A new motoro owner, please share your experience

[md1017]

Hi guys, first of all please pardon my bad english. I am from Indonesia, Jakarta. i just got 5 motoros. 1 male about 9" 1 Female 8-9" 1 Female 7" and 2 Female 13-14".

This colony is currently living in an indoor pond of 7'x9'x17" (w x l x h) or 2m x 3m x 45 cm

Pardon me as I am not familiar with imperial measuring system

I am a complete newb for this species but I have about 10 years of fish keeping experience. I have my interest with these freshwater stingrays years ago but just got the chance to keep them recently.

I am sure that having any kind of fish in captivity will not go far than having a topnotch water condition. The pond that I use for these 5 is an established indoor pond of over 20 years (my father in law's pond ). I used to have few kois but i moved them to a bigger pond to accomodate the stingrays.

I've been reading few articles and posts in this forum but I cant find a complete article in breeding this ray.

So would anyone be able to direct me or even enlighten me on how to breed this ray? Heard once they re about 12" they are mature enough to breed.

Also would anyone tell me what sort of growth rate I expect from my condition of pond?

FYI, I feed them twice a day. The diet consists of prawns (headless and cut into 2 but with scales on), small fish we call here selar fish (please google: ikan selar if you wanna know what it looks like, look like a small herring) sometime live prawns, frozen blood worm (need at least 10-15 cubes per feed) and live earth worms. I change the diet every day.

I am thinking of moving these 5 into a spare tank that I have (about 1100 liter) 170cm x 80cm x 80 cm (5.7' x 2.7"x2.7" ?) It is a custom made that was intended for marine but I canceled the plan for some long story reason.
The reason why is that I thought it makes them more "showable" (is that a word?)

Would they be able to breed in the tank?

Thanks in advance

 

[johno27]

Congrats on becoming a ray owner

I have no experience in breeding them but I can tell you what I would do if I where you until someone more knowledgable chimes in

The pond would be much more ideal for breeding rays. I would use the other tank for quarintine and for any pups that may be in the future

Motoros get very large and the bigger the footprint the better. Females get much larger than males and can get 24" inch disk

Good luck I hope you love rays as much as I do

 

[md1017]

Hi John, yes they re fascinating animal arent they...

Hmmm...in that case I'll just leave em in a pond or perhaps others who got more experience can give us some advise?

Thanks in advance

 

[Enemyarms]

I like the pond idea to, pups can go in your tank with the pond water. If I remember right. I have a 240 that will soon be a ray or silver aro tank.

 

[Just Toby]

What filtration are you using?

 

[bcfd144]

The pond would be much more ideal for breeding rays. I would use the other tank for quarintine and for any pups that may be in the future

I agree with Johno.. Just leave all your rays in the pond. When one becomes preg, and the pups are born, then take them out and place them into another tank. Make sure the water in the pup tank is the same water as the pond. It could be to much of a shock on the pups if you put them into different water that reads different ph, nitrates, etc... So its best to take some of the pond water and put into the other tank at the same day the pups are born and then place the pups in the new tank.
Also remember, the female just having the pups will be threatened by your males again. He will think its time to breed again. So if I were you, also place the female in another tank, (can even be the same tank the pups went into as long as they are divided) for a few days to let her rest.
What filtration are you using on your pond? Me Ive also thought about when my females get preg, that not only do I need to put the same water in with the pups when they are born, but I have a extra filter on my tank that will also be switched to the new pup tank when they are born. That way the filter is also est to that water... (if that makes any since to you)
Good luck and welcome to the hobby. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to let all of us know and we will do what we can to help....

 

[md1017]

I agree with Johno.. Just leave all your rays in the pond. When one becomes preg, and the pups are born, then take them out and place them into another tank. Make sure the water in the pup tank is the same water as the pond. It could be to much of a shock on the pups if you put them into different water that reads different ph, nitrates, etc... So its best to take some of the pond water and put into the other tank at the same day the pups are born and then place the pups in the new tank.
Also remember, the female just having the pups will be threatened by your males again. He will think its time to breed again. So if I were you, also place the female in another tank, (can even be the same tank the pups went into as long as they are divided) for a few days to let her rest.
What filtration are you using on your pond? Me Ive also thought about when my females get preg, that not only do I need to put the same water in with the pups when they are born, but I have a extra filter on my tank that will also be switched to the new pup tank when they are born. That way the filter is also est to that water... (if that makes any since to you)
Good luck and welcome to the hobby. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to let all of us know and we will do what we can to help....

hello bcfd, thanks for sharing your view.

I have 4 females, do I have to separate the one who just gave birth or separate the male from the females in a separate tank?

The tank I am using is empty at the moment, I have a spare filter for it. The pond has a huge filter that looks like a big oil barrel, I will take a picture when I have a chance and post it here. It also have a modified eheim 2660 running side by side.

So do you think I have to run the tank now to anticipate? The male is only about 9", do you think he's sexually mature? And definitely will use pond water for the pups.

I have also read some tips on the sticky section about caring for the pups, it is very informative and valuable. I salute all the people who spent their times to write such a valuable information as these species are very valuable and considered expensive money wise.

How often do you need to feed them? I used to feed my other fish once a day to keep the water in top condition, but I heard these guys are always hungry because they have small digestive system.

At this time, I feed them twice a day as suggested by the local hobbyst, in whom I got the rays from.

Also what triggers the mating season?

This species comes from the Amazon and I do breed some common L numbers pleco (l333 and l134) which originally from the amazon as well. Now with plecos, we often imitate the rainy/dry season to trigger breeding. (do large water change up to 70%) Would this work for rays?

How about PH? Should we add peat in the filtration to soften the water?

Thanks very much

 

[md1017]

What filtration are you using?

It's a huge pond filter, custom made. It looks like an oil barrel but bit round in shape like gas barbeque tank. Or it looks more like a swimming pool sand filter. It can hold a huge amount of media. (it has about 5L of eheim substrat pro, 2 bags of carbon and about 3 bags of ceramic ring plus layers of jap mats for mechanical filtration. It has backwash function.

It also have a modified eheim 2660 running side by side.

Will post the pic later when I have a chance.

Water never been changed only topping up. Crystal clear water 24/7 365 days a year My father in law's work not mine lol

 

[md1017]

The pic of the pond above was taken from 2nd floor. I forgot to mention that the pond has a wire mesh on the middle to separate the rays who live on the left hand side of the pond (they hide under the structure that looks like a stair steps where the water is coming down from there along the steps) The reason why my father in law put the wire mesh because he still has a population of ranchu gold fish (the mutant gold fish, got big eyes, pot belly, slow swimming fish).

I had an impression that rays dont eat moving fish because it feeds on anything on the floor of water system and I forgot the gold fish also goes to the bottom scavenging for food and the first day when I got my rays, 4 gold fish were eaten...well not fully eaten...the rays chewed the head, belly, eyes of the 4 gold fish. My father in law was furious but the rays leaves the bigger kois (there were kois in here too) alone tho. Only the mutant gold fish were bullied. Felt bad tho.

The pond is bit messy at the moment, it's an old pond. Was built around 1990's but the filtration system is around 5 years old. He told me he got a huge fibre glass sump tank for the pond before.

Please note that the toys are not mine was placed there by my wife's brother long time ago.

We got no more spare tank to move the gold fish so we have to leave em there together with the rays but separated. Hope the rays dont jump to the other side.

 

[johno27]

Always try to move the male rays to avoid stress on the pregnant or injured females

Rays will flourish in a setup that has a large amount of water changed often. Even in a pond that size I wouldn't skimp on the water changes

The rays should not be sexually mature until 1.5 to 2 years old at the least I would think they are around 6 months to 1 year old now judging by their size


P.S rays love eating any and all fish they can get their mouths on