WHY DO RAYS GET PINK BELLIES?

[mattfish]

Have you tried chopping up Canadian earthworms? Stingrays usually cannot resist an earthworm! You can usually buy them at any walmart.

i have 2 containers of canadian crawlers and 6 containers of leaf worms. I didnt know there was much of a difference but you make a good point. maybe i should cut up one of each. My wife hates it until i transition rays over to pellets. worms everywhere in her fridge!

 

[Raymann88]

Pink bellies on pups is normal. I would be concerned with the thickness of the gravel (2 1/2") as the pups will not be able to sift through the gravel to the bottom keeping the gravel stirred up. There is a potential for rotting food and bacteria to build up. Live blackworms will burrow into the gravel and eventually die fouling up the gravel and producing ammonia. This will irritate the pups and can foul up your tank. I speak from first hand experience where I lost 2 of 5 young scobina rays from having too thick of gravel bottom feeding live blackworms. I thought the rays were searching out the worms and eating them. Instead the worms died in the gravel fouling up the tank and killing 2 rays. When I removed the gravel it was full of dead worms that I couldn't see otherwise.


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[mattfish]

Pink bellies on pups is normal. I would be concerned with the thickness of the gravel (2 1/2") as the pups will not be able to sift through the gravel to the bottom keeping the gravel stirred up. There is a potential for rotting food and bacteria to build up. Live blackworms will burrow into the gravel and eventually die fouling up the gravel and producing ammonia. This will irritate the pups and can foul up your tank. I speak from first hand experience where I lost 2 of 5 young scobina rays from having too thick of gravel bottom feeding live blackworms. I thought the rays were searching out the worms and eating them. Instead the worms died in the gravel fouling up the tank and killing 2 rays. When I removed the gravel it was full of dead worms that I couldn't see otherwise.


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great point! I just need the bacteria bed strong to consumer so much waist. gravel under 2 inches wont support bacteria strong enough to handle fluctuating bio loads. In this set up they are currently in i dont have much room in the filter for bioball tubs or denitrifying reactors. Have any ideas?

 

[snake8myelbo]

great point! I just need the bacteria bed strong to consumer so much waist. gravel under 2 inches wont support bacteria strong enough to handle fluctuating bio loads. In this set up they are currently in i dont have much room in the filter for bioball tubs or denitrifying reactors. Have any ideas?

Do you have a sump? Post. Pics of your filtration. It sounds like you need to increase your bio filtration!

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[Raymann88]

great point! I just need the bacteria bed strong to consumer so much waist. gravel under 2 inches wont support bacteria strong enough to handle fluctuating bio loads. In this set up they are currently in i dont have much room in the filter for bioball tubs or denitrifying reactors. Have any ideas?

Nitrifying bacteria need oxygen in order to break down ammonia. Unless you are circulating water (and oxygen) through the gravel the gravel is not contributing to your filtration. On the other hand, it is acting as a storage place for waste and non desired bacteria to accumulate. A thin layer of gravel will allow for the rays to hide and sift through looking for food. These activities keep the gravel stirred up enough that bad bacteria doesn't get established. If you need more filtration, you can always add on an external filter.


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[Fenton]

Pink bellies on pups is normal. I would be concerned with the thickness of the gravel (2 1/2") as the pups will not be able to sift through the gravel to the bottom keeping the gravel stirred up. There is a potential for rotting food and bacteria to build up. Live blackworms will burrow into the gravel and eventually die fouling up the gravel and producing ammonia. This will irritate the pups and can foul up your tank. I speak from first hand experience where I lost 2 of 5 young scobina rays from having too thick of gravel bottom feeding live blackworms. I thought the rays were searching out the worms and eating them. Instead the worms died in the gravel fouling up the tank and killing 2 rays. When I removed the gravel it was full of dead worms that I couldn't see otherwise.


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+1 ....if I were you I'd get an additional external filter and also replace the gravel with sand. I had a mixture of both at one point. I only changed because the noise of my 3 rays chewing at the gravel looking for food was annoying. They are much happier now with 100% sand. As for the red bellies, my 3 rays all looked like that until over about 7-8 inches and this isn't the first reply saying this so for sure it's nothing to worry about. Plus if there was anything wrong with them it's unlikely they would be active enough to surf up the glass

 

[mattfish]

Nitrifying bacteria need oxygen in order to break down ammonia. Unless you are circulating water (and oxygen) through the gravel the gravel is not contributing to your filtration. On the other hand, it is acting as a storage place for waste and non desired bacteria to accumulate. A thin layer of gravel will allow for the rays to hide and sift through looking for food. These activities keep the gravel stirred up enough that bad bacteria doesn't get established. If you need more filtration, you can always add on an external filter.


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aerobic bacteria needs water to move around it for it to grow. anaerobic bacteria doesnt. aerobic bacteria developes faster but is much more unstable. if electric pumps are off for a few hours you lose more than half of your aerobic bacteria. anaerobic bacteria takes longer to develope but once cycled it is much more stable. electric pumps can be off for days with little lose of bacteria. "peace river" 1-2mm size gravel is small but wont "clump up" like sand and choke out anaerobic bacteria bed.