Help! Atlantic Stingray curling!
- Thread starter bbrayer
- Start date
Thanks for your response guys! She is a neat little pet. I hope I dont screw this up! So everyone thinks the lack of salinity is the cause for the partial curl? I keep staring at her, and when she's flat, she looks ok. But its almost like she has a lazy part of her disk....its definately not right, and will completly curl upward.
They can be kept strictly freshwater but you need a HUGE tank and a TON of filtration to offset the amount of waste they produce. It can be a tricky balance. I know a few people that keep them in the same freshwater tank as motoros and they do just fine -- but they also have extensive filtration that ran them about $1000+ to set up (filtration alone, not counting tank costs, stand, etc). It's better to keep them at least brackish, best in saltwater. I use Instant Ocean to keep my tank brackish and it works well, and I keep up on water changes every week. My Atlantic had been doing fine until I switched out the substrate to something she didn't like, and now we're slowly climbing back to normal.
In regard to temperature, everything I've read says they prefer 75-78 degrees, 80 max. Anything over 82 and you're going to cook it. Here are the best articles I've found on these rays:
http://www.ecofloridamag.com/archived/stingrays.htm
http://nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu/~pmpie/dsabina.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_stingray
http://www.elasmodiver.com/atlantic_stingray.htm
I contacted the Ph.D that wrote the first one, and recieved a lot of useful advice and information. I can forward you the e-mail if you like.
In regard to temperature, everything I've read says they prefer 75-78 degrees, 80 max. Anything over 82 and you're going to cook it. Here are the best articles I've found on these rays:
http://www.ecofloridamag.com/archived/stingrays.htm
http://nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu/~pmpie/dsabina.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_stingray
http://www.elasmodiver.com/atlantic_stingray.htm
I contacted the Ph.D that wrote the first one, and recieved a lot of useful advice and information. I can forward you the e-mail if you like.
Somebody told me to add just a little more salt while I do her weekly water changed. I thought for sure she was going to die!!! Salt was definately the issue. I have three filters running that tank. a back hanger, undergravel with two power heads and a canister. PINK LADY: GREAT ADVISE! good links! Nice to know that there are people out there who can help. The local fish stores are clueless.
glad to hear it, the pet stores prolly told you that it was a full freshwater ray that you could keep for life in a 50 gallon...... internet can be VERY useful good luck in the future
I actually bought this little girl from Florida. I couldnt find ANYONE who had a "freshwater ray" never the less, salt water. My state has a lot to do with it. I researched them the best I could before aquiring one. But ignorance is bliss. The supplier said FRESHWATER for sure. NOPE! So the salt levels are low, and gradually increasing. But it appears even the small amount of salt is making her happy. I've never heard of a ray starting to curl, then coming out of it...But she did...fine now.
this web page was a referance from a friend of mine who owned a shark that was going to die, and someone told him how to fix it...
this web page was a referance from a friend of mine who owned a shark that was going to die, and someone told him how to fix it...
The LFS I bought my female from also had them labeled "Freshwater Atlantic Rays", which is why as soon as I decided I wanted one, I jumped on the internet and found those articles. They buy theirs from a captive breeder who breeds them in freshwater, but they are also in a massive facility with a ton of equipment. I decided to go brackish and once I got her home and saw the amount of waste she created, that's when I went out and bought the canister and added more salt making it heavy brackish. When I picked up the canister, I talked to the store staff about the whole thing and they didn't believe me -- I pulled one of their test kits off the shelf and opened it and told them to test the water in the stingray tank (there was only 1 left at this point, there had been 4 when I bought my female). The nitrites were 4.0 and the nitrates were through the roof at about 70+ (maxed out the hot pink color chart). Both staff went, "Holy sh*t" and immediately started on a water change. LOL!
My female has done well thus far, she's grown at least 3" since I bought her and she's about 10 1/2" across now. The sand I originally started out with was really fluffy and light and kept getting kicked up into my filters, so I changed it out to something else that ended up being too rough and really stressed her out. She went off feed, lost a bunch of weight, and after taking it out and putting a very similar sand to the first kind back in, she's started eating pretty well again and has put on weight. So when stuff happens, these guys can bounce back, you just have to be prepared to buy/do whatever it is they need at the drop of a hat.
My female has done well thus far, she's grown at least 3" since I bought her and she's about 10 1/2" across now. The sand I originally started out with was really fluffy and light and kept getting kicked up into my filters, so I changed it out to something else that ended up being too rough and really stressed her out. She went off feed, lost a bunch of weight, and after taking it out and putting a very similar sand to the first kind back in, she's started eating pretty well again and has put on weight. So when stuff happens, these guys can bounce back, you just have to be prepared to buy/do whatever it is they need at the drop of a hat.
