Introducing Shange, a female motoro pup I found from a local private breeder amazingly enough on Craigslist, but he's also on Aquabid (exoticfishpgh)!! I walked into my LFS after going out for my birthday, they had a pair and took all my willpower to walk out of the store...plus the price of them helped me walk away!!! Anyways, I will definitely be doing business with Nate (exoticfishpgh) again as he was resourceful and very considerate, making sure she was going to a "good home" as I call it, and very very reasonable prices.
As I'm a first time ray keeper, I would gladly accept any tips...also any questions to help these tips along...I tried doing my homework/research as this really wasn't a spontaneous buy. I really wanted a pair years ago, hubby said no after me begging and begging him. He wouldn't give in. He was afraid that at the time 1) our achara would get hurt as the cat was much smaller back then and the pair of rays were bigger than the cat 2) me getting hurt taking care of the tank 3) too much money being spent on a "dead" fish if it died (too quickly) ....keep in mind, I've broken HIM into the hobby, he just kinda goes with it...he more or less has one fish out of 6 tanks, and that's only cuz I special ordered it for him, knowing he always wanted one-the dang beast of cats, a rtc...
Now, I know how big they get, the motoro's are bigger, females will get bigger than males I believe. They are hardier, less sensitive to water conditions, but still sensitive. I am forced to do regular water changes with this tank.
I have 1 tablespoon salt/5 gallons water in her tank. Is that good? Too much or too little?
I use NO heaters in my tanks. Too many bad experiences with heaters boiling my fish by going haywire. Temp in her tank is 75*, room temp.
Her tank is 75g, as a grow out...48 x 18 x 18/20 whichever it is high...
3 hoplo catfish as tankmates, mainly to keep the tank clean, algae control, etc.
She eats twice a day: early morning and later afternoon- frozen bloodworms and frozen shrimp, cut up. Sucha piggie too.
Sand is about 4" deep on open side of tank, less so on the side with a big fake tree stump for her to go under.
Filtration is one FX5. Tank is not filled all the way, about 2 inches below black trim with the one outlet nozzle faced upward as much as it will go to agitate water surface. I'm not happy about the filtration as I love MEGA filtration...What else would you recommend? I have overhead pumps from UV lights, I didn't hook her's up yet (UV light). Those pumps don't do much as they need to run slower to zap the water (have them on the 2 bigger tanks). I would love to hook up another FX5 to this tank, but that's another $300...
What else can I do for the ray? I didn't test the water. I have a good kit, it tests ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph all ranges, and an oxygen test. I just don't do them. When I set up her tank, as she wasn't compatible in the 125g, we had to hurry up and set up the 75g out of storage, we got an unused FX5 out of storage too...swapped FX5's from the 125g...so Shange's tank is using the FX5 from the 125g with the established bacteria load, filled the tank half way from the water from the 125g and the 265g, then rest of it with regular water. Doing small water changes every other day to help the tank cycle for next 2 weeks as I'm preparing for either a bacteria bloom or a crash...please, comments and questions/criticisms. And, yes, I know she gets big, and she will be moved accordingly grow out to grow out tank as we also have up and running a 125 and 265g and are building an indoor pond/tank, another thread for that one!!! And, my 9 year old daughter named the stingray Shange after a book she read in school as she really wanted a ray too as my kids LOVE the exhibit at the zoo...
As I'm a first time ray keeper, I would gladly accept any tips...also any questions to help these tips along...I tried doing my homework/research as this really wasn't a spontaneous buy. I really wanted a pair years ago, hubby said no after me begging and begging him. He wouldn't give in. He was afraid that at the time 1) our achara would get hurt as the cat was much smaller back then and the pair of rays were bigger than the cat 2) me getting hurt taking care of the tank 3) too much money being spent on a "dead" fish if it died (too quickly) ....keep in mind, I've broken HIM into the hobby, he just kinda goes with it...he more or less has one fish out of 6 tanks, and that's only cuz I special ordered it for him, knowing he always wanted one-the dang beast of cats, a rtc...
Now, I know how big they get, the motoro's are bigger, females will get bigger than males I believe. They are hardier, less sensitive to water conditions, but still sensitive. I am forced to do regular water changes with this tank.
I have 1 tablespoon salt/5 gallons water in her tank. Is that good? Too much or too little?
I use NO heaters in my tanks. Too many bad experiences with heaters boiling my fish by going haywire. Temp in her tank is 75*, room temp.
Her tank is 75g, as a grow out...48 x 18 x 18/20 whichever it is high...
3 hoplo catfish as tankmates, mainly to keep the tank clean, algae control, etc.
She eats twice a day: early morning and later afternoon- frozen bloodworms and frozen shrimp, cut up. Sucha piggie too.
Sand is about 4" deep on open side of tank, less so on the side with a big fake tree stump for her to go under.
Filtration is one FX5. Tank is not filled all the way, about 2 inches below black trim with the one outlet nozzle faced upward as much as it will go to agitate water surface. I'm not happy about the filtration as I love MEGA filtration...What else would you recommend? I have overhead pumps from UV lights, I didn't hook her's up yet (UV light). Those pumps don't do much as they need to run slower to zap the water (have them on the 2 bigger tanks). I would love to hook up another FX5 to this tank, but that's another $300...
What else can I do for the ray? I didn't test the water. I have a good kit, it tests ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph all ranges, and an oxygen test. I just don't do them. When I set up her tank, as she wasn't compatible in the 125g, we had to hurry up and set up the 75g out of storage, we got an unused FX5 out of storage too...swapped FX5's from the 125g...so Shange's tank is using the FX5 from the 125g with the established bacteria load, filled the tank half way from the water from the 125g and the 265g, then rest of it with regular water. Doing small water changes every other day to help the tank cycle for next 2 weeks as I'm preparing for either a bacteria bloom or a crash...please, comments and questions/criticisms. And, yes, I know she gets big, and she will be moved accordingly grow out to grow out tank as we also have up and running a 125 and 265g and are building an indoor pond/tank, another thread for that one!!! And, my 9 year old daughter named the stingray Shange after a book she read in school as she really wanted a ray too as my kids LOVE the exhibit at the zoo...