Sorry I am know this happens frequently. I consider myself pretty knowledge about rays even though never had one (biggest tank is only 125g). I also used to follow this forum quite frequently. I was talking with another hobbyist the other day who seemed really knowledgeable and he told me he had a pair of red retic rays. He told me this were a true "dwarf" only getting about an 8 inch disc. Is this true? Can't find any info on the web.
First question how old were those rays?? I bet some might be stunted in growth a little or what not but I really don't think any ray will stay small. Unfortunately rays need large tanks. Fortunately its a good.reason to buy a large tank as they are so worth having.
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Yes red retics do stay much smaller then most rays. Some of the guys across seas have reported females having pups when they were only 6.5" across.
I'd still plan for discs about a foot across, but aside from their smaller size retics have long delicate tails so you can't really get by with any smaller of a tank. Wouldn't surprise me if males maxed out at 8"
Best advice would be to find someone that actually has them and talk to them. So much info gets spread second hand by people with no experience with the rays that it's easy for the truth to get stretched or warped. Lots of people make the mistake of going by what they read instead of actual first hand info.
thanks for the input. The person I talked to actually has a pair. Though people can still be miss informed about there own fish. I have no plans on getting one. Was just curious. tanks just not big enough, so instead I just bought myself two sunshine plecos
True red retics (also known as red caqueta) do seem to be a smaller species. The problem is that they seem to be very delicate - very picky about eating and sensitive to water quality. I've head of a number of people losing their group without any explanation. While I appreciate DB's suggestion of finding someone with firsthand experience with these rays, I've been very interested in this species/variant for a long time and have done a fair amount of research on them and I haven't heard of a single account of someone with long-term success with these rays (my second hand opinion).
