest public aquarium for decades, pretty much agrees. The only shark he ever gives the OK for in an off-the-shelf home aquarium is the coral catshark (Atelomycterus marmoratus). And he says those should only be owned by someone with a lot of expertise.<\/p>\n
Hemdal knows from personal experience that shark ownership can be dangerous \u2014 for the sharks. In the 1960s, when he was 13, he saved up money from his paper route to purchase a nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) he\u2019d seen at a pet store. He placed the shark, which grows to 2.7 m (9 ft) long, in a 109-l (29-gal) tank. The shark died. Now Hemdal spends a chunk of time on Reef2Reef, a discussion board for saltwater aquarium owners, advising people not to buy sharks.<\/p>\n
Data on sharks in the aquarium trade are nearly impossible to come by, as \u201cthe global trade of marine ornamental fish, which has been ongoing for nearly a century, has never been effectively monitored,\u201d wrote Monica Virginia Biondo et al. in a 2024 study in the journal Animals. But, using data on fish imported to the European Union from 2014-21 (data on U.S. imports are less recent), they found that shark imports for home and commercial aquariums were on the rise. \u201cThis increase in live-shark trade is concerning, as nearly two-thirds of shark and ray species associated with coral reefs are at risk of extinction,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
Laurie accessed her sharks ethically, but not all epaulette shark owners do. Epaulette sharks made Biondo\u2019s list of one of the most concerning highly traded Chondrichthyes (sharks and rays) and Osteichthyes (bony fish) that are endangered or vulnerable. In 2020, Conservation International wrote that \u201cWalking sharks [epaulette sharks] have now become major targets for capture and display by both large public aquariums and private collectors, and we are concerned that this unregulated trade may be unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Laurie, Tyler McCleave, a sales executive at a freight brokerage who used to work at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, tries to source his sharks ethically. McCleave keeps four sharks in his 1.8-m-by-1-m (6-ft-by-3-ft) tank at his Ohio townhome: two epaulettes, a grey bamboo (Chiloscyllium griseum) and a wobbegong (Orectolobidae spp.). Most were captive-bred or sourced from other hobbyists who weren\u2019t taking good care of them. \u201cThe grey bamboo was in a 50-gallon [189-liter tank] when we got him and lived most of his life there, and I am just such a sucker for any animal with [an] abysmal backstory,\u201d McCleave says. (Grey bamboo sharks are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN\u2019s Red List). The wobbegong, which is not a threatened species, came from a Tennessee shark breeder.<\/p>\n McCleave hand- or tong-feeds his shark fresh clams, crabs and shrimp from the supermarket three days a week. The sharks know which days they\u2019re fed and they come out of hiding from the PVC pipes and wait their turn. (The sharks have a pecking order: The male epaulette goes first).<\/p>\n His sharks have different personalities, he says. The female epaulette likes being pet. The male epaulette likes to flip over starfish and steal their food. But he cautions that sharks aren\u2019t like domesticated animals that bond with their owners. \u201cI spend almost every day working on my tank, and it\u2019s for an animal that wouldn\u2019t even acknowledge me if I passed away,\u201d McCleave says.<\/p>\n Though McCleave loves his sharks, he doesn\u2019t think most people should own them. In fact, he says sharks are too easy to obtain. \u201cAnybody can buy a shark online,\u201d McCleave says. Customers aren\u2019t vetted to ensure they have a large enough tank or proper knowledge on feeding and water care, he says. It\u2019s not just the ease of access that worries him; it\u2019s also the damage to the sharks when they\u2019re shipped. Two of the captive-bred sharks he ordered online were dead when they arrived. \u201cIt is a horrible, horrible aspect of this hobby,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n While bamboo and epaulette sharks \u201care particularly well suited to human care due to their manageable size and bottom-dwelling nature,\u201d Watson, of Shedd Aquarium, says, \u201ctheir care requires expertise and resources found in professional aquariums.\u201d<\/p>\n Scroll through aquarium influencers on YouTube and you\u2019d never know shark ownership could be harmful. Case in point: YouTuber Paul Cuffaro, whose dimpled smile and shirtless jaunts through his \u201cshark pond\u201d have garnered him 3.2 million followers. His 21,000-l (5,500-gal) saltwater pond in Jupiter, Florida, is filled with two juvenile blacktip (C. limbatus) and zebra sharks, as well as a horn shark (Heterodontus francisci).<\/p>\n Cuffaro\u2019s two juvenile sharks will outgrow the pond, says Hemdal, the retired aquarium curator. The blacktip will eventually become 1.5 m (5 ft) long and require a 45,400-l (12,000-gal) aquarium. The zebra shark, which is now a beautiful black-and-white banded baby, will become a 2.4-m (8-ft) spotted shark (which is why it\u2019s called a leopard shark in Indonesia).<\/p>\n \u201cPeople buy these little baby sharks, and for some reason, they think they\u2019re not going to grow,\u201d Hemdal says. Or they think they\u2019ll buy a bigger tank and they never do, he says. He used to field weekly calls from people asking if the aquarium can take their shark, and he almost always says no. \u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t know what happens to these sharks,\u201d Hemdal says.<\/p>\n Shedd Aquarium, too, receives calls from people looking to rehome their sharks. \u201c[It\u2019s] often because the animal has grown too large or the care requirements have become overwhelming. Unfortunately, like most AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, Shedd Aquarium is unable to accept these animals,\u201d Watson says, referring to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. \u201cAZA standards for ethical animal acquisition require intentional planning, including appropriate quarantine space and biosecurity protocols to protect the health of the entire animal population. In many cases, sharks from private homes have significant health concerns due to improper care, inadequate environments and unknown medical histories.\u201d<\/p>\n Owning a zebra shark is particularly egregious because the sharks are endangered. Baby zebra sharks and their eggs sometimes find their way to the home aquarium market after being collected from the wild. Eggs can net around $300 and live sharks sell for $6,000-$10,000. It\u2019s legal to own these sharks in the U.S., but the zebra sharks that Cuffaro and others own are not helping the species survive \u2014 they\u2019re doing the opposite. \u201cThere is no outcome for that fish other than it\u2019s going to die an early death,\u201d Hemdal says.<\/p>\n Even if an owner of a zebra shark wants to rehome it after it grows too big, it can\u2019t become part of StAR, a shark rewilding initiative in Indonesia. The StAR project works with public aquariums worldwide to breed zebra sharks and then ship the eggs to Indonesia. Shedd Aquarium participates in StAR. \u201cThese groundbreaking efforts are made possible through the careful breeding of genetically appropriate animals in public aquariums, ensuring healthy populations that can help restore wild ecosystems,\u201d Watson says. But zebra sharks and eggs from home breeders cannot be part of StAR, Hemdal says, \u201cbecause collection data is needed to understand what subpopulation the eggs came from and commercially sourced eggs don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n Christine Dudgeon, who has studied zebra sharks for a decade since leading the IUCN\u2019s Red List assessment of the health of the shark\u2019s population, says even in the unlikely case that a person had an enormous, public aquarium-sized tank big enough to house a zebra, they would need to recognize that the shark was a \u201clong-term commitment.\u201d The oldest zebra shark recorded in captivity was around 40 years old, she says. \u201cA lot of people that have [zebra sharks] are probably really quite passionate and interested in those animals, but it\u2019s helpful \u2026 for them to understand a bit more of the ecology,\u201d Dudgeon wrote in an email. She hopes that anyone thinking of buying one recognize that the sharks aren\u2019t just bottom feeders: They regularly swim 620 miles (1,000 kilometers).<\/p>\n \u201cSocial media has portrayed [sharks] as fun, and that you have to have [them] to have a have a full aquarium,\u201d McCleave says. \u201cNot everybody should own a shark.\u201d<\/p>\n Biondo, M. V., Burki, R. P., Aguayo, F., & Calado, R. (2024). An updated review of the marine ornamental fish trade in the European Union. Animals, 14(12), 1761. doi:10.3390\/ani14121761<\/p>\nSharks have different personalities<\/h2>\n
Aquarium influencers<\/h2>\n
Sharks aren\u2019t for everyone to own<\/h2>\n
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