Considering a SW Ray Tank

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Tucc185

Tucc185

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2005
413
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Boulder, CO
www.reef2rainforest.com
I've been kicking around the idea of setting up a smaller SW Ray tank, between 120 and 180 gallons. I've kept SW tanks for years, spent lots of time with corals, had an Octopus bimaculoiodes, so I'm rather experienced with SW. I also have been keeping FW rays for the last 6 months or so, so I've got a good feel for what general ray keeping entails. My two candidates for rays are the Thornback guitar ray (Platyrhinoidis triseriata), and the Cortez Ray (I don't know the scientific name), and possibly a moray of some sort. What are the requirements for these two species? What have been people's experiences with these species in captivity? Also, does anyone know of good online retailers who carry these rays? I really don't like liveaquaria, but if that's the best option then I suppose I would use them. Thanks in advance for any advice,
Mike
 
Cortez will work for awhile in something that small (depending on foot print). THey are fairly hardy and do well in captivity. They stay small and are fun to watch.
Thornbacks will get far too big and can be a pain to get eating.
 
I realize the guitars get large, but I am capable and willing of setting up an indoor salt pond for it if and when it outgrows the tank. I'm the kind of person who likes a challenge, so I'm not gonna cross it off my list of possibilities quite yet. How hard are we talking to get them to eat? I have substantial live food resources available to me, and of course this would likely be the first and only fish in its tank. I'm pretty experienced at dealing with picky eaters, for a long time my octopus would only eat baby madagascan hissing roaches, then after that he would only eat live mussels in the shell. I'm quite prepared to do the same for rays if necessary. And of course, this is mostly just speculation right now, just something I've been considering for a while and am just starting to seriously research.
 
Personally - I tend to agree with Matt about the Cortez Stingray (Urobatis maculatus) - smaller size (about 16" long) and hardier species. All around better choice.

Still a 180 gallon would be the absolute minimum(IMO) for a single ray of this species - that is if you had almost no rockwork. Better option would be to get at least a 300-400 gallon pond - and set up a breeding pair of Cortez.
 
If you are looking seriously at a large set up for the thornback...look into fiddler rays instead. Same body, hardier and a much cooler pattern. They get about 5 feet full grown and need some room to swim from time to time, but a shallow pond would work well for them.
 
Thanks for all the info, I'm definitely gonna consider the cortez ray for now, but like I said this is just some pre-planning of a possible future project. (wow that was a lot of p's). I wouldn't even be able to start this thing till spring at the earliest. Anyone else with advice or experience with sw rays please post, I will keep researching. Thanks again,
Mike
 
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