Reticulated stingray really that hard to care for?

Jag586

Piranha
MFK Member
May 28, 2012
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st clair shores
Everything I read about these guys say they are hard to care for, tough to get to eat, real finicky about water, and sometimes just die after months of being healthy is this true? Or are there people out there that are bad keepers and just blame it on the fish so they don't look bad


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MEDHBSI

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 4, 2011
408
137
61
Coquitlam BC
a little of both i think. personally i've failed with 2 retics, I think you need to see them eat before you buy thats why mine died because they wouldn't eat right from day 1
 

JCA

Candiru
MFK Member
May 12, 2006
837
4
48
Washington, US
I have two of them (3.5" and 5" disc sizes) and have had a lot of luck so far with frozen bloodworms and cut up earthworms. I've tried frozen krill, frozen white fish, beef heart, frozen mysis shrimp, and sinking pellets with zero luck.

I obviously have only had them for a few months so I can't say too much about them being finicky about water conditions, however they don't seem to be any different from other species that I have kept in the past.
 

jeffers

Piranha
MFK Member
Jun 11, 2009
1,582
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southern indiana
main thing is that they are usually brought in at too small of a size wc. they are hard to eat cause they are small so small mouths. I would suggest live black worms to get it started and just keep up on the water changes. another thing I have noticed with retics is that sometimes they will come in with lice so quarantine is a must.

honestly though for the price it would be preffered to just spend $25-50 more and get a captive bred motoro that is much hardier or even a marble motoro. this way you don't have to worry about cleaning the food daily and not mess with black worms then earth worms and so forth to get them over to frozen and pellets.

I had 2 retics that I got on pellets before selling and both of the new owners killed them a couple months later. so a lot has to do with the keeper as well.
 

festaedan

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 25, 2013
2,234
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Maryland
I have a male who is doing really well. I've had him for give or take 4 months and so far so good. I know he'll need a bigger tank but right now he's only about 4.5" in disc length so i have some time to find a larger tank. All he eats is live blackworms. I've tried everything I could think of but he just wont switch over to other foods. They are great fish but they are harder to take care of then other rays like motoros.
 

rayguy84

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 26, 2013
198
1
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pennsylvania
Any ray really is difficult but they never get real big so they stay pretty sensative I lost one a couple years ago but I got another male last year now mature and healthy as can be so it can be done but def not a good "first ray"

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davenmandy

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2012
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I had 2, a male and female, both of which I got at 4ish inches. Apart from average fish keeping trouble, had no issue, and I found them to be quite hardy. This was back when I was a lot more amateur at this too, and somehow they survived with no issue. They got passed onto 2 owners since, both of which have managed to keep them going fine no problem, albeit after I grew them out a bit. My vote is no theyre not that bad if I could do it with as little as I knew at the time, however I could have gotten lucky so just sharing my personal experience.
 

shaunpp

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 10, 2013
51
0
36
Tonbridge, England
I had a female rectic for about a year she certinally wasn't in great condition when delivered to me. She had a damaged tail and a small cut on her disc the tail fell of just past the barb and healed quickly as well as the cut. She did not eat straight away but soon readily accepted blood worm and then earthworms it took a little longer to get her on prawns, mussel etc but eventually she took a good varied diet and grew steadily I never tried pellets. Other than that water quality is obvious my nitrates never went above 20 ppm the rest 0 ppm there very messy I'm no expert but I would actually say there fairly easy aslong as there requirments are met (happy, clean and spacious Tank)

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stingray keeper

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 4, 2013
1,116
402
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Canada
Retics are a more difficult ray. as jeffers stated they are often shipped out too small and almost always have fish lice which are very invasive little buggers. those two problems put together lead to a stressed out ray. i have 2 retics now for over a yr and they are tip top but still have not transferred to pellets. they're very close but still not there. I have black rays in which id say are leaps and bounds more easy to transfer onto new food.

my advice, this is not a good starter ray. unless as stated before, they are eating well before you buy. even if they're eating black worms or earth worms it is still a long tedious job to get them onto easier cheaper food alternatives.

get hystrix, or marble or scobina.
 
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