Motoro Ray

[mattlee]

1 of my lfs has 2 rays in a display tank and they have had pups, as far as im aware they are motoro rays. i was talking to the shop owner and he said he will sell me 1 for £75 ish when they are a bit older
what would be the minimum tank size for a pup and eventually an adult?

 

[nmonks]

If you're thinking in terms of "minimum aquarium size" when it comes to stingrays, you're doomed to failure. Let's be really clear about this. Stingrays are incredibly expensive fish to house, both in terms of aquarium size and in the necessary investment in RO filtration to produce the nitrate-free water you need for water changes. If you haven't already bought one of the several good stingray books, go and buy one, now. Richard Ross' book from Barrons is excellent, but the Gonella and Axelrod book from Interpet is pretty good too. Both are cheap; in fact I got a copy of the latter for one whole pound at the Maidenhead Aquatics store in Oxford.

Anyway, for what it's worth, the guideline is this. Choose a tank at least twice as wide as the disc width, and four times as long as the disc width. For a motoro ray, that's going to be about 90 cm from front to back and 180 cm from left to right. Smaller fish might be kept in smaller tanks, but you'd be unwise to start off with anything less than 60 cm from front to back and 150 cm from left to right. Buying a smaller tank isn't sensible in terms of cost because you will also need massive filtration and, I'd strongly argue, a sump as well, so that the tank has lots of water to dilute nitrate and buffer against pH changes. So you may as well buy the big tank right from the start.

Cheers, Neale

1 of my lfs has 2 rays in a display tank and they have had pups, as far as im aware they are motoro rays. i was talking to the shop owner and he said he will sell me 1 for £75 ish when they are a bit older
what would be the minimum tank size for a pup and eventually an adult?

 

[mattlee]

ill get reading then...
thanks Neale

 

[Flagtail]

I'd say for motoro stingrays you will need a 220 for starters.

 

[always4lora]

If you're thinking in terms of "minimum aquarium size" when it comes to stingrays, you're doomed to failure. Let's be really clear about this. Stingrays are incredibly expensive fish to house, both in terms of aquarium size and in the necessary investment in RO filtration to produce the nitrate-free water you need for water changes. If you haven't already bought one of the several good stingray books, go and buy one, now. Richard Ross' book from Barrons is excellent, but the Gonella and Axelrod book from Interpet is pretty good too. Both are cheap; in fact I got a copy of the latter for one whole pound at the Maidenhead Aquatics store in Oxford.

Anyway, for what it's worth, the guideline is this. Choose a tank at least twice as wide as the disc width, and four times as long as the disc width. For a motoro ray, that's going to be about 90 cm from front to back and 180 cm from left to right. Smaller fish might be kept in smaller tanks, but you'd be unwise to start off with anything less than 60 cm from front to back and 150 cm from left to right. Buying a smaller tank isn't sensible in terms of cost because you will also need massive filtration and, I'd strongly argue, a sump as well, so that the tank has lots of water to dilute nitrate and buffer against pH changes. So you may as well buy the big tank right from the start.

Cheers, Neale

1 of my lfs has 2 rays in a display tank and they have had pups, as far as im aware they are motoro rays. i was talking to the shop owner and he said he will sell me 1 for £75 ish when they are a bit older
what would be the minimum tank size for a pup and eventually an adult?

The RO unit isn't required for rays , HMA's a better way of doing it as you don't have to add anything back into the water and you don't waste any water! Alot of people who keep tank bread rays just keep up with weekly water changes and do not use either RO or HMA although HMA in my opinion is a great idea as you do not have to dechlor the water and you also have no worries about PH dips like you may using the RO function.

Although Rays are pricey to get setup for they're totally worth the money once settle i love mine , great fish!

I'd say for motoro stingrays you will need a 220 for starters.

A 220g would be good for a young motoro but as they can grow rather large you'd be wanting 4foot width at least on the tank ideally something like 8ft long 2 foot deep and 6 foot wide for one for life.
If you are happy with one ray and really want a motoro go for a male marbled motoro as these don't get terriby big you'd still expect a 15inch-18inch disc over a long time but no where near the 30inch the normal motoro can get too.







If you're thinking of getting a stingray make sure you're prepared the best you can, final tank brought, heater's coverd up if leaving in the tank (i'd recommend a sump though soo much easier) . Depending on what money you have try getting either a true hystix or scobina as these will generally get to arund 14inch disc for females and a bit smaller for males , they're both hardy but unortuantly hard to come by so expect to pay at least a couple of hundred £ each . I paid £350 for my Marbled motoro which was around 9inch when i got it.