Pregnant P. magdalenae/reticulata

Hi,

I bought this pair of wild cought P.magdalenae/reticulata 28. oktober 2013. They camed in very nice and i have had no problems with them what so ever... maby except the fact that they are very picky eaters. Mysis shrimp and bloodworms are the only thing they will touch.

I keep them in a 142 gallon / 540 liter, with pH 7,2 and temperature about 78.8 fahrenheit / 26 degrees celsius.
They are 15 cm / 6 inches in disc size now, and over the last few weeks i have been noticing that the female have started to gain size... And today i was finally able to capture some movement on the camera!

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This is the first time i experience this, and there is one thing i just can`t make up my mind about,- should i remove the male now? Remove male and female after birth? Remove the pups after a few days? Right away? Just leave them all together and observe? Any toughts on this?

I`ll move him then. He have actually been very cautious around her lately from what i have observed, and easily scattered when she moves around him. He seems more stressed than her really. She is pretty "furious" when feeding now (more and more as the pups grow), and often bites him several times if he got some food she want, so thats obviously the reason for this. Anyway i won`t take any chances with this, so i will of course follow your advice.

And so i will give the pups their own tank - a 100 liter / 26 gallon with proper filtration etc. Will post some pictures when things start to happen.

jim barry said:

6" seems very small to be pregnant but she definitely looks that way, congrats!

Click to expand...

Thank you, i am very excited about this.

I have never heard of or seen any freshwater stingrays getting pregnant at this size. Then again, i do not know anyone else here in Noway that have actually kept this specific specie alive for more than a couple of months... so i don`t got much to refer to anyway, this may be normal for all i know.

.. i sure wonder what size these pups will be as they hopefully come out in good health.

Thank you for your advice, i will take this in consideration.
I got a 800 liter / 211 gallon with two juvenile rays (histrix and leopoldi), plus a 40 cm / 15 inch Merodontotus tigrinus - this is where i am considering to put the reticulata male. The parameters and temperature is more or less identical, but of course the male will need to adjust to new tankmates, a new environment, not to forget the actual stress of being moved...

I will have to think about this for a little while now..

Came home today and found that the female P.reticulata had finally given birth! It was only one pup in there, but at least it looks really healthy.
Im very excited now, this is the first time i experience this This happened only two days after i removed the male - that recently had began courting her again, biting and picking on her.

I have a tank ready for the pup, but what do you guys think... could i let it stay witht the female or is this just total fail?

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