Hey everyone!
So Im new here. I've never kept rays, but have been wanting to and researching it for a few years now and think I'm about ready to take the dive. As far as fish go, I consider myself a fairly experienced keeper...I've had several tropical tanks, a native 55 gallon, 2 reef tanks, and am currently running a cichlid tank, not to mention we have a 2500 gallon koi pond. I've pretty much always had fish. Around here rays can be fairly difficult to come by but sometimes my lfs has a few for sale. Currently they have a female Motoro and a female retic. I know motoros are arguably the best starter ray, but because they're kinda hard to come by here the price is a bit to high for my liking. The retic on the other hand is a pretty little thing and a bit cheaper. I won't be able to cycle a tank in time, but would like to have one ready to go if possible for the next batch they get in which could be anywhere from a few weeks to possibly months away. My biggest question is concerning the housing...most of the books and articles I've read state that the footprint is more vital in ray housing than the tanks actual size (makes sense), but does the size of the ray matter when selecting an appropriate tank? For instance some fish do better when started in slightly smaller tanks as juveniles so they can be fed easily and observed better. The retic that I saw was a fairly small pup, about 4" disc diameter which got me thinking....would I be better off putting a ray of that size in its adult size tank for growout? Or starting it in something smaller for a few months such as a 40 breeder? Im down to buy a bigger tank, although space is slightly limited now, so a smaller 40 breeder or 75 gal would suit better until an upgrade is needed, but if that is completely unacceptable I would be fine looking for an adult size tank. Any thoughts or experience? Thanks everyone
So Im new here. I've never kept rays, but have been wanting to and researching it for a few years now and think I'm about ready to take the dive. As far as fish go, I consider myself a fairly experienced keeper...I've had several tropical tanks, a native 55 gallon, 2 reef tanks, and am currently running a cichlid tank, not to mention we have a 2500 gallon koi pond. I've pretty much always had fish. Around here rays can be fairly difficult to come by but sometimes my lfs has a few for sale. Currently they have a female Motoro and a female retic. I know motoros are arguably the best starter ray, but because they're kinda hard to come by here the price is a bit to high for my liking. The retic on the other hand is a pretty little thing and a bit cheaper. I won't be able to cycle a tank in time, but would like to have one ready to go if possible for the next batch they get in which could be anywhere from a few weeks to possibly months away. My biggest question is concerning the housing...most of the books and articles I've read state that the footprint is more vital in ray housing than the tanks actual size (makes sense), but does the size of the ray matter when selecting an appropriate tank? For instance some fish do better when started in slightly smaller tanks as juveniles so they can be fed easily and observed better. The retic that I saw was a fairly small pup, about 4" disc diameter which got me thinking....would I be better off putting a ray of that size in its adult size tank for growout? Or starting it in something smaller for a few months such as a 40 breeder? Im down to buy a bigger tank, although space is slightly limited now, so a smaller 40 breeder or 75 gal would suit better until an upgrade is needed, but if that is completely unacceptable I would be fine looking for an adult size tank. Any thoughts or experience? Thanks everyone
