Need advice from expierenced ray keepers only please!

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J

Jawbone

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 29, 2005
117
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Ohio
Well to start I'm in my research phase on rays. While I'm building a new indoor pond for my 5' alligator I've decided to spend some time researching housing rays. I've been reading all I can and would like some opinions from expierenced people. I've decided I will house the rays I eventually get in a indoor pond as I've built many for my crocs over the years I'm familar with construction and I think its just fair to give the ray as much room as I can. With that said, my first question is whats the feeling on depth for rays? I've seen everything from 12" on up. Would 12" be good with large footprint or do the rays prefer deep depths to "play in"? The pond will be liner type with no substrate. I personally just like how the rays view from above on a black background. I've seen many opinions on what people think are the hardy rays to keep. What are some expierenced opinions? How many rays could I keep in say a 14'x5'x12 to 24" deep pond? What types of rays cohabitate together well? Would it be ok to do a fishless cycle to pond to get bio-load up to par?(I dont see why not but thought I would ask.) Sorry for all the questions but I'm just trying to learn all I can. I have many more questions but I thought we could start with these. Thanks for any info.
 
Maximum is no size but I keep a minimum size and this is the maximum disksize the ray can get plus 10 cm. So when you want to have tigers they get 70 cm disk ad 10 cm so at least 80 cm depth. And you are wright stingrays are the most beatyfull from above but if their is a possibilety try to get one pease of glass in the pond.It is very hard to see from above what the condition of the ray is. If the ray does not eat good you can see this in his/her body shape. Very hard to see from above. The same with a fungel infection of the disk botom easier to see when they swim up the glass.
Regards and good luck building the pond.
Frank
 
Thanks so much for the responses. The posted links were great reads. I like the idea of a side viewing window and I have built one pond with a window years ago. The difficulty I had was sealing the acrylic to the liner. But I learned use glass and silicone instead. On that note I will add a window to my design. Another question I have is about the filter for this pond. I was thinking of a giant wet dry type of sump with tons of bio media. Would this be a good filter for the rays or is there some better idea? Then I could have the heaters in the sump also so they would be out of the ray pond. How many rays could be kept in my pond size? I dont want to overload my bio but I would like to keep several if I could. Thanks for the help and keep the posts coming.
 
Itaituba2003;545624; said:
Maximum is no size but I keep a minimum size and this is the maximum disksize the ray can get plus 10 cm. So when you want to have tigers they get 70 cm disk ad 10 cm so at least 80 cm depth. And you are wright stingrays are the most beatyfull from above but if their is a possibilety try to get one pease of glass in the pond.It is very hard to see from above what the condition of the ray is. If the ray does not eat good you can see this in his/her body shape. Very hard to see from above. The same with a fungel infection of the disk botom easier to see when they swim up the glass.
Regards and good luck building the pond.
Frank
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I just realized it was your website I read. Great job on the site first off. The info you have is great along with the pics. If you dont mind could I get some detailed info on your filters and perhaps some pics. My pond will be roughly in the 1000 to 1500 gallon area depending on the final size chosen. I was thinking of using a large sump type beside the pond. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks Jason
 
Jawbone;545792; said:
Thanks so much for the responses. The posted links were great reads. I like the idea of a side viewing window and I have built one pond with a window years ago. The difficulty I had was sealing the acrylic to the liner. But I learned use glass and silicone instead. On that note I will add a window to my design. Another question I have is about the filter for this pond. I was thinking of a giant wet dry type of sump with tons of bio media. Would this be a good filter for the rays or is there some better idea? Then I could have the heaters in the sump also so they would be out of the ray pond. How many rays could be kept in my pond size? I dont want to overload my bio but I would like to keep several if I could. Thanks for the help and keep the posts coming.
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you could keep atleast 4 motoros in a pond 15x5x2...prob 6 but beyond that idk...make sure to post some pics....

also i'd love to see some pics of ur croc
 
Heres a pic of my 4'6" American alligator named Cloe. She was abandoned by her owner and I rescued her. She was in bad shape then. That was 3 years ago and now you can see shes a fat girl. This is her temp area as I finish remaking her current pond larger.
She'll be happy to get back to her big pond soon.
alligator.jpg
 
Jawbone;545858; said:
Heres a pic of my 4'6" American alligator named Cloe. She was abandoned by her owner and I rescued her. She was in bad shape then. That was 3 years ago and now you can see shes a fat girl. This is her temp area as I finish remaking her current pond larger.
She'll be happy to get back to her big pond soon.
alligator.jpg
Click to expand...

awsome...she looks great...btw since you got a lot of room i would make the pond 2 1/2-3ft deep just for some extra room when they climb the sides...what is she in looks big and very kool setup like the front
 
When you go to my site to the chapter 'My Tank' their is a section (just below the title) called "The filter system" all you want to know about the filter I use.
Regards
Frank
 
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