My first ray! Impulse buy... Can ya blame me?
- Thread starter Mr. Allgood
- Start date
So it is female. I misunderstood the claspers location. Pitiful, but I thought they were her pelvic fins. She is now Miss Gray. I pulled her gravel and added output of both mag350s to 20g, overflowing into 75. Current is strong enough to stir up ****e on the bottom but not so strong that she has to fight it. Bout to go buy 3 dozen ghost shrimp and a week supply of black worms.
Yes she is definitely a girl 
Ghost shrimp sometimes can come with parasites (well then again so can blackworms) just not as frequently. Ghost shrimp usually can trigger them into the eating mood which is good but they have very little nutritional value. If you can trigger her into the eating mood with the shrimps and get her jump started so she wants to eat more black worms thats what I personally would shoot for. She is going to gain weight faster on the black worms.
Ghost shrimp sometimes can come with parasites (well then again so can blackworms) just not as frequently. Ghost shrimp usually can trigger them into the eating mood which is good but they have very little nutritional value. If you can trigger her into the eating mood with the shrimps and get her jump started so she wants to eat more black worms thats what I personally would shoot for. She is going to gain weight faster on the black worms.
She is smashing the blackworms. I suppose just keep it up and hope she puts on weight. If not, treat her with???? I am moving fish around so I can get her in my 75.
i wouldnt treat the ray yet. I would continue to feed and keep clean water. The fact that the lil girl is eating is a real good sign. Especially if she keep eating for the next few weeks she should be fine.
lots of good advice here, ive done the same as you , impulse buy a tea cup for $50. died a month later. i was a sad learning . ive learned to buy bigger fatter rays and have great luck.nothing drastic i wouldnt take all the gravel out at once, half, so the bacteria doesnt go nuts and maybee just push the gravel to the back of the tank and keep feeding worms in the front
i also paid 100 bucks for a 4 inch retic. had him about a month now, keep your head up. mine was almost as skinny as yours and now he's eating a quarter pound of blackworms a week. Mine is also in a 20 and just a a 20 alone. I do daily water changes. he is going into a 250 pond that is cycling now but honestly i like him where he is so that i can monitor everything. My ray's hips were showing just like yours and the ribs and now both have disapeared and he is fattening up. stick with the blackworms and she should be fine.
Seems like you are doing everything right so far. A 20 gallon bare bottom is a PERFECT tank to try and pull this off in. Especially hooked to a larger system like you do. Keep pushing anything she'll eat. Once she's thicker, then worry about treating her. Panacur is a good safe deworming med for these guys that I've used on hundreds of FW rays over the years. It's very possible this will be a happy healthy ray soon.
Haha, after all the guff I got for the 20g I pulled rock and fish outta my 75. Now she has 2/3 of a bare bottom 75. My avatar is on the other side of the divider and his fry (xKingkong parrot) now occupy the 20g. I cleaned all the filters and ran a 900gph pump attached to a sponge for about 1.5hrs before making the switch. She seems to be eating good. I am perty sure I can see her putting on weight. I just dumped about 40 non-swimming fry in with her. She really seems to like those. Is there any fish that will eat ray poop?? I think I may need one.
