How to Breed Gummy Sharks

Gummy sharks are members of the harmless family of hound sharks. This small shark, which feeds on a diet of crabs, octopus and squid, makes long migrations from Tasmania to Western Australia during the summer breeding season. Gummy sharks can be identified by small white spots across their bronze-grey backs. Adult females give birth to up to 14 pups. According to Alan Jardine, former Chief Conservation Officer at the National Zoological gardens of South Africa, these fish are unfortunately poorly understood by many hobbyists, but grow well and may breed in the aquarium of a dedicated enthusiast.

Things You'll Need

  • Six gummy sharks
  • 500-gallon aquarium
  • Aragonite
  • Aquarium filters, including powerful pumps and an over sized protein skimmer
  • Synthetic sea salt
  • Frozen prawns, calamari and strips of fish flesh
  • Aquarium multivitamin
  • 5 cc syringe and needle
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Instructions

    • 1

      Ensure that your aquarium is large enough. Adult gummy sharks can reach a length of 30 inches and require an aquarium of at least 500 gallons, particularly if you want to breed these fish.

    • 2

      Include a group of four to six gummy sharks in the aquarium initially. There is less aggression among individual gummy sharks when they are housed in groups of this size.

    • 3

      Ensure that you have individuals of both male and female sex. These sharks are ovoviviparous (meaning the eggs hatch internally) and have specialized copulatory organs designed for internal fertilization. Fertilized eggs develop in the female's egg tubes, and she gives birth to live young, called pups.

    • 4

      Place smooth aragonite on the bottom of the aquarium, to prevent the gummy sharks from injuring their bellies as bacterial infections will be difficult to treat.

    • 5

      Change the filter material on a regular basis. Gummy are messy feeders and require large amounts of food, particularly if you are housing a group of six sharks.

    • 6

      Place an over-sized protein skimmer on the aquarium and adjust the skimmer on a regular basis to ensure that it is operating at peak level.

    • 7

      Ensure that there is powerful circulation in the aquarium. The powerheads should be powerful enough to cause the substrate or gravel at which they are pointed, to be lifted slightly into suspension.

    • 8

      Replace five percent of the water on a weekly basis.

    • 9

      Disturb the sharks as little as possible to give them opportunity to mate.

    • 10

      Ensure that the pregnant female receives sufficient nourishment, as she may have up to 14 pups developing within her body.

    • 11

      Inject two to three drops of an aquarium multivitamin supplement into pieces of prawn or strips of fish flesh before feeding to the gummy sharks.