Is this normal ray behaviour?

[nixson]

he tends to hang around the top - eyes out the water. he seems really healthy - 3 weeks old in the pond, with 4 arro's. It seems like he is sunbathing.....

although i have never seen him eat, i know he is eating, cause i leave peices of shrimp for him at the bottom (arros cant see it) and whenever i come around they are gone. I also drop in a block of frozen blood worms per day. he is generally active and only tends to do this swimming at the surface thing when the sun is the highest.

 

[bcfd144]

Well I would say its normal. All the pups Ive had like to swim at the top. One of my females always swam at the top when she was smaller and stuck her eyes out.

But every ray is different so dont count of it as fun for him. I would check your water readings. Make sure everything is ok.
Do your water change schedule, Id say at least 20% weekly. Make sure you have good O2/water mixture so the pond has enough oxygen.

Now, are you sure he is eating? Im not understanding why you think the Aro's cant see the food. They can see well in water and can spot the food. Esp since shrimp put off a white color in the water and it looks like the bottom of your pond is dark.
Make sure he is eating. Watch him and see for sure he is getting food. Some rays like to climb the wall and skim the top of the water looking for food. I usually can tell when mine are wanting to eat, they climb the walls alot. Its like they are telling me its dinner time..lol

 

[frnchjeep]

How's your oxygen level?

 

[johno27]

eyes out of the water can often be a dissolved oxygen or ammonia problem. Check the ammonia and make sure you have enough oxygen in the tank. If both of those check out your probably fine

 

[nixson]

i'm a lazy tester. even though i have a nice digital one. i just changed 30% of the pond water, with collected rain water this afternoon. i'll observe. thanks for the advice.

144- i never saw any of the arros look at the floor of the pond or even go below halfway down, its 3 feet deep. i just assumed they were not seeing it on the floor. i keep 75% of the pond with floating plants to prevent algea, so i don't get to observe them too much- other than feeding time. have you seen arros eat off the bottom of a tank? id assume with the shape of their mouth they couldnt easily.

 

[bcfd144]

yes they can eat from the bottom of a tank. Both my Aro's eat from the bottom of the tank. What they dont catch floating down when I put food in the tanks, they swim close to the bottom, turn their heads on its side and snap up what they want.

Might want to test your water. Make sure the Ammonia levels are at "0" and also make sure you have enough oxygen in the water. Even if you just add a few wave makers to mix up the water surface, that would help alot.

 

[muffywrx]

I have also heard eyes out of the water is an ammonia issue.

 

[johno27]

Lazy tester and ray keeping Don't mix. You will run into trouble sooner or later if you don't monitor your water. Just my 2 cents

Best of luck to you either way

 

[J.Lake]

cool pond. My rays never do this in my pond. Just a lil wall surfing when they r begging for food. My aro (not in the pond) eats off the bottom as well. I would make sure the ray is eating. And check water. I check water erry pre and post wc.

 

[I_got_no_idea]

i say oxygen level, ponds don't really have much oxygen. If you have like a waterfall or something maybe oxygen isn't a problem but get a bubble bar or something and test your water. All you do is get like a small amount of the water and bring it to a store.