Alternative Ray Diets - Collective Brainstorm?

[ronin_man]

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

love this idea, i think if there was enough interest shown in it that they would probably at least consider it for a future product

 

[Miles]

Wow Nic, this is the longest post I have ever seen you make.. are your fingers okay?

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...

Sounds great.

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...

Good Point. I was referencing these more as 'test runs' as to see if other people in the community could have luck feeding these types of foods. Like you saw on Severums outdoor pond, insect larvae looks like a good diet. It makes me wonder, if they did enjoy those types of foods, perhaps their is a source in which you can purchase them in bulk (reptile insect vendors)

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...

I really want to know about a basking area.. I want to see it in action. I really have thoughts about UVB, too.. Something like this could be a missing link to enhancing long-term care, growth, and color..

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

I will have to give a try next time some come in with the feeders.. my retics are just so small with tiny mouths, they are picky.

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

For sure.. I got some more live food insects that I planned on posting in this thread, stay tuned.. we will compile a list.

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

I'm all for it.. if they won't make it, I bet someone will. I wonder if approaching Mazuri would be a good idea, as they already have the scientific research for elasmobranches completed, they would just need to do some slight modifications to fit freshwater elasmos... but rather than Gel, a user-friendly domesticated soft-sinking pellet.

 

[Nic]

Wow Nic, this is the longest post I have ever seen you make.. are your fingers okay?
EH you know sometimes i will share some stuff im going back to my short answers now
Sounds great.

Good Point. I was referencing these more as 'test runs' as to see if other people in the community could have luck feeding these types of foods. Like you saw on Severums outdoor pond, insect larvae looks like a good diet. It makes me wonder, if they did enjoy those types of foods, perhaps their is a source in which you can purchase them in bulk (reptile insect vendors)

Flukers i think sells lots of freeze dried insects in large containers for a good price... also know of reptile breeders who purchase them from another place in bulk
I really want to know about a basking area.. I want to see it in action. I really have thoughts about UVB, too.. Something like this could be a missing link to enhancing long-term care, growth, and color..

i have been thinking about this for a few months.... i have the ability to purchase the powersun bulbs for cheap but if its not gonna really make a difference i have a 250w and a 400w halide along with a 250 hps and multiple bulbs for each... rather use what i have then spend money on making a custom reflector to hold several powersun bulbs...

I will have to give a try next time some come in with the feeders.. my retics are just so small with tiny mouths, they are picky.
For sure.. I got some more live food insects that I planned on posting in this thread, stay tuned.. we will compile a list.

i did remove the pinchers on the first 2 the 3rd one was a escape but ray took it down pretty quick... these were about 1.5" give or take cray's

I'm all for it.. if they won't make it, I bet someone will. I wonder if approaching Mazuri would be a good idea, as they already have the scientific research for elasmobranches completed, they would just need to do some slight modifications to fit freshwater elasmos... but rather than Gel, a user-friendly domesticated soft-sinking pellet.

mazuri would prob be better for this as they all ready specialize in it.... 3 different size pellets would be great... carnivor massivore and one alot bigger would be ideal.... i think we should try to make this happen...



let me know when you want a longer post from me buddy

 

[ronin_man]

sounds good, im sure a lot of people would love it if we all could get someone to make a specialized pellet for FW rays

 

[Rochen28]

I think the greatest challenge is cost. Hikari already has the canivore pellets which the rays love, but its costly to feed it as staple diet.

My rays go crazy over earthworms but they are very expensive here in sg.

 

[andersp90]

I think you have misunderstood me Miles.

I think that 24-25 celsius (75-77 F) may be a bit to cold for our rays. I think the optimal growth temp is 26-27 celcius (79-81 F). So i keep mine at 29-30 celcius (84-86 F). They are less active at this temp and they eat less. But both my scobina and hystrix pups are growing like normal. So it must be working.

Its true that some seafods contain lots of fat. But not all.

Flounder, cod, shrimps and so on, contain almost no fat. So there is no need for freshwater shrimps. They dont contain less fat.

Someone said the he fed his hystrix steak?

NEVER do that!

Few fish can digest raw meat from land animals. Thats also why beafheart is ginded to a mosh. Feed a discus raw heart and it will die.

Just a warning.

 

[amazongirl]

Remember that the nutritional content of insects varies quite a bit, and it is unlikely that a ray is going on to land to hunt something like say crickets! They are eating a lot of insect larvae that has an aquatic stage (like dragon flies do). The reason for the 'lots of variety' based diet (at least the reason I advocate it for our animals) is that we do not know/cannot exactly replicate the wild diet so you give them as much variety as you can hoping that you are hitting on the things they need. For nutritional content of some commonly fed insects, this is a great article. http://www.nagonline.net/Technical%20Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf

 

[Nic]

I think you have misunderstood me Miles.

I think that 24-25 celsius (75-77 F) may be a bit to cold for our rays. I think the optimal growth temp is 26-27 celcius (79-81 F). So i keep mine at 29-30 celcius (84-86 F). They are less active at this temp and they eat less. But both my scobina and hystrix pups are growing like normal. So it must be working.

with tiger rays im seeing this to be a better temp range for them 76-78

Its true that some seafods contain lots of fat. But not all.

true

Flounder, cod, shrimps and so on, contain almost no fat. So there is no need for freshwater shrimps. They dont contain less fat.

id rather be safe than sorry where i buy my shrimps there is no difference in price so i play it safe and buy the freshwater ones...
Someone said the he fed his hystrix steak?


NEVER do that!

Few fish can digest raw meat from land animals. Thats also why beafheart is ginded to a mosh. Feed a discus raw heart and it will die.


Just a warning.

 

[African_Fever]

If there were some way to raise large numbers of crayfish, would they not provide a better source of food than the ghost shrimp? The crays could be raised to a size suitable for the fish they're to be fed to.

 

[Nic]

If there were some way to raise large numbers of crayfish, would they not provide a better source of food than the ghost shrimp? The crays could be raised to a size suitable for the fish they're to be fed to.

im working on that buddy.... im also looking into grass shrimps and other foods....