A little thread on using supplements with rays

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I have been doing similar reseach for a good time about such types of stuff and mixing with foods or injecting into foods. But the information is limited and not common. When I saw this I was really interested and exited and have been following it but a bit disappointed. I do not mean anything mean or rude by this I am just saying that if we are trying to do a comparison like we often do with food or other then we are lacking some information. It seems to be another case of the stingray secrets that people do not want to share even though helping each other is what this forum is all about.

Glad I have I have your attention. Don't be disappointed as another reason I am not giving names is because that is what starts arguments. If you look at the title of the thread it is about supplements, not which brand of supplements is better or worse. There is no comparing one supplement to another when we are simply talking about vitamins. There are no secrets here with me. If it was a secret do you honestly think I would have said anything in the first place. I am not trying to be ignorant and apologize if it seems that way.

I see a little bit of a double standard going on here. You want to share your experiences and get input, but not share at all what you are trying so we can actually give input or thoughts on it. But then you want others to have full disclosure, providing what they are using so we(you) can compare with what you are using. A little one sided if you ask me for informing and working together since you asked for it.

There is no double standard. I am sharing my experiences and will be sharing as much information as I possibly can. I have told you guys exactly what supplements I am using. I am wanting to hear about what supplements other people are using like stated in my OP, not which brand. So therefore like in my OP I am not asking for full disclosure. You and another person in this thread are the ones that want that.

If you would like just message me and I will be more then happy to have a mod remove this post if its taking away from the overall thread.

If a moderator chooses to pull these messages let them.


How do you know its not been tested? Unfortunatly items such as this will and do take years of research and a complete lab for testing the effects. If you are trying to say your going to be the test group for it great, but seriously you are going to spend years and years of time doing this and knowing all the possible effects will not be possible for the home stingray hobbiest to know. So saying you will disclose informantion after full testing seems impossible.


When I said it has not been tested I said it has not been tested on US or European soil. It has been tested elswhere. Here is one of my quick and easy tests...are they still alive...on top of other tests.



I understand you throught but seriously this is a fish forum, you not legally liable for anything you give advice on. It is not like your a business backing a product, your just sharing experiences like everyone else here. How many people say stuff that most would say is incorrect? As you started off, this is a test and desire for information, but not sharing what you are using and trying is not helping. As we have seen and know Zoodiver is a very very knowledgeable person and willing to share and help with information, (thanks zoodiver I always appreciate reading your info and you sharing what you know) heck maybe he knows something about your product that might be insightfull? I would just think you would want more input then nothing about your said product if you are really trying to learn as much as possible.

Your right I am not legally liable but how do you think I would feel if something did go wrong??? You are right this thread is about information but not the information some of you are looking for. And again I can't thank Zoodiver enough as he has used a couple of these supplements that are out there and can vouch for them with his years of experience.

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Didysis please read through the quoted post for my other replies to you comments.

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I can see where they are coming from about not saying what you are testing right now. I also think the intention of this thread was to see what other are doing or have done with success to share that knowledge.
I can say sometimes sharing info before it's all proven can lead to misunderstandings and bad things - so it is good to wait til the end for full disclosure.

As for FW ray info, I'll see if I can dig out my notes from the FW ray symposium MFK hosted at Shedd for specifics on diet and growth. The researchers from South America and Dr. Ross presented GREAT information about what these animals are consuming in the wild during various seasons and life stages as they grow. Or if someone else was there and has notes, feel free to post them for us all.
 
With my other reasons that I posted I also wanted to see how many responses this thread was going to get. I guess there really is not many people that are adding any supplements to their foods. If you guys really must know what product I am using it is CZ Aquaproducts Aqua Plus.

http://www.cz-aquaproducts.com/

Zoodiver that would be great if you could post some of the stuff from the symposium.

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Ahh I have looked at this site before. Most of all I was looking at power breed and laughing at it thinking it was the viagra for stingrays. I know some people put something special in the water and are blessed with lots of pups. Joking. Maybe ground up viagra would do the trick. Lol Thanks for sharing. Do you find shrimp cheapest in your area or have you thought about mixing this with tilapia? Just to get a mix with a couple types of food or are you wanting to stick with just shrimp for a reason?

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Ahh I have looked at this site before. Most of all I was looking at power breed and laughing at it thinking it was the viagra for stingrays. I know some people put something special in the water and are blessed with lots of pups. Joking. Maybe ground up viagra would do the trick. Lol Thanks for sharing. Do you find shrimp cheapest in your area or have you thought about mixing this with tilapia? Just to get a mix with a couple types of food or are you wanting to stick with just shrimp for a reason?

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There's not that much of a difference in the aqua plus to the power breed. A few different ingredients is all. Most of the tilapia in my area has tripolyphosphate in it. Not really to thrilled with knowing that so I only use it in thier prepared meals. Shrimp is by no means cheap here. Think I last paid 10 bucks for a 30 count and that doesn't even last 2 days. I have a source to buy shrimp in bulk and will be doing that soon.

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As for FW ray info, I'll see if I can dig out my notes from the FW ray symposium MFK hosted at Shedd for specifics on diet and growth. The researchers from South America and Dr. Ross presented GREAT information about what these animals are consuming in the wild during various seasons and life stages as they grow. Or if someone else was there and has notes, feel free to post them for us all.

That would be amazing and very much appreciated by those of us who weren't around when the symposium went down.



At the moment I soak shrimp, tilapia, and smelt in vitachem when I prepare and divide up all the raw foods for the week.
Been doing this for the past 4 months or so.

I had a large amount of vitachem on hand I've been trying to use up was the only reason for using this specific product. Probably have another month or two of vitachem left to use up so I am all ears on what stingray specific addative/supplement may be worth purchasing.




A quick question regarding supplements and pellets. I feed pellets (Hikari & NLS) in addition to their primary diet of raw fish/shrimp.
Would the right balance of stingray specific nutritional supplements mixed with pellets provide a good balance of nutrition for a ray to live a long healthy life?
Would the fat content be too high or are their too many fillers and additives in Hikari & NLS pellets to make it a viable long term option.


Species specific gel based food is probably easier/more economical, this is just a hypothetical scenario I was curious about so I'm not looking to derail to a pellet vs raw type discussion. Thanks for all the good info so far.
 
I would love to do a study with a group of pup rays to see for myself some differences in feeding just raw food vs pellets. I started to wonder what frozen food was missing when one female stingray accepted massivore really early and her growth exploded. The others with her did not care to really switch over and stayed very small. Now this female might be an oddity or what but still got me thinking when she is 16inches and brother at 10inches. In my area frozen foods are more or less cheap so I was wondering what would be a good way to get my rays to eat frozen food with more nutrition as a couple seemed very defiant to eating pellets. Finally I starved for months and only fed when they looked like they really needed it and converted all to pellets. I feed allot of tilapia. And for pellets I feed nls 6mm 10mm floating 7.5 and kens krill pallets and some other cheap stuff thrown in but not much. My biggest fear with feeding is fat build up as I like my rays and want them to be around for 10-20 years at least. I have decided to starve the rays more or less every other day to make sure they are not getting super fat. I am aware I could feed daily but with all my rays its easier to feed lots and spread the food out for all to eat. I would like to add something to the tilapia to make it a bit better nutrition wise.


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One thing to consider in that situation is that female rays will out grow males very quickly and be much larger as adults. I've had females end up almost twice the size of males in the same litter on the same diet in the same water.
 
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