How reef safe are sharks and rays?

[Wolf89]

When I say reef safe, I mean coral safe. I mean, if you have a tank large enough for sharks and rays, you would never see any invertebrates anyways!

 

[Auquanut]

Might depend on the shark/ray and the coral? I've done a lot of diving, and I've never seen a shark or ray even glance at a coral. I'd love to be able to put together a shark tank and find out. Doubt that will ever happen.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

I would imagine that they would both be safe with corals. A ray wight scrape itself on some of them though.

 

[tehmadreefer]

They obviously dont eat corals... the only thing you have to worry about is the corals get broken.

 

[Jpimienta91]

I have a banded shark whos very active swimmer. He doesnt pick or look at my corals. He swims around the top rim when hes hungry and once fed swims around the bottom and crawls around the caves. I wouldnt recommend a shark in a reef tank tho, very messy eaters require alot of attention to get them to eat from the beginning and if healthy will grow very fast. Ive had Marble and coral sharks, nurse sharks, black tip reef sharks and in my new tank a pair of banded sharks that hatched together. always fun at first then regret later.

 

[C. Eymann]

We kept an 2ft epaulette shark in the coral lagoon at one of the places I worked years ago, other than knocking the occasional thing over, never munched any coral.

Only way I could see a shark "eating " a coral is if you spot fed stuff and it can smell it coming from the corals gastric cavity. Kinda the same way shrimp steal food from spot fed corals.

 

[jlts21]

I have a banded shark whos very active swimmer. He doesnt pick or look at my corals. He swims around the top rim when hes hungry and once fed swims around the bottom and crawls around the caves. I wouldnt recommend a shark in a reef tank tho, very messy eaters require alot of attention to get them to eat from the beginning and if healthy will grow very fast. Ive had Marble and coral sharks, nurse sharks, black tip reef sharks and in my new tank a pair of banded sharks that hatched together. always fun at first then regret later.

You sir, just made me very jealous! I would love to have a shark tank!

 

[Jase4224]

I guess if you have a giant tank you could have coral islands. If you keep these away from the sides of the tank and delicate corals higher up would probably be fine. For me I wouldn’t put even a small shark in less than a few thousand gallons with plenty of length and width for space. Would be cool though..

 

[tehmadreefer]

This thread made me really want a coral cat shark again(been debating it for a while actually), and gonna get one from aqua locker!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I would think you'd just need to be sure you leave plenty of swimming room.

 

[Lexatron Prime]

I agree. They won't intentionally touch any coral, but if they go hyper in a feeding frenzy, any hard coral could get smashed or de-mounted (possibly injuring shark). They are far far stronger than any other fish. If you have softies then it's win win.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

I have a banded shark whos very active swimmer. He doesnt pick or look at my corals. He swims around the top rim when hes hungry and once fed swims around the bottom and crawls around the caves. I wouldnt recommend a shark in a reef tank tho, very messy eaters require alot of attention to get them to eat from the beginning and if healthy will grow very fast. Ive had Marble and coral sharks, nurse sharks, black tip reef sharks and in my new tank a pair of banded sharks that hatched together. always fun at first then regret later.

I have a coral cat and marbled cat, they do exactly the same thing. Knocked over 2 corals so far. Also ate a clownfish.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They require lots of open space and with coral can be clumsy hence running into and knocking things over.

 

[lefkonj]

Swimming room along with sand would be a requirement. Maybe a very large peninsula tank. Sharks/Rays want to be resting on the sand when not actively feeding, and being forced to rub against rock and coral could cut the skin.

Inverts and small fish would be toast but I am sure it would look amazing.

 

[JasPR]

I think the question " should it be done?" and I have a clear answer for that question--- no

 

[Flame2hawk]

Marbled sharks only grow to 24” and thus are ideal mates. They do fine in reef tank but as already said, needs to be big enough to withstand the load as they are ferocious eaters and have a hardy appetite. I’m currently selling 2 marbled sharks. See my post in livestock sale forum.

 

[lefkonj]

Sharks do not eat corals. They would eat CUC and any shrimps or smaller fish that they can catch. The output of a shark that is fed properly is also high as others have stated.