New Ray, have a couple questions.

[Rachel.Cody]

I picked this female up 3 days ago from my lfs. I've wanted a stingray for a long while now and have been researching for about a year. I believe its a motoro but I could be wrong. The last time I was at this lfs (about 3 weeks ago) this same ray was in there. Bad disk curl, open wounds, blah blah. Apparently someone purchased her and their male went ape **** on her. She has since healed and is doing great. I drove her an hour and a half home and she ate an hour after being in the tank. So my questions are. You can see her body is badly scarred, will this eventually go away or is it there for good (I dont mind either way). She also has a chunk missing out of her disk, will this grow back? Right now she is in an over filtered 75g by herself (she has approximately a 4-5" disk.) I know this tank will not be near big enough but this is my first ray and I got her for a good price. Will this 75g last me a year until we move out of our apartment into a house? I have a 150 sitting empty but thats not much of a difference from a 75g footprint wise. I am currently feeding her 3 times a day during the week and 4 times on the weekend. I am feeding her chopped silversides, tilapia, and krill. I have to get more shrimp this week, will she eat clams too? Anything else I should try feeding or eliminate from my feeding? She wont take massivore yet but im trying. Im more worried about getting her healthy and fattened up right now. Sorry for the glare in the third pic.. Temp in the tank is 80* and ph is around 8.0 I have a 600gph powerhead in the tank, will this be ok with her or should i remove it? She seems to enjoy swimming in it. Any other tips or concerns? I also have the heater blocked with a piece of driftwood until I can make a guard. Thanks!

 

[DIDYSIS]

Scar will stay but heal in its own way, disk chunk will also heal a but, wow 4-5 inches is the size a pup is at birth, she must be young.

 

[Rachel.Cody]

I am bad with sizes, tape measure up to the tank shows a little und 6". Sorry lol. I realized after I said that my guess was to small.

 

[festaedan]

Chunk and scar should improve, but probably wont heal completely. It makes her unique though
As for the 75 lasting a year, it will be tight but you should be fine.
I feed my rays shrimp as their main diet and they steal the krill from my peacock bass. Since krill has karotenoids, it will make the orange spots pop.
Make sure you stay up on water changes and you should be fine.
Good luck!

 

[MEDHBSI]

I would feed a little pup like that every day. My motoro was 4" and is now 12" within a year

 

[MHDevelopments]

Make a heater guard your no.1 priority now, whether you make one or buy one or she'll end up with more wounds and scars, you'll be surprised how easily she can reach the heater without even trying. Welcome to ray keeping, it's fantastic!

 

[jim barry]

Fair play to you for buying her, well done! Every badly treated animal needs a second chance. Do as all the others have said and you should be ok. Guard that heater quick!

 

[davenmandy]

Absolutely heater guard. My "rescue" has 2 very distinct heater burns on her stomach. The damage will scar, it will fade overtime, but it will always be visible to some extent. The chunk out of the disc should heal, though it may not heal completely and evenly, then again it might. She should eat clams. Powerhead is just fine. As for the 75 gallon, I would budget for an upgrade in 6 months. A year will really be pushing it if it is a true motoro. You obviously want it to be happy, aim for a 2 foot wide footprint as soon as you can, even then there is some speculation as to whether you can keep it in a 2 foot wide tank for life. As for other advice: take the time to sit and watch your rays behavior a lot. They are smart and sensitive creatures, so if you get to know it's mannerisms when its happy you will know quickly when something is wrong.

 

[Rachel.Cody]

She ate tilapia this morning and shrimp a few minutes ago. I have some 1" pvc here that i will make a heater guard out of tomorrow after work. I would love to upgrade now but have very little room in our 2 bedroom apartment. We just moved and our lease is up in a year and I can upgrade to atleast a 180 then. Right now my tanks are all in the spare bedroom. Theres no room for a bigger tank atm. I have 2 29g, a 40B, 2 75g and a 20 long. I may end up getting rid of the stock in the 29s and free some space up that way. Another question, will my fire eel work with her (I know it depends on the individual) but has this combo worked for anyone else? The eel is about 7" long but still not very thick because all he will eat is bloodworms still... Also is "glass surfing" normal behavior? She does it all the time lol.

 

[davenmandy]

Glass surfing is completely normal. Sometimes it's stress but mostly it's boredom. Fire eel likely to become food in my opinion. Honestly man free up the room, make some tough choices and try to amalgamate, that ray will need it sooner than you think man, honest.