New ray swimming up and against aquarium side wall

fiire

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 19, 2011
38
3
38
Western Australia
Hey guys, picked up my first motoro ray today. He's about 12cm. Got him in the tank and started eating with 30 mins. However he always swims up the side of the tank wall and sometimes swims against it, some times it looks like he's swimming quite aggressive at the wall. Just wondering if this is normal behavior for Rays. He's still feeding well on prawns and whitebait and has a good apetite.

He's In a 6x2x2 however it's divided in the half. Filtration is an eheim 2217 and 3 foot sump filled with sponge and marine pure. The sump output comes out of a spray bar which agitates the surface of the water and there is an air stone also in the tank.

Also to add, the ray originally came from a bare bottom tank however in my tank the substrate is smooth very small gravel. Could that be agitating the ray?
 

fiire

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 19, 2011
38
3
38
Western Australia
Alright thanks. Sorry I meant to say I got him yesterday so he's been in the for nearly 2 days now. Just wondering if it's normal for Rays with that sort of behavior
 

JK47

Retired MFK Admin
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2008
11,112
3,478
2,555
Washington
Fiire, this is very normal behavior for rays. Mine do this when they are hungry. Try to play around with the amount you are feeding and see if that has any impact. It's not a behavior you want to stop as it's harmless but it can tell you they're either are bored and just want to play or are hungry. Stressed rays hide/remain still. My henlei rays do this much more so than any other species. Even after being well fed. "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, down go the bubbles.."
 

davenmandy

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2012
1,781
459
122
Exactly, they are just having fun, my one female loves surfing the powerhead, my other loves messing with the air coming out of the air stones, and i occasionally catch her upside down on the surface of the water like spiderman, it's neat. They're just bored, wouldn't you be in a glass rectangle? Someone once gave me the idea of putting food in out of those dog treat balls that are hard to get food out of, just for fun to give them a task and challenge to get it out. Haven't tried it, sounds like a cool concept though. They can be loud though surfing the glass eh? They enjoy the bubbles i think so they pound hard.

Sent from my Z10 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

fiire

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 19, 2011
38
3
38
Western Australia
Yeah I thought it was hunger but after feeding him quite abit he usually goes back to doing it. I was just worried that he didn't like the substrate or that something was stressing him so that he was aggressively swimming up and against the wall. Well sounds like it's fine then thanks so much guys :)
 

marsh1n

Exodon
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2014
32
6
23
United States
Both of 2 rays do this all the time. Mostly after they have eaten, but one does it all the time. Be happy they are eating so quickly after you go them.
 
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