minnnt
Fish Expert
Did i mention i have a 3" green sev for sale? 
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Motoro Stingray Journal
- Thread starter mattlee
- Start date
OP
OP
my thought behind tetras is that they stayed mid - top so wouldnt take all of the rays food from the substrate. things like barbs are way too greedy and wouldnt leave anything for the rays to eat.Expensive livefood!
Stick to much larger dithers like rainbows, adult/sub adult peaceful cichlids like Rainbow Cichlids, Keyholes, Large Firemouths, Festives or 3" ish severums etc...
Rainbows as dithers are good but probably not if you are strugglnig to get the rays too feed.
I forgot about the BGK, he is probably more a suspect at the moment i think.
And your cat for that matter...
cichlids as i know very well will eat from all over the tank and my main worry would be that they take too much of the food supply. the dithers are only to fill the tank space while the rays are still very small and as a feel safe for them too.
i did actually very nearly get a trio of livebearers..... 1m and 2f as these would be too big to be eaten at the minute and would provide some nice fry that could become a tasty snack.
ive also heard that discus can be good tank mates too but not sure i want them again!
Did i mention i have a 3" green sev for sale?
minnnt
Fish Expert
FOC if you want her?
I kept discus, angels, sorubim limia, talking dora cats, tyre track eel, south american puffer and a chrysichthys ornatus (sp) cat together for ages.
Tried a juvi Vieja Synspillus (or whatever they call it this week!)temporarily as we thought the rays wouldnt take any grief, this was my 30cm disc male Potomotrygon Sp, not a motoro but close enough and the Vieja was about 2" and by the time i doubled back to get a net and catch the devil he had ripped my rays fins!
Melafix is a blessing with rays I found! They are so clever theyare stupid, never keep bare heaters in a tank with rays without a guard, sooner or later they will feel the need to touch it and burn themselves!
I can see the logic behind livebearers and fry as food but i still think you might be setting yourself up for trouble. Until the rays are happily eating whatever you give them anyway.Once they get to that point, they will take fry and still get excited when you show up with food.
Have you tried prawn? I used prawn as a staple along with the massivore pellets. I used prawn and bloodworm and made the rays overweight a bit.. and then started the massivore diet of "eat it or go without", offer pellets and if they dont eat them take them out and offer prawn the next day. Next offer pellets, if they didnt eat them i took them out and left them a day without food then gave them prawn.
Repeated this with the gap getting to 4 days without food and then when they got so excited that i had relented and given them prawn, they gobbled it up without looking... to realise they had just eaten pellets and actually liked them.
Same trick worked when i had to rescue 5 emaciated juvenile Reticulatus Stingrays and they are a lot fussier.
Its just a case of making sure they have got excess fat to lose when they do miss a few days food and it doesnt harm them.
Same trick also worked on my marine Volitans lion, though he was so fat on shrimp and it took me a year of working on him and a 3 week run of no food before he grabbed some defrost whitebait. Was desperate by this point and i had given him over 30 shrimp once or twice a week for 5 weeks before letting him go hungry. He did lose a lot of weight but was never at a point where he was thin, he was just hungry and angry.
The difference in the fishs health when they were on a varied diet is amazing, they colour up better, grow a lot faster and the body looks really raised and plump and they are so much happier looking and they glide about happily when they have the energy to do it.
Tried a juvi Vieja Synspillus (or whatever they call it this week!)temporarily as we thought the rays wouldnt take any grief, this was my 30cm disc male Potomotrygon Sp, not a motoro but close enough and the Vieja was about 2" and by the time i doubled back to get a net and catch the devil he had ripped my rays fins!
Melafix is a blessing with rays I found! They are so clever theyare stupid, never keep bare heaters in a tank with rays without a guard, sooner or later they will feel the need to touch it and burn themselves!
I can see the logic behind livebearers and fry as food but i still think you might be setting yourself up for trouble. Until the rays are happily eating whatever you give them anyway.Once they get to that point, they will take fry and still get excited when you show up with food.
Have you tried prawn? I used prawn as a staple along with the massivore pellets. I used prawn and bloodworm and made the rays overweight a bit.. and then started the massivore diet of "eat it or go without", offer pellets and if they dont eat them take them out and offer prawn the next day. Next offer pellets, if they didnt eat them i took them out and left them a day without food then gave them prawn.
Repeated this with the gap getting to 4 days without food and then when they got so excited that i had relented and given them prawn, they gobbled it up without looking... to realise they had just eaten pellets and actually liked them.
Same trick worked when i had to rescue 5 emaciated juvenile Reticulatus Stingrays and they are a lot fussier.
Its just a case of making sure they have got excess fat to lose when they do miss a few days food and it doesnt harm them.
Same trick also worked on my marine Volitans lion, though he was so fat on shrimp and it took me a year of working on him and a 3 week run of no food before he grabbed some defrost whitebait. Was desperate by this point and i had given him over 30 shrimp once or twice a week for 5 weeks before letting him go hungry. He did lose a lot of weight but was never at a point where he was thin, he was just hungry and angry.
The difference in the fishs health when they were on a varied diet is amazing, they colour up better, grow a lot faster and the body looks really raised and plump and they are so much happier looking and they glide about happily when they have the energy to do it.
Awww minnnt whats wrong with yer poor sevvy? You cant go giving away severums! They are just to cute!
EDIT: (to above post) Larger Angels might be an idea, they are greedy enough to follow food and show stingrays that it is edible, they are stupid enough to eat anything you want the rays to eat lol. Big enough not to be eaten and spend most of their time gliding about out of reach.
EDIT: (to above post) Larger Angels might be an idea, they are greedy enough to follow food and show stingrays that it is edible, they are stupid enough to eat anything you want the rays to eat lol. Big enough not to be eaten and spend most of their time gliding about out of reach.
minnnt
Fish Expert
Did I mention I have a chrysicthys ornatus for sale too? Lol! Fate I reckon! Haha! Nothing wrong with my sev, just doesn't fit in with my plans any longer.
i dont even have a trop tank atm.
OP
OP
yeah i think your right about the fry thing and maybe ill wait until they are eating what i say instead of what they say.
ive tried several dry foods but with no luck yet with either ray. they will swim over to it and look like they are about to eat it then move away and the food remains on the substrate......
i do feed prawns about twice a week and chop them up quite small. my male ray will eat it like there is no tomorrow but the female again sits on it but doesnt take it, this happens with mussels too.
they are currently being fed at 5am and 5pm ish with 2-3 blocks of frozen bloodworm each time. when i feed prawn or mussel i always add a bit of bloodworm so they both get food. i guess im worried about starving them due to the size they are but if i have too then so be it. ill give your technique a try MBOU and see how it goes, its got to be worth a go i guess.
i just figured that eating something was better than nothing. any uneaten dry foods get taken by the BGK or catfish which mainly only feed after lights out, especially the cat (stupid nocturnal fish).
also my rays are much much more active with the lights off especially the male as hes swimming up and down the glass showing off his belly, but they are both much more inquisitive and active with no tank lights on. i only have the lights on for about 6 hours a day to try and prevent algae growth. is this a normal ray behaviour?
as both were purchased from lfs's they would have been in bright light all day so should be use to it. the female was born in the shop tank too so was straight into bright lights and plenty of activity outside of the tank. im not saying mine are inactive but much more active in the dark.....
ive tried several dry foods but with no luck yet with either ray. they will swim over to it and look like they are about to eat it then move away and the food remains on the substrate......
i do feed prawns about twice a week and chop them up quite small. my male ray will eat it like there is no tomorrow but the female again sits on it but doesnt take it, this happens with mussels too.
they are currently being fed at 5am and 5pm ish with 2-3 blocks of frozen bloodworm each time. when i feed prawn or mussel i always add a bit of bloodworm so they both get food. i guess im worried about starving them due to the size they are but if i have too then so be it. ill give your technique a try MBOU and see how it goes, its got to be worth a go i guess.
i just figured that eating something was better than nothing. any uneaten dry foods get taken by the BGK or catfish which mainly only feed after lights out, especially the cat (stupid nocturnal fish).
also my rays are much much more active with the lights off especially the male as hes swimming up and down the glass showing off his belly, but they are both much more inquisitive and active with no tank lights on. i only have the lights on for about 6 hours a day to try and prevent algae growth. is this a normal ray behaviour?
as both were purchased from lfs's they would have been in bright light all day so should be use to it. the female was born in the shop tank too so was straight into bright lights and plenty of activity outside of the tank. im not saying mine are inactive but much more active in the dark.....
Maybe they arent used to eating in the dark? 
Its all trial and error, i did feed them as much as they could eat of their chosen food to put a good ammount of weight on them before holding out on the food! Messing around when they are young and not got weight to lose could be risky.
I also never fed them more than once a day and i gave them food, let them eat it then offered them more if they started hunting again. Maybe they are fairly full all the time so dont really feel the need to try other foods?
I found making 'games' for them helped too, in the middle of the bare sand at the front, i put 3 smooth pebbles and just left them to explore the pebbles and i noticed that after feeding, they often went scavanging and kept blowing between the rocks so i started putting a bit of prawn on the rocks and then between the rocks so they got a trat for looking for it.
Keeps them busy for ages!
Ohh and if they like bloodworm, have you tried mixing it with krill or mysis (krill would be better) as they are closer to prawn but still roughtly bloodworm sized and variety is always good!
My reticulatus got to a point where i could feed them a pinch of flake from tongs midwater LOL looney rays
I miss my rays now!!!
Its all trial and error, i did feed them as much as they could eat of their chosen food to put a good ammount of weight on them before holding out on the food! Messing around when they are young and not got weight to lose could be risky.
I also never fed them more than once a day and i gave them food, let them eat it then offered them more if they started hunting again. Maybe they are fairly full all the time so dont really feel the need to try other foods?
I found making 'games' for them helped too, in the middle of the bare sand at the front, i put 3 smooth pebbles and just left them to explore the pebbles and i noticed that after feeding, they often went scavanging and kept blowing between the rocks so i started putting a bit of prawn on the rocks and then between the rocks so they got a trat for looking for it.
Keeps them busy for ages!
Ohh and if they like bloodworm, have you tried mixing it with krill or mysis (krill would be better) as they are closer to prawn but still roughtly bloodworm sized and variety is always good!
My reticulatus got to a point where i could feed them a pinch of flake from tongs midwater LOL looney rays
I miss my rays now!!!
OP
OP
down to 7 cardinal tetras now 
think i might try and get them in the already well stocked ornatum tank. i think they will have more luck in there, i hope!
think i might try and get them in the already well stocked ornatum tank. i think they will have more luck in there, i hope!
minnnt
Fish Expert
At least something will have a full belly!
OP
OP
certainly will as im now down to 1
i didnt get chance to get the remainig tetras out yesterday.....
im also tempted to add angels or discus as a dither, maybe get a group of 5-6 juvis
from my experience with both angels and discus the discus are the slower and less aggressive eaters so maybe these will be better suited to ensure that everybody gets a good feed.
i didnt get chance to get the remainig tetras out yesterday.....
im also tempted to add angels or discus as a dither, maybe get a group of 5-6 juvis
from my experience with both angels and discus the discus are the slower and less aggressive eaters so maybe these will be better suited to ensure that everybody gets a good feed.
True, but discus are less tolerant of funny water and def wont appreciate the high protein waste from rays! If you are using RO its less of a problem but i cant remember and too tired to read the whole thread again!
Also, whichever you go for, juvis are risky,more expensive and they might still dissapear...
For example, my young female motoro, she ate smaller angels, with body size of 2p coin and inch and half to two inches of fins on top of that... and that ray was only an inch or so bigger than yours... well had growth spurt after eating all my fish...
Also, whichever you go for, juvis are risky,more expensive and they might still dissapear...
For example, my young female motoro, she ate smaller angels, with body size of 2p coin and inch and half to two inches of fins on top of that... and that ray was only an inch or so bigger than yours... well had growth spurt after eating all my fish...
OP
OP
a few new pics of FLO and WINSTON
and the single remaining cardinal.....
and the single remaining cardinal.....
OP
OP
over the last week or so ive been trying to get the rays on dry food and failed..... 
ive fed them quite heavily then just gave them a mix of dry foods, prima, massivore and hikari gold sinkers, for 2 days. they touched nothing and the food ended up in my BGK and megaladoras catfish
i didnt want to starve them too long so i gave in and tried feeding dry foods with bloodworms and they eat the worms and spit out the dry stuff!!!
im now feeding dry stuff in the mornings and bloodworm at night but still no luck.
i did however manage to cut a slice in a piece of prawn and stick a small pellet inside it which was eaten by the male who will eat prawn anyway. i was hoping he would likethe taste and eventually take the pellets. but he wont
ill keep trying but it doesnt look good im affraid.
ive fed them quite heavily then just gave them a mix of dry foods, prima, massivore and hikari gold sinkers, for 2 days. they touched nothing and the food ended up in my BGK and megaladoras catfish
i didnt want to starve them too long so i gave in and tried feeding dry foods with bloodworms and they eat the worms and spit out the dry stuff!!!
im now feeding dry stuff in the mornings and bloodworm at night but still no luck.
i did however manage to cut a slice in a piece of prawn and stick a small pellet inside it which was eaten by the male who will eat prawn anyway. i was hoping he would likethe taste and eventually take the pellets. but he wont
ill keep trying but it doesnt look good im affraid.
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