New to the stingray scene, and have some beginner questions.

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drumz

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May 7, 2010
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Im pretty new to the stingray keeping bid. My buddy hooked me up with 2 beautiful Motoros, and they seem happy and healthy for the most part. After day 2 their activity levels really peaked up which is a good sign. I have a small community for the tanksize I have currently, here is my setup as it stands now:

I have a 7x2x2 tank
I have a male and female motoro ray about 5 and 6 inches across on disc size.
I have 3 silver dollars about 3-4 inch range.
I have 1 silver and orange angelfish about 3 inches.
I have 1 silver and black striped angelfish about 4 inches.
I have 1 bala shark in about the 5 inch range.

I have a few questions for you guys.

1 - I am feeding my rays shrimp for now, per the advice of my friend, should I be feeding them anything else?

2 - Can I sustain all the other fish listed with flakes, or should I get something more robust, from what I read, the angels and silvers should be fine on just flakes, but I get mixed results on diets for the bala. I honestly am looking for simple care on the other fish, and a flake or pellet solution for all of them is my ideal solution. I want to invest the real time into caring for my rays, as they are really the only thing I care about keeping alive in there. The other fish are cool, but MEH in comparison to the rays.

3 - Its been since sunday, and I recently cleaned my filters, but my water still seems a bit foggy/cloudy, any ideas on that?

4 - Do I need to add anything else to the water besides tap water treatment?

5 - I added some feeders in, and I remember reading I need to add B1 to the water, where do I get this, my local fish store seemed puzzled, also how much would I add for a tank my size.

6 - My male recently is showing a scratch mark on the front side of his disc, and the gills on one side of his underbelly seem a bit "bloody". They arent bleeding, but it almost looks like he "scraped his elbow". My female is not having any issues, so is it safe to assume he simply scraped himself on part of the landscaping? I have since rearranged my landscape to offer more room so he wont have to squeeze by anything. He also seems a tiny bit pink in some spots, should I test for ammonia in the water? Also, my substrate is estes black sand, I read thats a good way to go for rays.

7 - How often and how large should my water changes be?

8 - Could a freshwater eel be a possibility, or will it not get along with the rays? I have a nice fake section of an arena in my tank that I think an eel would totally dig as a hideout.

As always, your guys expert opions are appreciated. And I will be posting high res pictures of my babies once I can sort out the butt ugly tank water.

Thanks in advance,
Matt
 
1 - I am feeding my rays shrimp for now, per the advice of my friend, should I be feeding them anything else?

Shrimp is a good diet. Once they have become established ini you tank, move onto other foods as well. Try to get them on pellets.

2 - Can I sustain all the other fish listed with flakes, or should I get something more robust, from what I read, the angels and silvers should be fine on just flakes, but I get mixed results on diets for the bala. I honestly am looking for simple care on the other fish, and a flake or pellet solution for all of them is my ideal solution. I want to invest the real time into caring for my rays, as they are really the only thing I care about keeping alive in there. The other fish are cool, but MEH in comparison to the rays.

Tank mates are an after thought for me. I dont really feed mine anything special, they'll eat whatever the rays eat.

3 - Its been since sunday, and I recently cleaned my filters, but my water still seems a bit foggy/cloudy, any ideas on that?

Mini cycle. Your filter was not established enough to support the bio-load of rays. Start with large water changes on a dialy basis. It will clear up soon.

4 - Do I need to add anything else to the water besides tap water treatment?

No, dont complicate a water change. The rays will be fine in what ever you put them in. Just condition the water for chlorine and such

5 - I added some feeders in, and I remember reading I need to add B1 to the water, where do I get this, my local fish store seemed puzzled, also how much would I add for a tank my size.

Stop feeding feeders. They are more trouble than they are worth. Too high of a chance of introducing some parasite or other pathogen to the rays. They also offer very little nutritional value

6 - My male recently is showing a scratch mark on the front side of his disc, and the gills on one side of his underbelly seem a bit "bloody". They arent bleeding, but it almost looks like he "scraped his elbow". My female is not having any issues, so is it safe to assume he simply scraped himself on part of the landscaping? I have since rearranged my landscape to offer more room so he wont have to squeeze by anything. He also seems a tiny bit pink in some spots, should I test for ammonia in the water? Also, my substrate is estes black sand, I read thats a good way to go for rays.

Your sand is fine, so is the scratch. Rays injure them selves all the time. remove any deco that may have caused it though. The redness under the belly is something id watch, probely ammonia burn. Water changes are needed.

7 - How often and how large should my water changes be?

The more the better. Twice weekly is a good start

8 - Could a freshwater eel be a possibility, or will it not get along with the rays? I have a nice fake section of an arena in my tank that I think an eel would totally dig as a hideout.

Other bottom dwellers are generally not the best choice, but they do sometimes work. Id avoid any more bottom dwellers other than rays.
 
PeteLockwood;4124779; said:
Socal. Rays. Tsk tsk.
Click to expand...

and I got excited to see a new reply..... bwa...successful troll is successful ;P
 
Joey,

Thanks so much for the assistance, it is truly appreciated. I will get a test kit tonight, and make sure my ammonia levels are low. Any particular way to treat for ammonia without negative effects to any other chemicals int he tank?

Also, if anyone else has any advice, the more the merrier. I have found alot of conflicting info out there, but this site seems to be a very large community from some serious collectors, so I feel safe with the advice I get here.
 
hey roor,
first let me say welcome to mfk, any questions and ideas can be answered and shared here. looks like joey pretty much answered all your questions. i have very little experience with rays, but for your last question, i do have a peacock eel with my retic and so far they seem fine. what type of filtration do you have?
 
zspidel;4125050; said:
hey roor,
first let me say welcome to mfk, any questions and ideas can be answered and shared here. looks like joey pretty much answered all your questions. i have very little experience with rays, but for your last question, i do have a peacock eel with my retic and so far they seem fine. what type of filtration do you have?
Click to expand...


Im using 2x Aquaclear 110 models, that should be sufficient for this tank, right?
 
I would beef up your filtration. 7x2x2 Always a good idea to go overboard with your filtration, especially with your rays as they produce a lot of ammonia. To keep it simple you might want to consider running a canister filter, I personally like the fluval fx5. Some might say its overboard but imo its better safe than sorry. I personally don't think your tank is cycled yet. Try adding beneficial bacteria, the one recommended the most on here is "stability by seachem". I couldn't find any so I'm using stress zyme.
 
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