Do we replicate the natural environment temperature?

[keepinfish]

HMM, I will have to find that i thought he said 78 degrees


edit: i was wrong he said 72-78 http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222954&highlight=grenade

but where does it show that they waters are this temp? i still cannot find it.

 

[Zoodiver]

Look at the areas these animals are coming from. We had a great discussion going at the Symposium last year with the guys down in South America actually working with them in the wild. 72-75 is very common for them during the lower temps of the seasonal swings. Some rays are from mountain rivers.... when was the last time you thought of the words "tropical" and "mountain river" at the same time?

 

[keepinfish]

interesting, what did you keep the temps at when you worked in dallas at the zoo?

 

[FireMedic]

72-74 degrees with no loss of appetite, activity or reproduction. -FM

 

[Zoodiver]

interesting, what did you keep the temps at when you worked in dallas at the zoo?

At Dallas World most of our freshwater rays we in the mid 70s. Some ranged into the 80s, but temps changed with season on the big system. We really did our best to do things 'naturally' in those exhibits.

 

[flamenco-t]

I don't run any heater. Our house temp stays stable from 72 - 75 degrees. The tank stays stable slighty above it.

Everyone eats and swimming as they normally should

 

[T1KARMANN]

84/86 for me never had any problems or parasites like others do

with a big drop from 84 to 78 in the winter this stimulates rain fall and my rays have always bred after that big temp drop

i wont be changing anything

 

[Kolossus]

Wow...There is a lot of variation with little to no ill effects among ray keepers here. So I usually go by the philosophy "if it aint' broke, don't fix it."

I'm trying to remember why I increased my temps and started keeping higher temps a couple years ago and I think it was to avoid parasites etc. I have been blessed to have know issues with parasites with my fish...likely partly due to quarantine methods and possibly the high temps. I turned my heaters down a little after noticing the "in-tank" temp was higher than the gauge at around 86. But I will likely keep hovering around the 80-83 degree temps in most of my tanks.

I usually do water changes using the same temp water but I have noticed that cold water changes spark friskiness among my male rays so I think that may spark breeding activity as well. We'll see as I'm about to pick up a couple large females for my frisky mature male.

 

[turkeyboy85]

I think why most people keep them at higher temps is to increase thier metabolsim, with the increased metabolism theoreticly would lead to being able to fight off any health problems

 

[FireMedic]

Tomorrow I am dropping the heat thermostats to 70. To conserve energy/cut cost. I do not expect any problems. -FM