Our Story
Meet Bruce — the shark who started it all. From his story, S.H.A.R.K.S. was born to protect every shark’s right to keep swimming free.
A few years ago, on a visit to a Marine fish shop with friends , i made a rather impulsive purchase of a small brown banded Bamboo shark to come home with me to my home aquarium and be a part of our growing family. Little did i know this impulsive purchase was going to change my life , my hobby and the way i viewed the world.
What happened next?
What I discovered was that they grow FAST ! Even in a nearly 2000L aquarium, it wasn't long before he was big enough and strong enough to move rock work and destroy delicate corals , as my own family began to outgrow the family home , I knew it was the perfect opportunity whilst moving the tank to the new house to rehome my Beloved Bruce.
This is where the problems began .... I had previously (shortly after getting Bruce) spoken to my local public aquarium and asked about rehoming him when the time came. I reached out and got a firm No , sorry we are full and cannot take him on anymore apologies.
I didn't take no for an answer and went down to physically talk with the general manager and after a lengthy 2-3 hour friendly conversation, I discovered this wasn't something out of the ordinary to them.
He very kindly offered to reach out via his own personal contacts to other aquariums and see if they could help. Each one said no , sorry....
Turns out , Sharks (especially the "smaller" species) although they come in very small and "cute" either as babies typically around 4-5" or as eggs for people to hatch quite often grow FAST and outgrow their aquariums within a year or so once they've either eaten all the other inhabitants, smashed and damaged the aquarium or just causing general issues.
The big issue , as above is rehoming them.... How many people do you know that can house a 3 or 4ft shark with the right care requirements...
Time and time again , I'm seeing these small sharks being brought in , all cute and innocent for sale in marine fish shops across the uk , often sold by incompetent sellers who aren't bothered who they sell too , as long as the cash lands in the drawer.
When I purchased my shark , not a single question was asked about size of tank , other inhabitants etc and I hear the same time and time again.
The last two I saw for sale , I made a sly comment about them "I wish they stayed that small" to which the owner of the shop replied "they don't grow that fast".
I want this to change , buying a shark shouldn't be as easy as walking into a shop with some cash in your pocket and walking out with a box full of shark.
I completely understand that in some very extreme cases there are private or public aquariums that are able to house these beautiful and majestic animals, but the average marine aquarium hobbyist is not capable, especially when it comes to the technical needs of quarantine a new animal.
I want to stop these animals being brought in by the main wholesaler for the UK.
Meet the Team
Where is Bruce now?
In his forever home??
Luckily i found a fairly local reefer that had a 12ft tank that he could rehome him long -term, unfortunately he went even more rogue in his tank and caused alot of damage to the aquascape and also ate nearly all of his fish.
He was then moved onto a local fish shop which are expanding and building a dedicated lagoon display tank. Unfortunately yet again Bruce went on a rampage during the night and flipped the entire contents of the tank upside down. luckily for Bruce the owners of the fish shop had a very good contact not too far away that had a dedicated shark display tank that was extremely large and big enough to house himfor the rest of his life in captivity.
