Shark buddies

[BA]

I'm getting a 375gal acrylic and i am going to put my existing 29in male Epaulette in there. I wanted to get a Port Jackson for the tank also. I was wondering if anyone knows of any good stingrays that will do good in the tank, i just don't want blue spot rays.

[BA]

I will also have my 14in volitan, big blackedge moray, and 9in parrot in with them

[captexas]

Sounds like an interesting bunch of tank occupants! Not too many people around here keep predator tanks so your feedback here will be limited. MikeP is very knowledgeable on various fish though. I would suggest checking out ReefCentral.com or Reefs.com. I think RC has a separate forum for aggressive/predator tanks and people there could probably offer more advice on what you are looking for. Good luck with it and it would be cool to see some pics of the tank when you get it set up.

[BA]

thanx, i need to join that website

[Tim Marvin]

A blue spot sting ray are very cool and will eat out of your hand! Beware though, they eat as much as the sharks and good filtration will be needed to keep all these large predators together in good health.

[matt]

Yep, you'll need a nice big powerful skimmer to keep a large predator tank clean. hehe...

[Richard]

Yep, you'll need a nice big powerful skimmer to keep a large predator tank clean. hehe...

Yeah something like a Skilter should do the trick. ;)

[Tim Marvin]

Richard, you comedian you...LOL......

[MikeP]

If you go with a blue spot DO NOT get the pacific variety. It has a beyond dismal record in captivity. There is a hardy atlantic species thats similar but does much much better in captivity. I would reccomend whoever you get it from you make sure it's eating first. There are a number of other rays that do very well in captivity but I think most are borderline temperate species - wetwebmedia has a lot of information on elasmobranchs - also check out the 'aggressive' fish forum on Reefcentral - specifically ask Mike Dandenau about rays , he seems to have kept a lot of tropical atlantic species and you might even be able to find something locally that might do ok in your tank.

Also rays have fairly delicate skin on their underbelly much like sharks - get some fine grain sand and I'd limit decorations to provide lots of swimming room.

For this kind of tank I'd say whatever skimmer you think will work - double it! If you are interested there is a good book on sharks and rays in the aquarium by Scott Michael - other than some of the reccomended tank sizes being a bit small it's an excellent reference.

Good luck! When I got back into fish tanks a few years back I originally wanted to do freshwater stingrays then found out they are illegal in texas :(