Let's talk Stingrays....

StephLionfish

StephLionfish

New member
I've been looking into rays for a while now....but I still don't know the first thing about them. Are there any "basics" about Rays? What's the best for home aquaria, and what's the minimum size tank they require? How are they hard(er) to care for than...say a Trigger or Tang? What can they be housed with? Of course, I don't plan on getting one any time soon...but I'd like to know as much about them as I can if I ever plan to...

Is there a sticky or a link to somewhere that can fill me in on them?
 
My little baby... :love2:

He's a Yellow Spotted Ray (Urobatis jamaicensis) I got from divertom.com. Tom caught a pregnant female ray, and knew I was looking for a small one, so I got one of the babies. Was born in early July, and is eating a mix of PE Mysis and krill. Lets me hand feed and pet his wings. :D You have to be careful with tankmates, but I keep him with Triggers and Puffers, nothing bothers him. I am nervous about putting Angels in there (even though there's a really nice Lemonpeel at my LFS...). This species is about an inch smaller than your regular Cortez/Round Ray.
 
He cost a whopping $30 plus like $8 shipping because the shipper is in-state so Ground shipping is one day.
 
That's not bad....considering the rays the LFS keep are always around $150+ ( And they are as round as a small dinner plate at the most)
 
Nice Ray! Stay away from the Lemon peel! I added a lemon peel to my FO tank, and this little fish nipped on my little Cortez ray all day long. He is out now.

To the OP, I would stay away from the larger rays, look into a Cortez. This species doesn't get to large and they are fairly easy to keep. Stay away from any angelfish both large and small, soft substrate, enough open spave space for these guys. You also want to stay away from wrasses that sleep in the sand, they will easily become dinner
 
BTW, here is a quick video of him feeding together with my Marble Cat shark

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I forgot to mention, I used Marcorocks fine sand and the ray loves it. He clouds up the tank a little bit when he buries himself, but I got used to him doing it.
 
Ah, that ray is soooo cute! I love the shark too! But, I only have a 6ft tank..(210g)...that wouldn't be big enough long term would it? And I'm about to put a lionfish in the tank...and the lion is my pride and joy...
Does it matter how established the tank has to be?
And again, how do you QT these guys?

Alex,
Doesn't that create tons of nitrates??
 
AlexS95 said:
My little baby... :love2:

He's a Yellow Spotted Ray (Urobatis jamaicensis) I got from divertom.com. Tom caught a pregnant female ray, and knew I was looking for a small one, so I got one of the babies. Was born in early July, and is eating a mix of PE Mysis and krill. Lets me hand feed and pet his wings. :D You have to be careful with tankmates, but I keep him with Triggers and Puffers, nothing bothers him. I am nervous about putting Angels in there (even though there's a really nice Lemonpeel at my LFS...). This species is about an inch smaller than your regular Cortez/Round Ray.
Click to expand...
" I keep himm with triggers and puffers" You will regret that sooner than later, they WILL begin to pick at his eyes and tails, angels and even some tangs will pick. People need to do alot of research before buying Rays
 
Yellow and California Rounds are your more hardy home aquaria ones, stay away from the Blue Spotted no matter how pretty they are. Rays need room to swim around and room without alot of rock. When one of these types are adult size I would have them in something no less 3'x6', I have a 10' round pond in my basement and they do well, now I know not everyone can not do that but I dont think alot of people should not have a ray. They become very personable in time letting you pet them and rubbing up against your hand.
 
rubensito said:
have you looked into freshwater stingrays, some are quite attractive
Click to expand...

I have never owned a "real" FW tank...I have a 5g guppy dominated tank, and I tore down my 20g cause it just wasn't working for me. It may seem odd, but I think FW is more difficult than SW... Besides, like I said my biggest tank is a 210g SW, and I need it up for my Volitan, and I just can't fathom building another huge tank for a FW tank...when I can't even keep a 20g :uhoh3: Why do rays get so big? :( I hate to think of my 210 as "small".

I honestly don't care what patterns they have, I just like the whole look of a ray.( Like the body shape of AlexS95's, that he posted) So, it could be plain as plain could be, but I would still love to have it. ( That is, if it's friendly of course )

Thanks for the replies guys! Keep 'em coming :D
 
I agree with everything saltyguy51 says. Get a california round ray and then you have to be very careful about what you keep with the ray. If you get a healthy one it will eat everything. I even had one that would eat pellets after a while. I fed the pellets to the Naso tang and he would suck some up. Feed a variety of fresh seafood including shrimp, scallop, squid, and anything else at your local fish market. They should be fed at least once a day. I use to feed mine a large meal at night.
 
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