lolz.
but yeah, most chain stores end up terrible.
i just think they really need better choices of sharks.
like they could have atleast gone for a bamboo shark

but in there defence, the idea of a display tank is to have lots of movment, they have done this, the bamboo would just sit around

not realy much differance in what they have done as compared to thoes of us who keep anthias in a tank smaller than 90 gal.

Steve

yes but they could have gone for some other type of fish, couldn't they?

and its true, you could compare it to that, but right now im mad at big als, so i'll be mad at the anthias people later :p

Nothing beats the thrill of seeing a shark!!!!!! o my...... :razz::razz:

Well seriously now. They bought the sharks to bring people in and be like "ohhhhhh sharks, so coo l!!!!!!!!!!!".

When you first saw them in the tank, you probably watched them and thought thats cool. Then your aquarist brain kicked in and said this is wrong. I bet you most the people that go in there dont even have the thought of " oh my those sharks are gonna get huge and I feel bad for them". Hell, they probably have people just coming into the store to see the sharks. Its good business smarts on them. Get people in the store, maybe they will think fish are 'cool', and then they spend allllll of their money.:lol:


Oh and PS.

If you want to be mad at big als about the sharks. You should watch the documentary on shark finning. Then you may be mad for other reasons.....If your curious and have the stomach for the cruelty just youtube "shark finning".

I only go to big al's if i really have to. I was in there this week and i hate going there. Just like any chain stores product must be shipped in large numbers to decrease costs of shipping. Which means more profit. true from a business side of it, yes this is smart but with certain type of business's this should be over looked and quality should mean more than quantity. That is how a business in salt water survives. Someone i know told me that no matter how bad you feel, back off because not saving one might prevent the deaths of others.

I am HIGHLY against keeping sharks unless its at an aquarium for public viewing. That tank is to small. The one thing it will do is stunt their growth but still its an attraction. the fact that you can just walk in and see sharks is great for most people. For a diver like myself i still believe that they should remain in the wild.

That being said, i can bet that 90 percent of the people in hobby have large fish housed in tanks to small for that species. When it comes to tangs, surgeons, and large angels they get huge. A fully grown queen angel is massive and there are only a hand full of people on this forum that I would say have the tank to properly keep these guys. Hell in my 60 gal i am only planning on having a pair of tomato's, my watchmans and some six line wrasses cause i am agains over crowding.

lol ok maybe i should stop because i probably will just keep ranting till i have a novel published

well said lorenzo.

i really didn't have much purpose for going in there exept for i wanted to see the finished product and i was at coco brooks :P

Proportions can't be judged when comparing a small fish to a very large fish. You can't even compare proportions when speaking of our tank reefs. A Panda Goby at 1" is quite happy in a 2 gallon tank (twice the size of it's length or 1/2" per gallon), but a 14" Sailfin Tang is NOT happy in a 28 gallon tank (twice the size of it's length or 1/2" per gallon). Proportions can only be used to compare very similar sized fish. In fact, a 14" Sailfin Tang wouldn't be particularly happy in a tank that is any smaller than 240g (some people would argue this), and that is over 17x the length of the fish and 0.05" per gallon.

By proportions I meant ideal swimming lengths compared to tank length.... which is not necessarily related to fish size or your 1/2" per gallon relation which is not at all what I meant by "proportions".

But you kind of made my point for me... how much swimming room do tangs ideally need and what size of tanks are they often crammed in? Looks like a lot of people have no problem putting them in a 4' tank from a recent thread

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=47168

but you say ideally some should be in 8' tanks.

So yeah Big Als tank isn't ideal and it would be nice if it was twice as long but at the end of the day they're just doing the same thing that 95% of other people in the hobby are doing.

I'm not saying it's the best thing in the world but it just part of the hobby. You want something but maybe you don't want to have a tank that big.... so you push the limits.

Meh

I agree that Big Al's shark feeding frenzy is somewhat unnecessary.

There are a number of people out there that think our whole hobby falls into the same discussion. They believe that all of the creatures we put into our tanks belong in the wild. We are all on a slippery slope and to be highly critical of Big Al's is a bit hypocritical.

It is a shame that Big A's has decided to use sharks as a means to entice customers into their store. I for one think that a tank of that size with hundreds of smaller fish built more like an actual reef is more spectacular. Tangs, Triggers, Angels and Damsels etc small medium and large.

Tom R

Yeah in a lot of ways it'd be way cooler right full of other fish.... prob cheaper just to grab 3 sharks??