Atlantic Freshwater Ray (Florida) question

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messesb52

Candiru
MFK Member
Jan 6, 2009
215
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48
Scarsdale, NY
Hi everyone. I am planning on getting my 180 gallon tank this weekend dedicated mainly for stingrays. I was planning on having at least one motoro in there and also really want an atlantic ray. Now i know that it would eventually outgrow my tank, but that is not the main problem that i am asking about. I have read that the atlantic rays really aren't truely freshwater rays, and that they can only survive in freshwater by producing huge amounts of ammonia. Is this really true? How severe is the amount of ammonia that they produce? I am really truely dedicated to getting one so if there are any extra filters/whatever that i could add to my tank to help keep this waste problem away then i would be willing to get whatever i need. I was planning on having a wet dry filter with a canister as backup. ANYBODY WITH ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS SPECIES OF RAY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR RAY!!!

-Thanks so much
 
Yes it is true they produce large amounts of ammonia in a freshwater environment. To keep one it really comes down to having extra biological filtration to deal with the ammonia and doing allot of water changes to remove the nitrates that the higher ammonia production will cause. I know someone who kept one in a 210 without issues using a 50G sump, 2 fx5s, and an eheim pro 3. I think he was doing daily water changes, and had a few other rays in there to.
 
you're better off having the true FW rays in one tank and the atlantics in a 2nd tank with saltwater setup.
having an atlantic in with your FW rays will not only make it much more toxic for all of them in much less time, but it seems that they generally do not get along together.
my lfs made the mistake of putting motoros and atlantics together and the motoro ripped the atlantic apart within a day of being in the tank together.
keep them separate, for the safety of all.
 
I had 6 rays in 1 tank and one of those 6 was a Florida\atlantic ray and she was a beauty here's a pic View attachment 752769

They all got along great and one day I came home from work to find my marble Motoro male trying to eat her :( she was too far gone and died within 30min of me getting home.... They were all together in a 96x48x30 and they all played together and got along great the Atlantic and my flower were besties....
My advice is to either be very caution and do NOT keep with males or Motoros! Or just keep her in her own tank.... As far as water I had 2 fx5 canisters and a 50 gal wet/dry and did water changes every Sunday once a week about 50-60% and my water wa and is always flawless!


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^^^^ and they were all housed together for almost 2 years before this happend!!! My guess is my MM matured and became aggressive as a month after killing my Atlantic girl the same 14" MM attacked my hysterix....one of the worst conditions I have ever seen was REX" my 12" male hysterix.... Rex is alive and well after 3 months of hospital care W ALOE which is amazing and completely healed his cookie bits from his disc... He is 100% cannot even tell...
Back to the subject... NO MALES
NO motors of any kind!


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not just motoros, but any large or aggressive ray that has matured. it happens time and time again that we see within freshwater rays fighting amongst themselves. throw in a ray that is not even fully freshwater, and you will have issues.
i wouldn't even dare keep an atlantic in my 300g alone, it's simply too little volume of water for a mature fish that creates so much excess urea.
 
hereticlosmorte said:
not just motoros, but any large or aggressive ray that has matured. it happens time and time again that we see within freshwater rays fighting amongst themselves. throw in a ray that is not even fully freshwater, and you will have issues.
i wouldn't even dare keep an atlantic in my 300g alone, it's simply too little volume of water for a mature fish that creates so much excess urea.
Click to expand...

I agree minus......
<i wouldn't even dare keep an atlantic in my 300g alone, it's simply too little volume of water for a mature fish that creates so much excess urea>

One Atlantic or even a few would be more than fine in a 96x24x30 or 96x30x24 with proper filtration and it drip system


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drip system is different, you have new water entering the tank, like a very toned down waterway. with just filtration, it's simply reusing the same water and building up toxins, at a much faster rate than it would in a salt setup. and at around the 2 year point, you will really start to see a change in the atlantics that haven't been moved to at least brackish. their health starts deteriorating. it's easier and less expensive to start them out in the right setup to begin with.
 
are you sure that you need salt for them. as far as i have read, they dont leave the st.jonhns river. i think the main issue is their production of urea.
 
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