im a noob when it comes to rays, im thinking about getting some teacup rays and was wondering how to best care for them? i will be keeping them in a 125 gallon tank for a little bit until they get bigger, i am going to to get an fx5 filtration system for my 125 gallon tank, and i feed my fish a mixture of beefheart, frozen shrimp, live shrimp, tetracichlid flakes, and i am going to be ordering a large order of massivore, what else could i feed them? i usually keep my tank ph at about 7.4, but thats only because i have cichlids in that tank (only 2) if everything checks out i will be getting pool filter sand and replace the natural gravel i have in it already, the tank will have 2 hiding spots a very large log, and a small hollow log. i usually keep my tank at 82 degrees, but can do lower if needed. am i missing anything? im do not now anything about rays, all this came to me after reading about what they like and how there water quality should be. i need your imput to make sure that im doing stuff right.
need help with rays.
- Thread starter jerzyperson
- Start date
I hate to say it, but "teacup" rays are very hard to keep and usually end up dying. You will really need to do your research and be prepared to lose them. If you do a search, you will find that this topic is brought up very often.
125gl will be big enough to keep the ray or rays, but I whould keep them separate from your oscars. It will be very hard for them to starting eating let alone compete for food with oscars.
FX5 should be enough filtration, but be sure to do sufficent amounts of WC. As newly introduced rays are fragile and cannot handle any levels of amonina. Being that oscars eat alot, they will produce alot of waste.
I find that blackworms or cut night crawlers are the best to use to get new rays eating. Once acclimated and healthy, you can switch over to other varity of foods. 99% of retic rays are wild caught and it is a good idea to try them for parasites. There is plenty of more info and good luck.
125gl will be big enough to keep the ray or rays, but I whould keep them separate from your oscars. It will be very hard for them to starting eating let alone compete for food with oscars.
FX5 should be enough filtration, but be sure to do sufficent amounts of WC. As newly introduced rays are fragile and cannot handle any levels of amonina. Being that oscars eat alot, they will produce alot of waste.
I find that blackworms or cut night crawlers are the best to use to get new rays eating. Once acclimated and healthy, you can switch over to other varity of foods. 99% of retic rays are wild caught and it is a good idea to try them for parasites. There is plenty of more info and good luck.
thank you, i only have on oscar in the tank, but if need be i have a 75 gallon that he would fit right into (even tho it would kill me to do so) he's not that much of a pig unless he's eating feeders, he loves feeders, anything else he'll eat about 1 or 2 maybe and then go to his corner and just relax for about 6 hours. he's weird but as healthy as a horse. the fx5 wouldn't be alone in filtering the tank, i will have two emporer 400s and 1 fx5, which would turn my water over roughly 13 times an hour or 1625 GPH. would the ray be ok with catfish? i do not plan on putting a pleco in as i have read to many horror stories about plecos and rays, but i have some prized cats that would fit in my other tanks, but i would like to keep in this tank.
one more question, are retic rays the only kind i may keep in a 125? and how do i test/treat for parasites?
one more question, are retic rays the only kind i may keep in a 125? and how do i test/treat for parasites?
As usual no real advice from anyone. The only help you'll get from asking here is "do your research". After many days and an endless amount of hours, the only usefull advice I got from asking was the name of a book called Freshwater Stingrays from South America. That's my advice to you. Read this book. It's worth it. Or you can keep reading all the threads about basic(really basic)care. Notice they'll all tell you to "do your homework" but never where to find the information or, at the least, where to look. Good luck with your future rays.
Cusso;3795910; said:
Where to look? The search box on the left gave me access to plenty of information when I first started thinking about rays. It's a question of whether or not you're willing to put in a little effort reading a few threads. I did - and five months later I have five rays doing pretty well.
But yes, if you want everything laid out for you - without the benefit of counterpoint - then by all means people get paid to write books.
You could do worse than read http://www.freshwaterstingray.nl/Frames Engels/English.html then ask questions.
Perhaps you mean the entire post should be unanswered point-for-point by people who aren't getting paid to do so. In which case:
Any search here will tell you "teacup" is not a particular ray, merely a cute way of talking about the size of a young ray.
Big enough tank, excellent water, good food, no stress. Kinda like most fish.
Now you're talking about other fish being in the tank, probably not a great idea for the novice ray keeper because it's possible the ray will eat the fish or the fish will beat the ray to the food. Discussed in zillions of threads with titles like "ray tankmates".
Beefheart meh, shrimp yes, flakes likely ignored, massivore will work when they're big enough and you're able to get them to accept it.
Blackworms (which you'll probably need on hand for a new retic), earthworm, smelt, tilapia. I can't provide a comprehensive list of everything a ray might eat but seriously, the simplest search answers this question.
Messing with pH is usually counterproductive, just leave it where it naturally wants to be unless your Kh is too low (again if you don't know what that's about, search). The later post mentions an Oscar which doesn't need a raised pH (making an assumption here that the pH is being raised not lowered).
There are zillions of threads on pool filter sand - or sand in general - and too many types to know whether this one (which hasn't been specified) would be appropriate.
The ray will hide under the sand if it feels it needs to.
82 can work, lower is probably better because there'll be more dissolved oxygen in the water. 76 would work for example.
My advice would be read a whole lot more. The info really is here despite Cusso's complaint. Or by all means get a book and start there.
Cusso, the problem is that probably 75% of the threads here ask the same question over and over and over again. The regular posters say "ah, the same question again, I'm not going to waste my time writing about something that's already been answered a dozen times this month" so you get short answers.
well with it being sunday morning you kinda need to let people wake up. be patient cusso and i beleave you had enough replies as to what tank you should get. ok now jerzy retics would be fine in a 125 but they can be hard to get eating. you would need to have blackworms and luck on hand so i really would not suggest that. motoros you could get a couple pups in there but i do hope you do plan on upgrading as they cant spend their entire life in there.they are alot easier to get eating and they look very good for the price. so pay a little more now for a fish that almost always live before you try the extra cheap route cause in the end its usually not. your filtration sounds great so you are right on track with that. i would not suggest feeding beefheart to fish as i read alot that that is to rich for them and they cannot digest it. it makes since to me since they dont have many cows swimming around to munch on. you can have a pleco in the tank but you just need to keep an eye on it and if you ever see the pleco on the ray then move it as it is sucking the slimecoat off. me myself i have two plecos in my tank its just a personal choice some do some dont, but just watch out. you havent said anything about your heaters if you are using glass you will need to put in heater guards or change to outside inline heaters on your fx or use rena smart heaters. the temp is fine in my opinion. and people say do your research because if you look for it and read everything your more likely to pay attention to it and follow rather than take peoples suggestions. also because you dont have the ray yet and you have plenty of time before you get it so just do some reading about your new pet. wouldnt hurt and it makes for and easier time and less deaths in the future. and with that cats as long as they are big enough to not be eaten it should be fine. i dont keep cats with mine so i cant really say much on that one though. hope this helps a little bit.
petelockwood, the only reason i asked these questions was to make sure what i was reading was correct, i came across a couple different answers to my questions so i was double checking.
thank you for the help, im thinking about getting a heater that stays under the tank. my cats are semi large and aren't very aggressive, the only cats that move around very much are my pimelodella gracilis cats. i don't want something to large right now, as i am still in the process of getting a larger tank/pond. the reason i was thinking retics was that there size was relatively good for my current set-up until i grow out. after reading i found that a hystrix has a smaller disc? im trying to find something that would be hardy enough for a novice ray keeper, but something that i will treasure as time passes. non of my fish in my 125 are smaller then 2" and the only fish that is 2.5" is about 2" tall. i chose pool filter sand from reading alot of the posts on here, they say that is is much more fine and won't damage the fish's belly.
jeffers;3795993; said:
thank you for the help, im thinking about getting a heater that stays under the tank. my cats are semi large and aren't very aggressive, the only cats that move around very much are my pimelodella gracilis cats. i don't want something to large right now, as i am still in the process of getting a larger tank/pond. the reason i was thinking retics was that there size was relatively good for my current set-up until i grow out. after reading i found that a hystrix has a smaller disc? im trying to find something that would be hardy enough for a novice ray keeper, but something that i will treasure as time passes. non of my fish in my 125 are smaller then 2" and the only fish that is 2.5" is about 2" tall. i chose pool filter sand from reading alot of the posts on here, they say that is is much more fine and won't damage the fish's belly.
Why do you think a SEARCH FUNCTION was createdCusso;3795910; said:
I honestly didnt know people actually needed to be TOLD that you use the SEARCH engine to SEARCH for info...
Theres also the stickies on the first page where nobody reads...i dont even see how that needs "searching"
Anyways, it seems like the OP here has actually DONE some research (unlike you) so I dont see how hes going to be getting the "do your research" comments...
Gshock;3797629; said:Why do you think a SEARCH FUNCTION was created
I honestly didnt know people actually needed to be TOLD that you use the SEARCH engine to SEARCH for info...
Theres also the stickies on the first page where nobody reads...i dont even see how that needs "searching"
Anyways, it seems like the OP here has actually DONE some research (unlike you) so I dont see how hes going to be getting the "do your research" comments...
thank you, i have read the stickies, i've searched for rays in general, and then for the kind i've been looking at. and then i would go to another site or a couple other sites and read some more. im desperately trying to get to know this stuff better, but what i can't find nobody will help me with.