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blackghostknife

blackghostknife

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 24, 2010
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Hammond, Louisiana
I want to do a fw ray pond. it must be roomy enough for 2 motoros a black diamond and a scarlet pleco. I want all of the fishies to have enough room to swim with out bumping into each other. what size stock tank do you recommend and what filter? thanks in adavance.
 
Plecos and rays rarely work, almost all of them end up sucking on the rays eventually.

As for the rays, if your talking about for life and at least some being females I would say something in the 6'x6'x2.5' would give them plenty of room. Bigger is of course always better with rays, just a question of what you can afford and have room for.

For filters on my big ponds I use Aquabeads and the big fishmate sponge filters, and a nice tower of bio balls always helps. Really its a question of how much you want to spend and how much work you want to do to maintain your filters. The aquabeads and sponge filters I use cost a fortune, but I don't have to be replacing filter pads all the time. Just a backwash every couple weeks and that's it.
 
The filter link is just the stock tank.

You'll need to check on what the dimensions are at the base of that stock tank. The 96" diameter is at the top, I can tell that's one that shrink as it goes to the bottom, just don't know how much. My guess would be between 6-7' at the bottom, which would be fine.
 
That is actually the same sponge filter I use but the smaller model they sell, I use the fishmate 9000 available here without the pump: http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=10394

They are great filters except for 1 problem, they leak. I tube of silicone however can fix that problem pretty easy. On one I had a bad o-ring that I had to silicone to fix. Both of the had leaks coming from behind where you connect your PVC or rubber tubes, if you just remove the 4 screws holding those plates in and silicone it real good you won't have any problems. Been running one of them for about 6 months after fixing it and not one more leak, other one been good for about 2 months now. They do an excellent job of keeping your water clear, I would definitely go with the 9000 if that is going to be your only filter. I always run additional biological filters with these sponges, you might need to add a bit more bio capacity when the rays are full grown.

I think the stock tank will be fine, just make sure and find out that bottom diameter, as long as its over 6' I would say go for it.

To my younger rays I feed blackworms and then nightcrawlers when they get around 5-6". You can feed nightcrawlers younger but I don't like chopping them up, so I wait till there old enough to eat them whole. As they get old I transition them to tilapia, shimp, and silversides with nightcrawlers as desert.

I have forsale 2 5-6" motoros, 7 motoro pups, and 2 marble motoro x motoro pups.

In my collection I have leos, henleis, pearls, hystrix, castexis, motoros, marbles, mantillas, and a few hybrids.
 
Bigger is always better, with 3 rays in that they would have tons of room. That filter would be enough for it, that filter is actually rated for a 9000G pond, but with rays its more a question of how much waste they put out than the gallons. The fishmate 9000 was keeping my 6x10 pond crystal clear with about 10 rays in it, 4 of which where in the 18-24" range at the time. I also had a big bio ball trickle filter on that pond for additional biological filtration.
 
Good luck with ur new pond idea...Sounds like u have some great ideas....
 
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