Whenever hobbyists say "I want a baby shark for my 55 gallon, I'll give him to an aquarium when he gets too big", the typical and correct response is "Don't you dare! An aquarium won't take it". Well, the idiots who want sharks and other ridiculous animals just got fuel for their argument...thanks to the Orange County Register. Man, if public aquariums are going to do this stuff they shouldn't allow it to be printed!!
Pet shark to leave home in Pleasanton
PLEASANTON Jigsaw isn't a typical family pet.
He's more than 4 feet long, has a dorsal fin and loves calamari.
The 2 1/2-year-old white- tipped reef shark has been living with John Valentine and his family for more than two years. But the beloved pet has grown too large for their living room aquarium, so the family found Jigsaw bigger digs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
"We want to do the right thing for him," said Valentine. "We love him, but he'll be better off with four or five other reef sharks in a bigger tank.
Jigsaw was just 16 inches long when Valentine bought him from a friend in August 2000.
Though he'll eat any new fish introduced into his tank, the Valentines said he steers clear of munching on the fish he's lived with since he was small.
"He's friends with the fish in there. They cohabitate," said Valentine's wife, Whitney.
"I never knew a shark had character or an alliance with things it actually grew up with," Valentine said.
White-tipped reef sharks can grow as long as 6 1/2 feet and are commonly found in shallow tropical waters from the Galapagos Islands to the Indian Ocean.
Link back to article http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/a ... th=1&day=4
Pet shark to leave home in Pleasanton
PLEASANTON Jigsaw isn't a typical family pet.
He's more than 4 feet long, has a dorsal fin and loves calamari.
The 2 1/2-year-old white- tipped reef shark has been living with John Valentine and his family for more than two years. But the beloved pet has grown too large for their living room aquarium, so the family found Jigsaw bigger digs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
"We want to do the right thing for him," said Valentine. "We love him, but he'll be better off with four or five other reef sharks in a bigger tank.
Jigsaw was just 16 inches long when Valentine bought him from a friend in August 2000.
Though he'll eat any new fish introduced into his tank, the Valentines said he steers clear of munching on the fish he's lived with since he was small.
"He's friends with the fish in there. They cohabitate," said Valentine's wife, Whitney.
"I never knew a shark had character or an alliance with things it actually grew up with," Valentine said.
White-tipped reef sharks can grow as long as 6 1/2 feet and are commonly found in shallow tropical waters from the Galapagos Islands to the Indian Ocean.
Link back to article http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/a ... th=1&day=4
