Hail damage. Right between the eyes.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Perhaps it's just my motoro but I can see she's prego a couple weeks after conception. She begins to show very early well before any movement is visible.

I've been through the whole not eating thing with expensive little pups. it's tough to watch.
 
DB junkie said:
The problem is how do you KNOW they're preggo? You see movement right? What if they are harassed to the point they reabsorb the pups before that movement is seen halfway through the pregnanacy?

I understand the isolation thing, and have no problem doing it. When I reworked my 750 I glued braces to the bottom of the tank and drilled holes in the top of the tank to brace the divider. Works great. My last 2 CB pups were born behind it.

No UV. Hard to justify the $700-$1K it would cost to put one on a 1200 gallon system when people can't even agree on them being necessary. There's plenty of people here breeding and keeping rays just fine without any UVs.

As far as meds, again hard to justify spending several hundred dollars to shotgun medicate a 1200 gallon system. IF I knew they needed it no problem, but I don't. Throwing that much money in the water hoping for better rays sounds like a really expensive wishing well. :(

Not trying to be a prick, just sharing the view from my side of the fence......

Believe me this (Marble breeding project) is quickly turning into one of the most difficult things I've ever set out to attempt. I spent less time winning a DB Drag world championship then I've spent trying to establish a top shelf breeding group. The frustration is so great it's bordering on hatred. I love them so much that not being able to breed them is making me hate them. Which has spurred a change of heart towards a lot of things.
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i dont know how to tell when their pregnant because i have yet to breed. But when i know there is a chance like when she looks like she is always full..i dont know yet..i have to learn my rays...

Now alan..you have thousands and thousand of dollars worth of rays....i think 1k and a few hundred dollars is worth spending on your rays...i mean you are the one that built your system of 1200 gallons.

i am not taking you being a prick..youre frustrated and youre venting..its cool...i can handle it..i have my big boy pants on...
 
Sorry to here your having troubles again DB

My female marble went off food started breathing funny a few weeks ago, 3 days later she was fat and healthy looking and dead. It looked like she just stopped moving mid swim not a mark on her. I have no explanation as to why, the little leoxhen pup and all the other fish on the same system are more than fine.

What I noticed with her is that both spiracles where moving but only one side of here back was lifting. I treated with prazi which was about as useful as dumping money in the toilet lol.

I am done with wild rays and probably marbles, it seems like they are a whole different set of headaches when compared to other rays.

I feel for you man and I hope things work out well for you
 
John sorry to hear about you losing your marble. I know some have luck with wild rays but I agree captive bred are less problematic.
 
Venom Stinger said:
i dont know how to tell when their pregnant because i have yet to breed. But when i know there is a chance like when she looks like she is always full..i dont know yet..i have to learn my rays...

Now alan..you have thousands and thousand of dollars worth of rays....i think 1k and a few hundred dollars is worth spending on your rays...i mean you are the one that built your system of 1200 gallons.

i am not taking you being a prick..youre frustrated and youre venting..its cool...i can handle it..i have my big boy pants on...
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Just cause I have some money tied up in my collection doesn't mean I'm gonna be stupid with my already limited budget. Like I said it's one thing if I KNEW they needed meds, but if they did why the heck would all the males be just fine? I did my research on UV. As soon as someone can gaurentee that it will magically fix my rays I'll buy one, but like I said, I've researched it and people simply don't agree it being necessary. I'm not rich. I've made lots of sacrafices to build the collection I have with the budget I have. Going out and blowing $1500 on meds I don't need and a UV that might not even make a difference is borderline foolish regardless of what I have for rays.

Venting through typing doesn't work for this guy. IF you were able to see to my systems you'd know my venting takes place in the basement. My rays benefit from ever changing filtration improvements and more room as more and more tanks get moved in and stacked up higher. You'd be amazed how unfrustrated you become after venting through wrestling 125+ gallon tanks alone.... lol.
 
johno27 said:
Sorry to here your having troubles again DB

My female marble went off food started breathing funny a few weeks ago, 3 days later she was fat and healthy looking and dead. It looked like she just stopped moving mid swim not a mark on her. I have no explanation as to why, the little leoxhen pup and all the other fish on the same system are more than fine.

What I noticed with her is that both spiracles where moving but only one side of here back was lifting. I treated with prazi which was about as useful as dumping money in the toilet lol.

I am done with wild rays and probably marbles, it seems like they are a whole different set of headaches when compared to other rays.

I feel for you man and I hope things work out well for you
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Thanks John. I'm truley sorry for your loss. Losing a ray sucks bad, but not knowing why is as low as it gets, not to mention the blame you put on yourself for it. I know I always blame myself when they die and after so many it gets beyond frustrating. Would love nothing more then to have answers but hard to buy answers on a limited budget.

Marbles suck. I've said this for years. People disagree with me all the time, but I'd like to think I have more then "average" experience with them. Some are tough, some are borderline suicidal. They come in like crap and die for no reason. I've experienced this more times then I can count. They don't seem hardy as other rays and just seem overall tempermental. And the sizes they obtain is just another huge arguement.... lol. What do I know? Only what I see..... If you're reading this and disagree then I'm glad you have had better luck, but someone who has had probobly 50-60+ Marbles pass through thier tanks hasn't been so lucky.
 
I rely wish we lived closer together so i could come over and see all this with my own eyes. Its hard to diagnose stuff without being right there... It would be nice to see all the behaviors, reactions, etc

It eats me up always hearing about all your ray problems.

Wht are we missing here? Why are the blackies fine? Why do u keep messing with your filter setups? U try getting rid of all sand/substrates yet? If u transfered a sick ray to your buddies house would it start recovering right away?

Just tryin to shoot out stuff im sure u have already thought of...

I always have to keep my males seperate from my females after breeding otherwise the females will never start eating again


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Trev-

Believe it or not I think I'm making progress......

I really think it all boils down to breeding. The juvie Marbles are fine till I upset the balance with new rays. The Falks are fine by themselves. Blackies are fine by themselves. The big tank has had problems since the introduction of the proven group. When there's troubles it's the females.

Keeping a group of rays is a handfull. Keeping a big group is a nightmare.

Some people test the water, slowly get used to it, some jump straight the hell in. I may have bit off a little more then I can chew, now I'm suffering the consequences. There's lots of things I should have done differently but all I can do is try not to make the same mistakes in the future. Just cause the rays don't get as big apparently does not mean you can keep twice as many.... lol

I keep messing with the filtration cause I keep finding better ways of doing things. It's a sculpture that I just don't think is finished yet. Slowly phasing from relying on pot scrubbies to relying on moving bed, but also finding the drawbacks of moving bed and trying to figure out a way to make it full proof.

I'll get some video of everything for you to take a look at. The rays, the tanks, the filtration, activity levels, and some feeding..... I know it's not the same as seeing them firsthand, but it's better then reading what someone's typing.
 
I really think wild marbles may just be damaged goods, I have never had so many problems. My female was the only ray in my 300 and if I didn't know better I would say I stressed her to death by using a magnet to clean the glass and leveling out the sand with my universal fish tank tool. I guess only time will tell as I aquire different rays and see if problems pop up.

Frustrating is not the word for it lol
 
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