When Laurie was a kid, she had recurrent nightmares that featured her getting eaten by a shark. Decades later, Laurie goes to sleep next to them (or at least in the same house). She’s the proud owner of two epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) in her 1,135-liter (300-gallon) tank: bottom-dwelling spotted sharks up to 0.6 meters (2 feet) long that are known as “walking sharks” because they use their fins to crawl on the bottom of the ocean. Laurie acquired them from an owner who no longer wanted them. “I can’t release them because our waters are different than their habitat, but I can give them a good home and appreciate them while respecting Mother Nature,” says Laurie, a U.S. resident who asked to be identified by her first name. She adds that the sharks give her a feeling of Zen. Home shark tanks are no longer just the province of tech bros or celebrities who spend millions on 38,000-l (10,000-gal) aquariums full of apex predators. Now middle-class aquarium owners are adding smaller, bottom-dwelling sharks to their home aquariums. These sharks are benthic, meaning they hang out on the ocean floor. Many can breathe while lying down by pumping water through their gills in contrast to pelagic sharks like whitetips (Carcharhinus longimanus) and tigers (Galeocerdo cuvier), which swim the open ocean and must keep moving to breathe. A growing aquarium industry is serving home shark tank owners’ needs by providing bamboo (Hemiscylliidae spp.), epaulette, zebra (Stegostoma tigrinum) and catsharks (Scyliorhinidae spp.).…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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