Chiloscyllium punctatum

Muller & Henle, 1838

Brown-Banded Bamboo Shark

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Andaman Islands and India east to the Philippines and north to Japan and south to Australia.

Size: 50 inches (130 cm)

Natural Environment: Inhabits coral reefs, tidepools, tidal flats and reef faces and usually found at depths between 3 to 300 feet (1 - 90 m) where it feeds on small fishes, shrimp, worms, crabs and other crustaceans.

General Husbandry: Rarely seen in the trade, having a cream colored body with wide dark brown bands.

Best maintained in large shark and stingrays type aquariums having deep fine-grained sand, and wide-open swimming areas, peaceful, none fin-nipping tankmates and tankmates too large to be eaten. Also a large, well-filtered and well-oxygenated system with few environment obstructions, however, should have a large cave to hide in.

Do not house with large triggerfishes, angelfishes, wrasses, and pufferfishes, as they can pick on the shark and cause skin and/or eye damage.

Requires a meaty diet, i.e., preferably live grass shrimp, earthworms and/or crabs and/or chopped meaty foods such as fish flesh, shrimp, clams, scallops and earthworms and be fed three times weekly.

Taxonomy:

Class: Chondrichthyes

Subclass: Elasmobranchii

Order: Orectolobiformes

Family: Hemiscylliidae

Genus: Chiloscyllium

FYI: Will eat small tankmates.

Very sensitive to copper, therefore aquarium water should be made with RO/DI processed water.

They like to dig, so having anything that may topple could cause a danger in the aquarium. They also like to hide and need caves and ledges to hide in or under.

Experience Level: Expert

Temperament: Aggressive

Diet: Carnivore

Coral Safe: Yes

Fish Safe: No

Invertebrate Safe: No

Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+

Aquarium Environment: Fish-only aquarium/with caution

Tankmates: Peaceful and too large to be eaten

Minimum Tank Size: 500 gallons

Temperature Range: 72 - 82°F (22 - 27°C)

Specific Gravity: 1.020 - 1.025

pH: 8.0 - 8.5