Sting Rays

[kilze1]

Anyone have any experience with stingrays in a home aquarium. It doesn't seem like very many fish except for sharks are compatible with them and how does one control algae if no inverts can be in the tank? I am starting a new 300 gallon tank and I love rays but it doesn't seem like I can do much else if I put rays in the tank. I also am reading that rays should only be kept by experienced hobbyist and I have only had a 30 gallon reef nanocube for 5 years. Super excited about my new tank but I'm tossed up about Fish only or mixed reef. Should I stay away from stingrays?

[jjk_reef00]

Stay away from rays if you want to keep a wide variety of fish as most are not compatible (IMO). Get a california round ray, they are very active and fairly hardy. If you go 300 gallons 8' x 30" x 24" (LxWxH) is great for a ray. You can keep 2 in that space as long as the rockwork is minimal.

[geaux xman]

everytime theres a ray at my LFS, i want to bring it home bad. wish i can provide a proper environment for it.

[alprazo]

Rays are great. You can add some fish: Grunts, Jacks, Lookdowns, Pompano, Pilotfish are all possibly depending on the type of ray you get and how aggressive it is at feeding time. Most often they can be hand fed. If not, the fish will often out compete for food.

If you can handle keeping the water quality up in a nano reef, you should have no problem with a cortez or california ray in 300 gal.

Best of luck.

[kilze1]

Thanks for your comments guys. I am still undecided about my new tank. I am probably going to wait on the sting rays but I'd love to hear anyones stories about keeping them and what kind of problems occur.

Thanks