Take a look at the selection next time you are in a petsmart or such. There are many available that can more then handle a 4 inch ray barb.
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Cutting rays stingers
- Thread starter jsodwi
- Start date
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Even the most tame and intelligent ray will likely freak out if you apply that amount of force to it's natural defense mechanism. Really worth getting stung over? Sure you can pet and hand feed some rays, but do I really have to reference Steve Irwin here? Leave well enough alone, if it's a seriously problem then you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences (remove your other fish, get rid of the aggressor, or stress the ray out by taking it out of the water and SAFELY remove the barb). You ever been stung before Charney? I haven't, but from what I hear I don't want to.
Maybe if you had a large pond with a large amount of older rays that are used to a vast amount of people coming and touching them (they likely come to you expecting food so I get your logic) your idea would work, because I can see a public aquarium doing this, but I really think this is probably only because the keepers can easily get into the water, and the rays are so used to it that they really don't mind, likely because of how many times it was done to them, and the fear of people being almost entirely wiped clean because of their exposure to people. I say almost, because I am still willing to bet the odd ray freaks out. I think it would be much much harder to tame a couple leo's in an aquarium like you would rays in a "petting zoo". And by the time you tame them, you would think you wouldn't need the barbs cut.
Maybe if you had a large pond with a large amount of older rays that are used to a vast amount of people coming and touching them (they likely come to you expecting food so I get your logic) your idea would work, because I can see a public aquarium doing this, but I really think this is probably only because the keepers can easily get into the water, and the rays are so used to it that they really don't mind, likely because of how many times it was done to them, and the fear of people being almost entirely wiped clean because of their exposure to people. I say almost, because I am still willing to bet the odd ray freaks out. I think it would be much much harder to tame a couple leo's in an aquarium like you would rays in a "petting zoo". And by the time you tame them, you would think you wouldn't need the barbs cut.
I think we are getting off topic here a bit. Is it worth it to cut the barbs? I'm not sure. I did it already and I will have to do it often. But what are my options? 1. Get rid of rays 2. Set up another tank to just keep them 3. Let nature take it's course 4. Suck it up and cut them.
I like the rays in my tank
I have no desire to set up another monster tank in my house
I do not want my 18" ST of 30" tig or any of my other fish to end up like the other 2 I lost. These are 2 fish that cannot easily be replaced
I know once the rays get huge this will be harder to do but as for right now it was not a big deal to take them out and cut
I like the rays in my tank
I have no desire to set up another monster tank in my house
I do not want my 18" ST of 30" tig or any of my other fish to end up like the other 2 I lost. These are 2 fish that cannot easily be replaced
I know once the rays get huge this will be harder to do but as for right now it was not a big deal to take them out and cut
It is a common practice with a lot of lab/research animals to desensitize them to handling/blood draws/sampling. Fish have been desensitize too.
It takes time and work but very do able. An Lfs by me a long time ago now used to have a lot of leos. Most of them would come to the surface to take smelt from your and and could be manipulated. It's a matter if you want to invest the time. Cutting a stinger is quick and not painful.
Also yes I have been stung before by a wild stingray. Very different circumstances
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Fair enough, I respect your point of view as with a fair amount of time and work invested I think you are right, even if we are talking years and years. I do however believe that there is a fair difference in taking food from your hand at the surface and taking their stinger and cutting it (painless as it may be), I think a fair bit more work will come between accepting food from hand to being able to cut their barb off in the water.
So is clipping easy? I have NEVER owned a ray but have slways wanted to get a small male to go with my clown knife bichirs etc. does it grow back?
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Agreed. I hand feed my rays a bit and you can get them use to you. No this does not mean you should be stupid or not do certain things or trust them 100 percent. When my ray had a stinger stuck in it I was able to have the ray come up for a piece of fish hold it here for a while and remove it.
I treat my dog like the rays sometimes you just have to show tough love and starve them.
My boxer dog has come good sized claws and my trimmers would work easily for a stinger.
Sounds like a fun thing to try with my motoro get her to come up and trim her barb.
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I treat my dog like the rays sometimes you just have to show tough love and starve them.
My boxer dog has come good sized claws and my trimmers would work easily for a stinger.
Sounds like a fun thing to try with my motoro get her to come up and trim her barb.
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Just wanted to touch a couple of points brought up in various posts:
Rays can be conditioned to have barbs trimmed without restraint. Does it happen over night? No, not at all. It takes a LOT of work and knowledge of ray behavior. It's not something I'd suggest for most home aquarists. It is much safer for you and the animal to pull them out into a shallow container/pool where you have space to work and trim as per the guidelines in the link posted on page 1. If done right, there is very little stress and it doesn't hurt the ray at all.
I saw Steve's name brought up. Steve's death was not related to this at all and was nothing more than a tragic accident. Classic wrong place, wrong time - I won't get into details. You won't die from trimming a FW ray barb. Consider the size of the barb in Steve's case. Many marine rays have barbs that are several inches across, well over an inch thick and can be 20 inches long or more. They make Potamotrygon barbs look like little splinters.
Just an example, this is a mount from a spotted eagle ray. It has been painted blue for decoration reasons. Note the size of the wall outlet to the right.
Rays can be conditioned to have barbs trimmed without restraint. Does it happen over night? No, not at all. It takes a LOT of work and knowledge of ray behavior. It's not something I'd suggest for most home aquarists. It is much safer for you and the animal to pull them out into a shallow container/pool where you have space to work and trim as per the guidelines in the link posted on page 1. If done right, there is very little stress and it doesn't hurt the ray at all.
I saw Steve's name brought up. Steve's death was not related to this at all and was nothing more than a tragic accident. Classic wrong place, wrong time - I won't get into details. You won't die from trimming a FW ray barb. Consider the size of the barb in Steve's case. Many marine rays have barbs that are several inches across, well over an inch thick and can be 20 inches long or more. They make Potamotrygon barbs look like little splinters.
Just an example, this is a mount from a spotted eagle ray. It has been painted blue for decoration reasons. Note the size of the wall outlet to the right.
