Why bare bottom?

I was curious about this too, tagging along for future reference when I get my ray tank set up..
I think it is more of an "if" they get really stressed..You could always do a lights out period to reduce stress like for other fish. I think that's the main reason why bare bottom for rays works, but then again I am not an expert on rays, I just have some general knowledge of them..

Some rays like to dig in sand, some dont. Sand is not a must

Small gravel is preferred because it wont fly up into overflows and get caught in your pumps


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I can't be sure cuz i have gravel not sand (smooth round rocks, they pound down on it and send them flying everywhere, they love it), but i doubt any of my rays would bury if i had sand. I mean these rays can bury themselves in the gravel, my retics used to do it, they just don't. I've seen one of the females bury once, after I disturbed my filter bed and probably had a bit of a nitrate spike, but it was for like 5 minutes. Even introducing them they never buried right away. Maybe they feel comfortable just feeling that they would be able to, but i feel like they don't feel stressed bad enough to bury once they're older really. My 0.2. I also never had any tank mates that would remotely be a threat to them either.

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I have fine gravel and it works just fine. They can burry themselves if they feel stressed. Bare bottom is just easier to keep the tank clean. In the wild rays do sift through substrate to hunt. That is the main reason why I have some in their tank. Trying to keep it as natural as I can.

That all makes sense to me..I'm like you RayFanatic, I like to keep things as natural as possible.
but that is a good point about sand/gravel getting sucked into pumps..that would suck..anyone have any issues with that so far or is that just a precautionary thing hat no one has had to deal with yet?

I use heavier pool filter sand so the filtration isn't an issue.

It is not needed. I have both some with sand some without. Just really depends on what you want. It's not needed.

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But also to answer the (Why bare bottom?) They will stay very clean

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