Stingrays - What fish can I add with them?

[bsagecko]

I would not recommend a large tang like a nasco because of the size

for tangs maybe go with a lil smaller variety just because of the potential bio load

Also you might think of schooling fish a lil more seriously as a school of fish would be harder to kill then a single fish by your stingray.........

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

Not to hijack, but would a stingray or shark (such as a coral cat) eat any of the smaller fish such as wrasses, gobies, blennies etc?

 

[anbosu]

I would expect that a stingray would eventually eat some of the smaller fish since they are predatory fish. I have never personally kept one though, so I can't say for sure.

 

[evilspaz]

there hard to keep but what about a Harlequin Sweetlips?

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

So a stingray is more of a threat then a shark for smaller fishes? I am considering adding a shark/stingray to my reef tank when I get it built.

 

[vamaro]

I have several very small chromas in the tank now and a six line. The stingray is really not interested in the fish. In fact during feeding, they coexist just fine. The stingray will swim to the surface (takes food from you hands) when it smells any food and it has an amazing sense of smell. It senses food within 5 to 10 seconds. I sometimes hide food in the sand to see how long until the ray finds it. Normally less than 40 seconds! I would not consider the ray to be aggressive at all or at least mine is not.

At fish stores, they normally have the rays separated from other fish, but I am not sure why or if this is actually necessary. The place where I purchased this ray had it in a nice display tank with a large tang, chromas, and a moray eel.

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

Chromis are usually water column fish, but I would be worried about blennies, gobies, some wrasses that need the sandbed. When I upgrade my reef, I'd love to add a coral cat shark and a small hardy ray. Don't want to lose any of my fish though.

 

[vamaro]

Maybe you are right about this. The ray constantly is moving the sand around in search for food. I would easily bet that if there is a small enough fish in the sand, it is done!!! My sand is being moved constantly and looks really clean all of the time.

I also considered some bottom dwelling sharks. However, I was worried about them knocking over the rock and eating the fish too. They get big enough to eat a medium size fish. The rays mouth eats silver sides, etc. with no problem, but I do not think anything over a few inches will fit in its mouth, but I could be wrong.