Alternative Ray Diets - Collective Brainstorm?

[Miles]

what pet store ?

Petsmart.. reptile section.

Bearded Dragon Food = Dragonfly Larvae
Hermit Crab Food = Deshelled Snails/Red Shrimp

Was checking this stuff out today
All my other fish love the stuff but my rays had a big lunch so I haven't tried it yet.

 

[ronin_man]

i might just have to go and check this out tomorrow, not sure if the petsmart here carrys that kind of stuff, maybe just crickets but we'll see

 

[Miles]

Also in the fish food aisle there is a bunch of canned products by Seachem, including Fly Larvae and Fish Eggs.





This is an aquatic insect called gammarus that people often feed as a live food culture. You can buy freeze-dried gammarus in many reptile food sections.

 

[ronin_man]

interesting, never seen this stuff before, definatly going to take a trip to petsmart tomorrow.
*side note* geez miles i didnt know insects spooned... thought that was a human thing... you might be on to something here...

 

[john C]

good find Miles however i assume that stuff is pricey and packed in small containers? if so that would only be a snack for my rays.

 

[Zoodiver]

talked about ? can you go a little more in depth with this ?

(refering to Dr Ross feeding crickets...)

I have fed crickets in the past as part of a mixed diet for pups. Put them in a sealed conainer 1/2 full of tank water and shake them around a bit, then dump them in so the sink below they surface level. As soon as they are in the water column, the pups went after them.

Insect idea is great...just remember not all rays are insect eaters. We need to match captive diet/growth to wild diet/growth.

 

[DB junkie]

Any thoughts on roaches?

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

DB if the roaches are wild caught live, as in from your home then I would be careful given their huge tolerance to most things poison (i.e. pesticides etc.)

 

[DB junkie]

DB if the roaches are wild caught live, as in from your home then I would be careful given their huge tolerance to most things poison (i.e. pesticides etc.)

No man not wild caught. Lol. I've never seen a roach anywhere but petstores. Thought they would be easy to breed. Thinkin along the lines of bigger insects for bigger rays.

 

[Nic]

im working on with a friend right now on a large breeding opperation for all types of fresh water shrimps and small fish snails etc... i plan on offering in do time to everybody on here for a great price... we will also be working on canadian and african night crawlers...

i did try the zoo med can o products and noticed them to kinda foul the water very quickly.. leaving a oil residue on the water... and only my one motoro would eat them but she would eat anything... so it will be a challenge to get rays on these IMO but possible... the seachem product are good my friend feeds these to his fish but by doing this we are increasing the cost of feeding our allready expensive to feed fish... now in my old set up my tank would run very hot potential for 90+ was very good especially if it was a hot day out... now im looking into new set ups as some people on here know of... my one pond im designing will be pretty deep with a shallow end that will be lit with metal halides and allow the rays to bask there... i have been wondering about uvb bulbs(maybe use zoomed powersun) for the basking area? any thoughts? also as far as the roaches go i think i would avoid that...

miles i have fed small crayfish to retics with no problem.... and my friends orb ray takes down some food....

how about we go for a list of live foods we would like to see for rays???

maybe we can also contact hikari and ask them to make a pellet just for rays... something for a staple food that meets the nutritional needs.... they make specialty pellets for koi and most goldfish im sure a ray would not be a problem and would be very popular in asia