Mixing Rays in my community tank HELPPPp

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BrooseK

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 4, 2012
11
0
0
Illinois
I have a 350 gal 96x30x30 discus tank with a bunch of adult discus in great shape
I bought my first ray 3 weeks ago a male reticulated about 10-11" diameter disc.... he was doing great in the tank....a really COOL fish
I met a local breeder last weekend and bought a female marble motoro about 7" diameter

the male retic has been hassling the feral motoro and after a few days she has a BUNCH of small bites around the edge of her disc, and a small hunk bitten out of her tail

The breeder guy told me the 2 should get along OK.... but it ain't working so good....

must I removed the female lil one from the tank...or will they get " OK" with each other ?

HELPPP

bruce in Chicago
 
You need to move the male out of that tank right away. The male is probably trying to breed with the female, and at 7" she is not nearly large enough for breeding. He is not likely to stop so you need to move him away from the female. I would not recommend moving the female as she needs time to heal, the move would just stress her out more. You could also make yourself a tank divider and keep them separated that way.

On a side note be aware that discus have been known to peck at stingrays eyes. Not your immediate concern but something to watch for.
 
Agree with John a retic at that size is definitely mature. I he is not breeding then he is showing signs of being territorial. Either way separate the male until the female heals then try again.
 
Dont take the chance. I have been keeping rays for 3 years now. Even bred them 3 times now. They will eventually not play nice. Mine have killed 6 fronts as big as any of your discus, 17 inch tigrinus, 17 inch peacock bass, 24 inch royal clown knife, a sabalo pike, a flagtail, multiple big tinfoils, etc. I feed 10 ounces of fish or shrimp daily. Not inderfed but some times they decide someone is too close and they get darted. Tough to see a fish die over a couple of days and there is nothing you can do. Other times i look and there is a head floating, some times it is still breathing. They eat other fish in the wild and notjing is off limits. Please dont let discus fall prey to a ray. Dont get me wrong I love my rays, I have 11 after all, but large discus are a thing of beauty. Set up another tank and move someone to it.
 
Hey Thank You all for the responses, of course I didn't read them till just now, all ready moved the female into a 40 gal breeder tank, she's alone in it
I put some stress coat with aloe in it, tossed a few ghost shrimp in and it looks like she ate a few.

Most of my discus are 5" + to 7" not sure how the male retic could eaten... certainly could sting them though.... all seem like they get along
I'll keeps ya updated sure home I got them separated fast enough to save her

bruce
 
i would agree with him being at a mature age/size and trying to breed.
the rays don't have to eat the fish whole, they can either top them and literally hold them down/suffocate the fish, or tear chunks out as well. most have a fondness of chomping the heads off. don't dismiss them because they don't have conventional teeth. those crushing plates can do a LOT of damage lol.

you can section them off from each other in the tank by using eggcrate (for office lighting) from hardware stores, cut to size. trouble is you have more than just the rays in the tank, so that makes it trickier.
 
sometimes this carm down about a year ago when i put a female leo in my tank and she got beat up bad everyone said mover her
the male was mature and bred with other females in the past the female was much to small to breed
i didnt as the stress alone would have killed her the male left her alone now a year later she is preg again for the 2nd time
 
JohnG said:
He probably could not eat your discus, but he could bite their heads off, literally. Had a few discus go that way early on, and a number of other fish as well.
Click to expand...

Yes, eventually the other fish will go...my rays picked off a large discus once every month or two for two years....eating there heads, eyes, and skin off. I blamed myself for not giving them enough food on a particular night, but seeing that they are all very fat, healthy, and regularly well fed, I think they do it for sport.
 
My 2 small motoros, 5" discs do not even act like they want to touch my other fish. I have tetras and other small fish with them, I have seen the fish swim under the discs and 2 eels take food from under disc. Is it just a matter of time or do they have to acquire a taste for fish heads..lol. Not a joke but had to put that in here, have had them for about 3 weeks now, getting 2 more from airport today in about 30 minutes. Will post pictures
 
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