How to Feed Hammerhead Sharks

Sharks can provide large-aquarium owners with rare beauty. Hammerheads -- named because their heads look like flattened hammers -- eat fish, rays and other sharks in the wild. Knowing how to feed them in an aquarium is the key to keeping them healthy.

Things You'll Need

  • Frozen shellfish, fresh fish, and squid, and other seafood.
  • Live Bait Fish
  • Vitamin Supplement
  • Plastic feeding pole
  • Feeding Bucket
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Instructions

    • 1

      Create and environment in which your hammerhead shark will thrive. Knowing what this fish eats in the ocean will help you adjust its diet for maximum health and longevity. Hammerheads live in shallow, tropical waters. They are aggressive predators that will eat almost anything they can catch -- rays, other sharks, squid, octopus, fish, and crustaceans. Their diet must be rich in these proteins for good health.

    • 2

      Feed the shark no more than two or three times a week. If you feed a shark more than this, you will risk two problems -- the water quality will suffer due to the blood and bits of flesh from your feeder fish and the shark will outgrow the space you have provided for it.

    • 3

      Place your frozen fish, chum, squid, or other seafood into a bucket and add a little tepid water to aid in the thawing of the food. It does not have to be completely thawed, just enough to allow the juices and natural blood to spread out on the water.

    • 4

      Skewer each chunk of fish or other food item on the plastic feeding pole and insert it into the water neart the shark, If hungry, the shark will make a pass at it and likely taste. When it comes to feed, it will tear the bait off the skewer and consume it.

    • 5

      Offering live baitfish is a bit trickier but can be done in the larger aquarium. The fish do not have to be a specific type. Hammerheads are usually not concerned with what fish they consume. Release the baitfish into the feeding pool the day of feeding. Do not disturb the shark until it shows either no interest in the food for over 15 minutes.