Rescued Motoro, help!?

[aeromast]

I recently(About an hour ago?..) rescued a 6in. disc motoro from yet another 55g aquarium. The hobbyist wanted 'something more active'. The poor conditions in which this fish was raised are very apparent. There are red spots all over the bottom of the disc, and the ribs are sticking through the top of the disc very obviously.

This poor little guy even has some scars, too. There was no substrate at all in the aquarium except for the driftwood, which is what I assume all of the scars are from.

According to the hobbyist, he's had the stingray for nearly half a year, and it's only a 6 in. across disc, maybe about 8-9in. total length. I was also assured that it was a male, but he had no proof or way to show me of such. He threw around the word 'dwarf' a few times.

This seems irresponsible, but I figured with a spare 175g I could set up a temporary or semi-permanent home for him.

I do not actually know.. anything about stingrays, as this is my first. I've read a bunch of the topics in the stingray forums, and read some of the care guides, but I don't have the essential time it takes to set up a proper home, so I have to sort of rush it.

As of now, he's in my 250g with two florida gar and a silver arowana, while my 175 fills with water. I'll need to cycle the 175g tank, so I guess this is his temporary home for awahile. I have two porous river rocks, some driftwood(leaned it all up against one of the corners for more room for the ray) and some plants, which I uprooted most of for again, more room.

I've got my hands full with the water, looking online for the best kinds of sand to use and now I guess I'll need to buy more filters(Currently own 3x Rena filstar xp3's and one Rena filstar xp2).

Can anyone provide me with a crash course while I try to settle this little guy in?(Or identify the red dots on his stomach?)

I'll have a picture later, he's hiding in the corner under the driftwood right now..

 

[Gshock]

If this is your first ray, I would ditch the sand for now. It's a lot easier to examine it's disc without it and saves you a load of trouble.

 

[aeromast]

Mmm. So bare bottom is best?
He said he was feeding it one freeze-dried blood worm cube a day, which as I keep reading is definitely not enough.

Any suggestions on a healthy portion of food for a 6 inch ray?

 

[bbenjamin21]

My ray took immediately to talapia. If urs will. It will help put weight on quicker.

 

[wg666666]

Chopped earthworms or nightcrawlers QUICK!! As many as it wants.....sounds like its starving.....

 

[johno27]

Pictures will speak a thousand words on the red spots and how food deprived they ray is.

If it is a male it will have claspers visible on both sides of the tail. On a 6 inch ray they would be smaller then this but you get the idea

If you have a male ray you are MUCH better off as they stay considerably smaller than females

 

[jdbrock]

I would also skip sand for now easier to see besides you can always add sand later.

Blackworms are a good food if he won't eat but I wouldn't feed them as an only food or a builder food. Heres a link to builder foods ( I wouldn't bother with the last few pages they're pointless arguing mostly): http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=392397

Good luck

 

[Cryogenetica]

I take my hat off to you sir, 1 ray with a little more hope than it was forwarded by an ignorant keeper. Like the others have said, no sand to begin with im sure it's disk is a little worse for wear and the sand will only irritate it more.

your filtration at the moment (depending entirely on how cultured it is) should be ok, make sure your doing plenty of water changes to keep the ammonias and nitrates down while your feeding so heavily.

With double the space that he was in he will adjust quickly and depending on how much hes eating I would say it would be a few weeks before "regularity" kicks back in this will be the time you'll see play with the current in the tank. you can introduce sand at this time but make sure you are comfortable with the animal before adding to many "non life critical" things to the tank.

Check your readings everyday and make sure those bones disappear from the skin surface you'll notice a change straight away.

I wish you the best of luck with your first ray!

 

[jsodwi]

Live blackworms or cut up earthworms like stated above. The ray should take them pretty quickly. Pump that thing up. Then start introducing market shrimp, tilapia fillet, silversides. If it was from the wild I doubt the guy treated it for internal parasites. once it starts eating you will notice what the feces looks like and will be able to diagnose. Good luck

 

[aeromast]

Alright, the 175 is cycling and I'm uploading pictures from my phone now.

He has claspers, yes, and in my pictures the red spots aren't very noticeable, but in person they're painstakingly obvious.

The site I use to upload pictures(Snapfish) isn't working.. for whatever reason for me, right now, so I drew the placement of the dots on your picture. There is also one on the right side of his mouth.

EDIT: While editing the picture, I noticed Aragorn was checking out your stingrays claspers.
Always knew he was a pervert.