Ray questions

Bazinga

Feeder Fish
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Feb 18, 2010
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just wondering what is the smallest tank i could keep a ray in? ive always wanted to keep one and need to know the basics of keeping one :p
 

hmoobvwj

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Feb 13, 2008
2,750
6
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WISCONSIN
The tank a ray can be kept in depends on many factors.
-What type of ray?
-Is the tank designed to be a permanent home for the ray or only part of it's life?

I personally say a standard 180 gallon of 6ftx2ftx2ft can house the smallest species of freshwater ray comfortably. But I have not yet kept the smallest species of ray and the size of a ray also depends on its genes.
 

Bazinga

Feeder Fish
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Feb 18, 2010
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there is always a few that come by at my lfs for 90$ they are about 10 inches max, cant remember the names something along the lines of moroto
 

Bazinga

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2010
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thanks for the link :) how do you measure these guys from side to side or tail to tip?
 

turkeyboy85

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 14, 2007
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disk size is how we are measuring.... no freshwater rays stay under 10", smallest are reticulated, scobina and true brazillian hystrix, and the last two are expensive since the ray ban in brazil
 

Bazinga

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2010
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thanks a lot for your info and input guys, i have another question though, im planning on building myself a 7'x2'x3' tank(315 gallons) i am originally planning on stocking it with a colony of about 6-7 kigoma frontosa's it will have a overflow sump using a standpipe, and i will throw in another canister filter just to help it out, would motoros be able to live with my fronts that i have? or is it just a mess waiting to happen? also concerned with sand, im planning on using pool filter sand because its cheap and looks nice would that work? and lastly will the motoros be able to live under a strong light i plan on using a really high almost blue light to show off my fronts, or just stick to the marine-glo lights im using now? any help/ input s gladly appreciated, sorry for all the questions i just dont want to jump right into things like this end end up in a huge mess.
 

PeteLockwood

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 20, 2009
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If you're building it (or buying it for that matter), making the tank 3' wide and 2' tall would be significantly better than making it 2' wide and 3' tall.

As you'd see from a search, rays have been housed with fronts but you're talking about a hardwater fish from Africa that would prefer a pH around 8 in a tank with a softwater fish from South America that would prefer a pH of 6. It can be done but the question is: why?

There are zillions of threads in this subforum on sand. Just search.

On the subject of lighting, rays will prefer things dimly lit but since they can't get out of the tank and switch your light off they'll put up with whatever you end up doing.
 

Bazinga

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2010
844
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toronto
PeteLockwood;3990491; said:
If you're building it (or buying it for that matter), making the tank 3' wide and 2' tall would be significantly better than making it 2' wide and 3' tall.

As you'd see from a search, rays have been housed with fronts but you're talking about a hardwater fish from Africa that would prefer a pH around 8 in a tank with a softwater fish from South America that would prefer a pH of 6. It can be done but the question is: why?

There are zillions of threads in this subforum on sand. Just search.

On the subject of lighting, rays will prefer things dimly lit but since they can't get out of the tank and switch your light off they'll put up with whatever you end up doing.
ok thanks a lot :) my tank that im building will be 2' high and 3' deep and it looks like the fronts and rays wont be together lol
 
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