Little help for a noob

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
R

richard4878

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 24, 2007
35
0
0
Connecticut
Hi everyone,

My buddy is a landlord of several proporties. While helping him clean out 1 where someone blew town there was a cracked 30 gallon with 3 retics in it. I told him I would take them, so we could finish the clean up. I introduced them slowly into my 265 gallon. The current inhabitants are a silver arrowana 2 7 inch pbass and a 16 inch florida gar. The substrate is fine polished gravel. The 3 rays are 4,4 and 5 inch diameter. After 2 days I finally got them to eat nightcrawlers. They look a little skinny but in overall good health (no parasites or sores). Tank is filtered by an FX5 and 2 AC110s as well as a powerhead to move stuff around. Water changes are 25% 2 times a week.

Is the substrate ok for them? The tank they came out of had crushed coral in it. The all have buried themselfs several times in the substrate in my tank.

Will they be ok in here for about a year until I buy my 500 gallon?

What is there max size?

What else can I feed them besides earthworms, Blackworms are now where to be found locally.

I haven't noticed any aggressivness from the other fish toward the rays.

Do the experts here think they will be ok for a while or should I just trade them in for stroe credit? They are awesome animals and I would like to keep them but I do not want them to suffer.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Rick
 
Substrate should be fine.. way better than crushed coral.

1 year no problem.. How wide is your tank? Retics get about 12-15" but have long tails.. some have been known to get 30" TL.. they are smaller rays and slower growers..

Try feeding them red worms, earth worms, mysis shrimp, bloodworms, krill, and chopped silversides.. But you should really do yourself a favor and order a few pounds of blackworms online and pump them up rapidly over the next few weeks.

The only problem with the tankmates is the competition for food.. namely the pbass..

Please don't trade them in, they will just go back into a 30g or die at the shop.. get them eating something well and then power feed them as much as possible.. might have to up your water changes.
 
The tank is 72 long x 36 wide by 24 deep. The new tank Im getting will be 96x48x26. The pbass wont touch earthworms or bloodworms but they do love frozen silversides and market shrimp. Any good sites where I can get a few pounds of blackworms?

Thanks

Rick
 
that tank is pretty good for life... tank mates are ok but some people have had problems with pbass and rays.... I say keep them and just offer more varried diet like miles said..... Welcome to the world of rays they are very addicting....
 
try aquaticfoods.com for blackworms.. i think that's what it is.. There is an eastcoast shipper too.

That is a perfect footprint for those rays.. if you are not upgrading I would move the pbass and gar to your big tank and leave the rays in the other tank. Get some passive tankmates like Uaru or Severums or something, maybe a grow-out for Silver Aros..
 
Thanks a bunch guys, I will try to get some pictures later today just to verify that they are retics. Now to talk the wife into letting me have my 265 as well as the 500.....


Thanks again

Rick
 
yuppers retics just need some good power feedings.........
 
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