odd ball live food for your rays

[stingrayJK]

I keep hearing about members using different live food types. I would like everyone to list there live food type they have used and the results and why they recommend it or not.

Here is my list

Earthworms
blackworms
flathead minnows
guppies


Thanks
Jason

 

[FishDog]

Ghost shrimp, they work really well at getting a new ray to eat but they are not good nutritionally and they find their way into your filter.

Earthworms of all kinds, rays love them once acclimated and easy to feed, just rinse and drop.

I have fed them live fish on accident because I had a Pbass that wasn't ready for dead food and the rays got to eat some. Wouldn't recomend because of disease and lack of nutrition. Unless you raise your own.

 

[stingray94]

For live food I feed my rays earthworms, I raise my own. I just got a new ray that will for some reason only eat live fish so I have been feeding her goldfish that I made sure were disease free, would not reccommend unless you raised your own like the above poster said. I plan on getting like a 10 gallon set up and raising guppies. I've heard of people feeding crayfish(with the claws ripped off) and ghostshrimp.

Why do you want to feed live food? It is so much easier once you get your rays on pellets/market shrimp.

 

[Marius]

For live food I feed my rays earthworms, I raise my own. I just got a new ray that will for some reason only eat live fish so I have been feeding her goldfish that I made sure were disease free, would not reccommend unless you raised your own like the above poster said. I plan on getting like a 10 gallon set up and raising guppies. I've heard of people feeding crayfish(with the claws ripped off) and ghostshrimp.

Why do you want to feed live food? It is so much easier once you get your rays on pellets/market shrimp.

Electric blue cray ...easy to spawn and doesn't require special attention (no heater, not a fussy eater etc).

For feeders I'd raise my own, Convicts for example. Easy to spawn and raise. As for the worms cultures, the safest are the ones people can culture themselves, unless you have a really good, reliable source (breeders, LFS).

 

[stingrayJK]

Why do you want to feed live food? It is so much easier once you get your rays on pellets/market shrimp.[/quote]


Well IMO I feel that rays need live foods to thrive and it may lead to breeding. For example if you go to the national zoo they keep large schools of minnows in there display. They are one of the leading zoo's for breeding fresh water rays.. I not saying its the only reason but it my be important in making a food source easy for them.

 

[kydsexy]

you can gutload shrimp, breed them, very easy and then feed them to your rays

 

[tank125]

you can gutload shrimp, breed them, very easy and then feed them to your rays

What kind of shrimp can you breed?



I use live crayfish, claws on, the rays get very good at remove the claws quickly. My large female flower I had would pounce the cray and a second later the claws would come shooting out of her sphericals, ever time.