Stingray advice anyone?

[den]

I'm fairly experienced with tanks & water (I have 4), but not with rays.
I've done my homework, got the tank ready, and put my new little guy (4" reticulated) in his new home.
Although I've read stuff and talked to the "professional LFS guy", I find the advice here to be the best, and in layman's terms.
Anyone had good (and especially), bad experiences keeping them? If you have, could you please share with me? I really don't want to make his (currently short) life uncomfortable, as they're odd creatures to analyze.

(Shall post a pic or two next week.)

Thanks.

 

[jflowers]

I Assume you have read this thread...

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=63397

Sounds an dangerous hobby if you are as accident prone as Josh.

Jon

 

[den]

Thanks for that thread. That's what I'm talking about.

Not trying to have 'cool' fish..just trying.

 

[CFC]

The biggest challenge with rays is getting them acclimatised and feeding, once you have those two hurdles out of the way it should be plain sailing.
Since you already have your ray i will skip the acclimatising process and go straight to feeding. Reticulatus can be difficult to get feeding, especially with small specimins, and will probably need some live foods at first to keep it alive, live blackworms seem to be the most popular ray starter food on your side of the pond but live shrimp (ghost shrimp) bloodworm and small earthworms can all be offered too. Once the ray is eating well and is visably filled out in thickness then you can start to try with frozen foods like whitebait, mussel and cockle which are a better diet.

Remember that rays dont tolerate any changes in water chemistry so twice weekly 25% water changes are recomended to keep everything low and stable

 

[den]

Thanks CFC. Excellent advice. (Nice pics too.)
He was raised on frozen bloodworms - or so I'm told, and he seems to accept them, though I'm not sure how to tell if he's actally eating. He hovers over them, then plops himself down on them - and they're gone.(?)

Please carry on with the acclimatizing process, as I've done it my way, but it may not be right.
Thanks lots.
-den.

 

[CFC]

I just helped another member with their first ray so ive copy and pasted this from a PM i sent them.

Acclimatising a new ray is a simple but drawn out affair which depending one where you buy the ray could take several hours and sometimes days. If you bought the ray from a local source with the same water as you will be using in the tank then you are half way there, a hour of acclimatisation and its done, if the ray is bought from further away where the water is different then it takes longer. Test the water of the tank the ray is bought from before leaving the store.

When you buy your ray is should be transported in a polystyrene box, bags are no good for rays as they pierce them with the stinger, DO NOT allow your shop to tell you otherwise and bag the fish, the stress of being in a split bag with no water may kill your ray. Upon ariving home open the box and using a length of air line that will easily reach from your tank to the box start a syphon from your tank to the box, tie a knot in the tube and tighten it down until the flow from the tube is around one drop per second. Let this go for one hour and after this time test the pH, GH and Nitrates (im presuming there will be no ammonia or nitrite present in either the tank of the box) of the water in the box, if it matches those of your tank exactly your ray can be introduced, if not allow it to go for another hour and test again, keep doing this until the parameters match exactly before introducing the ray, rays shock easily and once shocked will usually die within 24 hours, the first sign of this is a curling of the edge of the disk.
Once the ray is in the tank cover it with a sheet and keep the lights off for at least 12 hours while it settles in, after 24 hours offer some food, if it eats first time you've got it cracked.

I advise you to get the ray off of bloodworms as soon as you can, while they will certainly keep your ray alive they are not good for promoting growth and good bone structure.