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Man who installed shark tank in his living room hits back at people who say it's animal cruelty

Home> News

Published 17:25 30 May 2023 GMT+1

Man who installed shark tank in his living room hits back at people who say it's animal cruelty

A TikToker has come under fire for the giant shark tank he has built in his living room

Ben Thompson

Ben Thompson

A Tiktoker who installed a giant shark tank in his home has hit back at critics who have deemed it 'animal cruelty'.

The Australia-based TikToker, @thegyp_aus, regularly shares content of his living shark tank, as he cleans it and feeds the sharks swimming within.

His most viral video, which received more than 40 million views, shows him adding a 14-inch-long Port Jackson shark to the tank, where another fish approaches it.

The four-inch-long Bumblebee grouper is scolded for trying to eat the new addition, and the shark escapes.

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A TikToker's shark tank has come under fire online.
TikTok/@thegyplife_aus

Content like this has divided opinion online, with some finding it fascinating, whilst others have deemed it cruel.

"Your aquarium is amazing! I could stare at this all day," one viewer pleaded in the comments section of one of his TikTok videos.

Another concerned commenter wrote: "This is way to small for these sharks. please get a way bigger one."

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The 5,200-gallon tank currently plays host to 11 sharks - a black-tip reef shark, two 4-foot-long white-tip reef sharks, two Port Jackson sharks, three epaulette sharks, two banjo sharks, and one bamboo shark.

Other marine animals call the tank home, including moray eels and rays.

The admittedly impressive set-up set this man back around $327,000 [£171, 706].

Unsurprisingly, he's very passionate about his animals and rejects claims that he's being cruel by keeping them in the tank.

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The shark tank was branded 'too small' by some critics.
TikTok/@thegyplife_aus

The TikToker, who didn't want to share his real name, said: "People are quick to criticize. Yet these people are hypocrites who go to zoos and pay money to see animals in cages.

"Jealousy is a curse. Yet it brings me a lot of views as the same people who provide negative comments, share the videos and follow my socials so secretly, they can't wait to see my next video or my latest live video."

One marine mammal scientist didn't hold back in her criticism of his pet project.

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Naomi Rose told Insider: "This is a vanity project, having nothing to do with the fish and sharks themselves.

"That's too many fish and sharks in a space that size. Just watching them bank and turn as they try to swim around clearly demonstrates how they are trying to cope with a space that isn't big enough for them and their swimming habits."

Rose has suggested that people stop giving his TikTok videos attention, stating: "This is not a person who wants to do anything in a vacuum. They want attention. People shouldn't give it to them, because when they do, the fish suffer."

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@thegyp_aus

Topics: Animals, TikTok

Ben Thompson
Ben Thompson

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