cortez ray behavior

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ADEE

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2009
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South East Coast, Fla
We have a young cortez ray (approx 3½-4" disk span) in a 125 gallon tank with alot of swimming space (ie: very little rock), its housed with a snowflake eel and a whitebelly puffer for now (we will be adding other fish down the road) weve had the ray for 4 days now and its very, very active. Ive only seen it beneath the surface of the sand once (the day we got it) and its been really active since. Our water parameters are fine, we do 10hr light cycles and its even eaten for us twice. I was wondering if this behavior is typical. Are they venomous too? (it looks soo innocent lol)

any help/suggestions are more than welcome.
 
ADEE;2784872; said:
We have a young cortez ray (approx 3½-4" disk span) in a 125 gallon tank with alot of swimming space (ie: very little rock), its housed with a snowflake eel and a whitebelly puffer for now (we will be adding other fish down the road) weve had the ray for 4 days now and its very, very active. Ive only seen it beneath the surface of the sand once (the day we got it) and its been really active since. Our water parameters are fine, we do 10hr light cycles and its even eaten for us twice. I was wondering if this behavior is typical. Are they venomous too? (it looks soo innocent lol)

any help/suggestions are more than welcome.
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i've heard that they are venomous but it's like a bee sting, unlike FW raystings that are very painful and sometimes life threatening
 
3280225500_50d1befe33.jpg

Figured a picture of "him" would be nice
 
Hmmm ... just to let you know - puffers & stingrays - not good to keep them together as tankmates.

Basically for all benthic species of elasmobranchs - Sharks & rays - the unsuitable tank mate list includes puffers, triggers, Angels & lions.
 
that so figures!! thank you for your input. ill call my LFS tomorrow and take it back Monday (limited hours on sundays) thankfully its been fine with the sting ray (Actually staying out of each others way) i have noticed something is pooping alot in the tank, is it the sting ray or the puffer? Ive heard both are notorious for being "messy"

Are butterflies, tangs and the snowflake eel ok to house with the ray?

Also, the ray is resting its bottom of its body (the part with mouth, not its tail) up against the glass with one of its sides on the sand. Its not moving but is breathing. Is that a typical position for sleeping? The day lights are off and only the moon light is on so it is technically night time for it..
 
Butterflies, tangs & snowflake eels are basically in the questionable area - which is to say some people have had some problems in keeping them with rays - others haven't.

Tangs are known for being "disease magnets" - but making sure to QT for a couple of months, before putting it in a tank with the ray should help eliminate that threat.

Also just because - the puffer & ray aren't compatiable - doesn't mean that you have to get rid of one - so long as you have another tank.
 
ADEE;2784872; said:
We have a young cortez ray (approx 3½-4" disk span) in a 125 gallon tank with alot of swimming space (ie: very little rock), its housed with a snowflake eel and a whitebelly puffer for now (we will be adding other fish down the road)
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This might be a problem down the road. Just keep a close eye on the pufferto see how it reacts to the ray. They do tend to bite eyes, tails and disc edges.

weve had the ray for 4 days now and its very, very active. Ive only seen it beneath the surface of the sand once (the day we got it) and its been really active since. Our water parameters are fine, we do 10hr light cycles and its even eaten for us twice. I was wondering if this behavior is typical.
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Yes, very typical. As it settles in, you'll see it eating almost every day. Make sure it's not being out competed for food in the tank - by which I mean make sure food is getting to the bottom and it has a chance to get over to it. Sometimes offering krill or small shrimp on the end of a hard airline tube right to the ray will help get it past other hungry tankmates. Rays are smart, and learn to target feed rather quickly.

Are they venomous too? (it looks soo innocent lol)
any help/suggestions are more than welcome.
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Yes, they are venomus. Do some quick reading on treatment of ray invenomation just to have it in the back of your mind. It's good to know 'just in case'. Short version is clean the wound VERY WELL. Run it under hot water (as hot as you can stand) for 45 mins or more. Get to a hospital. If you want more detail, I can explain it more in depth.



Nice picture! Cute little ray. What part of FL are you in? I work on Key Biscayne.
 
thanks for the advise on the puffer... we dont have a tank for it to go into. My other tank is a 37 gallon reef tank thats full of soft corals and "community" fish so that idea is out.

Matt, thanks so much for your advise also. I did read up a little bit here on treating stingray stings and even have it saved as a "Favorite" in the event something were to happen. printing it out and having near the tank is a fantastic idea. the eel and ray seem to be doing well together. we have been spot feeding the ray and the eel since we got them both (mostly because we didnt want pieces of krill/shrimp floating around) how much should he be consuming and how often?

Where in key biscane, isnt the miami seaquarium and crandon park in key biscane as well as the other research centers right there? We live in Plantation (about 15 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale beach) and have annual passes to the Miami Seaquarium... how cool that you work down there at the research center, we would love to become friends with you if thats the case :headbang2 :drool::ROFL: lol
 
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