How do you feed a ray with other aggressive eaters in same tank?

[gaz025]

i dont have the problem so much in the ray tank but i use a piece of 2' pvc tubing like whats used for water pluming one end is cut at a 45 degree angle and the other straight and its very hand for geting food to particular parts of the tank . straight to particular fish to get them the first choice or just to get the food past the flow and to the bottom befroe it disperses in the flow.

i used this to feed my knife fish up whilst it was in the tank with other very agressive feedts . also used for other fish too and a couple of times to make sure my recently deceased stingray was getting food .

feeding from both ends of the tank at once also helps .

and i hand feed my silver aro he bites me all the time but its not painfull . im suprised it hurst the rays so much but i know it does as ive had rays bitten by slivers in recent years.

 

[blacksnow]

Thanks for all the replies fellas!

I found a pair of 17" tongs at the LFS today for $4, so I grabbed them.

The ray seems terrified of them though =O. gonna take some adjusting. he refused to take food from them. he is chasing crayfish and ghost shrimp around the tank though. so im glad to see after 1 day in the tank he is already trying to eat...def a good sign!

 

[Nic]

Thanks for all the replies fellas!

I found a pair of 17" tongs at the LFS today for $4, so I grabbed them.

The ray seems terrified of them though =O. gonna take some adjusting. he refused to take food from them. he is chasing crayfish and ghost shrimp around the tank though. so im glad to see after 1 day in the tank he is already trying to eat...def a good sign!

or a 1 dollar piece of pipe would work better.... just a thought... fish cant see it they dont know its falling ray will learn the tube is for food

 

[biggfish]

Larger food items might help as well. Dropping in whole peices of fish or really large shrimp should occupy them for a while. Then you can offer the ray his share.

 

[julnj2]

Tongs and or pvc, should work well.

 

[abortedsoul]

I had this problem originally with my rays.

I found that feeding from more than one position in the tank allows the rays to get to the food.

This works better if you have a larger tank because it makes it difficult for the other fish to get to the food in time.

x2, works to get the Potamotrygon scobina and P. reticulata fed amongst the P. hystrix and P. sp. mantillas, who are much more active eaters.

Another alternative is hand feeding; that's what we do, but it is something that you shouldn't do unless you have a reasonable understanding of the risks and rewards involved.