All fish / Hemiscylliidae

White-spotted Bamboo Shark

Chiloscyllium plagiosum

Also known as whitespotted bamboo shark, white spotted bamboo shark, bamboo shark, white-spotted cat shark, whitespotted catshark, marbled bamboo shark, ฉลามกบ, ฉลามกบลายเสือดาว, yu bodoh, イヌザメ, hiu bambu, hiu tokek

A slender bottom-dwelling shark with a dark brown body marked by darker bands and many small white and blue-grey spots. It is one of the few sharks that can be kept in a home system, as it stays fairly small, is calm and spends much of its time resting on the sand.

Care at a glance

Care level

Hard

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

80 cm

Temperature

22 to 28 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

2000 litres

Keep as

Singly or as a pair in a very large system

Diet

Carnivore: squid, shrimp, clams, mussels and pieces of fish, with vitamin and iodine supplements

Swims

Bottom of the tank

Lifespan

20 to 25 years

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Indo-West Pacific: India and Sri Lanka to southern Japan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia

Breeding

It lays leathery egg cases that hatch after roughly four months, and it has bred regularly in public aquaria and some large home systems. Females have even produced young without a male through parthenogenesis.

Good to know

Adults reach around 80 to 95 cm and need a very large tank with lots of open sand and a secure lid; they will eat small fish and crustaceans. Avoid copper medications and sharp substrate, and do not house with nipping fish or triggers.