New Stingray

[Trouser Cough]

Not to me and not to your ray.

(edit: my apologies. I just noticed that you are 15. Color won't matter in any way that I'm familiar with however, your ray is not going to agree that tile is the hot setup; rays like sand or very light substrate. You'll also find that beneath the tile will be a breeding ground for detritus worms. Some people don't mind them but I yanked the tile out of my tanks for that reason).

 

[Ethan63]

And does it matter if it’s just flat or has squares? Can’t seem to find black flat tile.

 

[Trouser Cough]

And does it matter if it’s just flat or has squares? Can’t seem to find black flat tile.

I don't understand that difference. If you're in the US Home Depot has a ton of tile choices and they're cheap which is good because you're probably going to like it for a few months and then want to be done w/ it.

The ray won't like it because it won't be able to bury itself in the tile.

 

[Ethan63]

I was thinking about sand but for me the tile would be so much easier to clean. I know the ray would like the sand better. I’ll have to think about it.

 

[Trouser Cough]

I was thinking about sand but for me the tile would be so much easier to clean. I know the ray would like the sand better. I’ll have to think about it.

Try it; you might like it. It's not going to hurt the ray to have it on a flat bottom tank it just won't be the fish's preference. If you don't like the sand because its tough to clean or gets in your filter, etc. consider CaribSea Peace River gravel. I use it in all my tanks except grow outs and a few years ago my ray seemed to like it a lot. It's heavier than sand and the individual pebbles are much larger than sand but it's still only about 10% of the size of typical aquarium gravel.

Try them all, see what works best for you and know that none of them are perfect but there are a couple of options that you may find work well more often than not.

 

[Ethan63]

Do you think it would be better if I painted the bottom of the tank and tried that instead of tiles? Also I got the ray on Monday and have put dethawed frozen shrimp in there. He hasn’t eaten anything yet. Is he still settling in or just doesn’t like it. He was swimming over the shrimp but have no interest.