Methods to Break Rays to New/Other Foods

CrAzYNeSs

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 17, 2009
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Hello fellow MFKers :D,

I have taken the time to consolidate Nic's original post into a single more manageable thread. Feel free to post your comments and opinions. Only you know the conditions of your ray, so remember to use discretion when applying this information. Please read the length of the article, prior to committing to a method. Often times a combination works the best! Hope this helps.
-Jeff

Hard to train: Shroederi, Reticulated, Iwamae (Antenna ray), Menchacai, Otorongo etc.
Easier to train: Motoros, Laticeps, sp. Peru, Hystrix, Henlei, Leos

1) Soaking Freeze Dried Krill with California Black Worms goo/water (Great for Retics)

2) Gridding Pellets up and stuffing them into foods they are currently eating (i.e. shrimps, worms, and etc.)

Recommended pellets: Hikari Sinking Cichlid Gold, Hikari Sinking Carnivore, and Hikari Massivore

Note: Sometimes the pellets are too hard for them to take. You may find that soaking them first may help them accept it better.

3) Feed heavily for days/weeks to establish health and weight. Once it is established that they are ready you can starve them for a week. A fat based tail usually means that they have fat reserves (Use personal judgment). When they begin to beg and become aggressive for food, introduce the new foods.

In conjunction with starving method: Allow overnight marinate/soaking for smelts or silver sides with Shrimp. This method works for clams, cockles, and mussels.

4) Mixing new foods with foods the rays are currently eating (i.e. bloodworms, California Black Worms, earthworms, etc.)

Note: It is a good idea to start feeding them chopped up or whole earthworms (depending on the size of the ray). Once they eat them at leisure, you can use the earthworms as tubes and vessels for stuffing other foods.

5) Having more than one ray also helps the training process. This could be due to the fact that they feel competition for food. The other(s) will follow suit.

6) Feeding them with metal prongs. Freshwater Stingrays have sensory pores around the underside of their disc near their nose and mouth. These jelly-filled sensory pores, are present in most elasmobranches and allow sharks and rays to detect minute electric fields generated by living things. This is especially useful for freshwater stingrays because it helps them to hunt down prey that might be buried in the riverbed or hiding in murky water. I have heard these also help them sense metal, thus feeding from metal feeding tongs is a good 'learning tool' to get them to eat prepared foods.


Wild Caught: Start them on glass shrimp and California Black Worms to fatten them up. Then use the starvation method.
Remember to be persistent and, most importantly, patient with it comes to training rays with new foods!

Credit to Nic, Miles, and many other MFK members.
:stingray:
 

Gr8KarmaSF

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FCCM15

Jack Dempsey
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May 8, 2009
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i have a pair of 5" henlei pups, the previous owner had sucess with slice mp, and sinking pellets. However, when they are in my hand they only eat earthworm.
so far i have starve them for 3 days and still no sucess.
what should i do next, and how can i get them to eat sinking pellet, i tried with hikari massivore and nls 3mm sinking, none of it works.

thanks for any advice.
 

CrAzYNeSs

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 17, 2009
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Have u tried soaking the massivores or 3mm sinking with the worms? Better yet stuff them into the worms?

Sometimes the pellets are too hard for them.
 

FCCM15

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
May 8, 2009
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how long can i starve a 5" pup which is only about 3-4 months old.
will the sucess rate be higher or lower as they grow up?

thanks
 

mshuangchao

Jack Dempsey
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Aug 10, 2007
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Very practical thread. From my experience, Iwamae's have got to be one of the hardest to train.
 

Gshock

Feeder Fish
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Jul 21, 2009
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FCCM15;3583200; said:
how long can i starve a 5" pup which is only about 3-4 months old.
will the sucess rate be higher or lower as they grow up?

thanks
A healthy and well fed ray at 5" can definitely go for more than a month, yes, I've tried. As they grow, their tails get bigger and bigger food reserves, thus, will be able to fast longer and longer, but don't fast more than you need to.
 

CrAzYNeSs

Candiru
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Sep 17, 2009
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**** Spot Reserved ****

In the case that new and useful information is presented. I can just add it here. :D
 

Nic

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Oct 8, 2005
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1. miles did not put a single thing in that thread....
2. your missing alot of good posts here try re reading the thread... ABJ and eca joe bring in competition... i watched joe break about 20 1" indo dats to pellets doing what he said...


this is why i said the original was fine... but hell what do i know... guess im just burnt out and bitter....


oh and dont forget this one....despite it goes against other peoples beliefs...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107937&highlight=stingrays+meds
 

CrAzYNeSs

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 17, 2009
962
8
48
Here.
Nic;3594309; said:
1. miles did not put a single thing in that thread....
2. your missing alot of good posts here try re reading the thread... ABJ and eca joe bring in competition... i watched joe break about 20 1" indo dats to pellets doing what he said...


this is why i said the original was fine... but hell what do i know... guess im just burnt out and bitter....


oh and dont forget this one....despite it goes against other peoples beliefs...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107937&highlight=stingrays+meds
Miles didn't post in that thread, but I took information from one of his stickies. Original was fine, but like you and mods have stated, it was not in a suitable format. I took the time to consolidate what looked to be the most vital information, if you feel like I've missed anything - by all means add to it.

No need to be burnt out or bitter. We are here for a common cause.
 
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