Need to make a divider! ideas

[keepinfish]

I put this in the ray section because i need to know how the ray guys are building dividers.

I need to make a divider on my 72 x 32 x 24" tank.
My female motoro is looking beat up. Her tail is chewed off to the stinger, and her "feet" fins are chewed off about half way. I am pretty sure she is about a month pregnant, and think she needs to get a break from the biters.

So what is the best way to divide her from the others? I want to be as cautious as possible as i DO not want to scratch the acrylic. BUt it will need to be strong as she is 18"+ and the other rays with her are 10"+.

any ideas or pictures of what you have done?

 

[flamenco-t]

Get a 3/4" PVC. Cut a slit about the thickness of 2 egg crates along the leght of it. Why 2 ? your tank is 32" wide, having double egg crate is firmer than a single egg crate.

Drill some holes on the PVC pipe for you to attach suction cup that you use for heater and place a cup every 5-6" and you won't have any trouble keeping the divider in place without scratching the tank.

stan

 

[kdrun76]

I have never kept rays, but this divided a pacu from an tilapia for two months while new tanks were getting built.

It is plastic chicken wire fence (bought at Agway) that is held in place by drift wood, zip ties, and a clear piece of lexan on the bottom. The lexan was stuffed under the gravel. A suction cup or two on the sides would have been a good idea if needed, but it wasn't needed.

 

[bomber]

Here is what I did yesterday. This application worked for me.

 

[keepinfish]

Get a 3/4" PVC. Cut a slit about the thickness of 2 egg crates along the leght of it. Why 2 ? your tank is 32" wide, having double egg crate is firmer than a single egg crate.

Drill some holes on the PVC pipe for you to attach suction cup that you use for heater and place a cup every 5-6" and you won't have any trouble keeping the divider in place without scratching the tank.

stan

that is kinda what i was thinking, but how would you attach the suction cups to it? drill holes and Tie the suction cups to the pvc?

 

[bomber]

opps, oh yeah for those sizes.... ^ sounds solid x2

 

[PeteLockwood]

Sounds like a good excuse for another tank

 

[keepinfish]

Sounds like a good excuse for another tank

i have a pond that i could set back up in my garage, but would rather have her in the tank if at all possible. For some reason she is a magnet for abuse.

 

[Just Toby]

I would add some large, smooth, pebbles to the base to add support.

You could also add PVC pipe to the bottom up the egg crate for rigidity.

A longer term solution would be to get a Acrylic company to cut a decent slab and drill it for circulation and try to attach it to a brace bar at the top if you have one?

 

[DB junkie]

Holes in the top of the tank big enough to get a single piece of acrylic in there to divide off the tank? If so you could just swiss cheese that piece, and slide it into a base that is big enough that they couldn't tip it. Few suction cups for support and I would think it would work well. I've had bad luck with big rays breaking egg grate and really messing themselves up when getting trapped next to, above, or below it.

Acrylic would look way better and beings it's the same as the walls of the tank I would think them to be less prone to exploration, but rather accept that it's a wall. Mine almost seem to see egg grate as an obstacle that they will stop at nothing to overcome..... Usually resulting in damage to the tank (scratches), damege to the rays (torn up when trying to weasle through a small crevis), or them winning by knocking it down and throwing the human owner into a fit of rage.