First post! I've been lurking here for a while, particularly in the SW and freshwater stingray forums. I've got fair secondhand experience via my friends dad who was a big SW fish keeper and I've learned a lot, and Ive had the odd FW and TONS of reptiles. I'm not new to fish, leave it at that. On to business....
Keep in mind this is something I would like to try after quite a few years experience with SW fish, as I have only what I learned through my friend and liveaquria, wetwebmedia, and some other sites. When I have said experience, my view will probably change so this is an extremely naive question... lol
Alright, just assume in this situation that I have a perfect size tank and perfect feeding, whatever. (Thats not what I'm asking about anyway) I was thinking of future predator tanks, and I have a few candidates in mind. So this is a 'would they not eat each other' question. I was thinking epaulette shark (is the new epaulette species in the aquarium trade?) or some related catshark, a blue-spotted stingray (yeah I know about how frail they can be in captivity), a volitans lion or possibly a radiated, and a zebra moray. As far as I am aware, there wouldnt be much conflict between THOSE right? Heres the complicated part. Along with these, could a LARGE peacock mantis coexist peacefully with them? I think they are utterly fascinating and I'd love to keep one at one point. Although they usually eat tank fish, I'm worried about others eating them. Or could they potentially harm the others with the clubs? Or would they not care as long as they have a nice cave? Now last question... Can corals/sponges/anemones/other sessile inverts live with these same fish? I always see big predator tanks devoid of coral. But I don't know if thats due to the big triggers and puffers that people usually have or anything. Or is it just safer for the coral and fish to not be together? I was thinking an electric flame scallop, crocea clam, some kinda fan and feather duster, a tree sponge, some large anemones and maybe a starfish or urchin. I really dont know enough about corals to choose any particulars. So to summarize, would a shark, stingray, lion, moray, mantis, and corals all get along without problems or am I just an idiot with too high expectations? Thanks!
