sharks/spotted sting rays?

[MAthU]

can they go together?

[Travis L. Stevens]

It depends on what species. If you are looking to stock your 405g with some, I wouldn't do it. Sharks need a fair amount of room and a typical reef tank is usually filled with rocks and corals. Rays also need lots of sand to bury and hunt in. Once again, not a typical reef setting.

If you are planning on setting up another loarge tank, I would recommend a small shark such as Cat Sharks, Bamboo Sharks, and Epaulette Sharks. No Requim Sharks. Most rays will also get too large for a tank. If you had to get a ray, you might be able to get away with a California Round Ray. They stay quite small; about an eight inch diameter. But they require a cooler tank since they are from temperate waters. It would take some serious research to find a small enough shark and a small enough ray that would cohabitate together that live in the same conditions. Can it be done? Yes. Is it worth the time and effort of research and finding a place to buy them? Probably not. If anything, I would settle for either a shark or a ray. And either choice should be in a non-typical reef setting.

[MAthU]

thanks for the info.. but all i need to know if they can live together it would be a bamboo shark no bigger then 5" and a spotted ray not big either. and there tank is a 5'X5' cube 12" tall, and it would be just for them. with sand and no rock.

[Travis L. Stevens]

That's not too bad then. The juvenile bamboo shark will quickly grow. Some have reported up to 12" in a year. Do you know what the nomenclature is for the Spotted Ray? There are many species of rays that go by "spotted". I've never seen a bamboo shark take a bite out of a ray, but of course sharks are predators, and it wouldn't surprise me if you had one that did bite.

[MAthU]

its the blue spotted
Taeniura Lymma

[Travis L. Stevens]

So you are looking at getting one?

Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray (Taeniura lymma) (http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=5399&genusname=Taeniura&speciesname=lymma)
They obtain a disk diameter of 30 cm (~12 inches). They feed on mollusks, crabs, worms, etc and are rare found buried in the sand. Which means it might be a good idea to add rock to your tank. Most likely a custom made cave would yield best reults. It says that they rarely do well in captivity. I wonder if this means that they are difficult to get to feed. Also, if I'm not mistaken, these guys are one of the more poisonous rays.

Brownbanded Cat Shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) (http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=5903&genusname=Chiloscyllium&speciesname=punctatum)
These should be a decent candidate for a shark species, but still grows to a large 104 cm (~41 inches). They are also listed as Near Threatened. Most likely the one that you are looking to acquire is aquacultured though.

[xtrstangx]

Pass on the rays. They need the largest of aquariums, pushing into public aquarium size. Some guy on here had a 1700g display with a ray in it and he still got flamed a lot for it.

They need an incredible amount of sand bed area and will slowly die if they are housed improperly.

[MAthU]

thanks for all that info. i think i might just pass on the rays

[SDguy]

Through the years I've seen several of the blue spotted rays. Never saw one eat, unfortunately. I've even seen a ribbon eel that ate in that time, but no rays :(