Ok...maybe I should just bail on this ray now...

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fook

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 1, 2010
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After much reading in this forum...you guys have me somewhat nervous. I should know better than to listen to the lfs guys and I am an experienced fishkeeper (not really with rays though). So I got this 5-6 in. motoro this week. He seems perfectly fine. He ate right away. He's very active. I think I'm up to the challenge and realize that he will need to go in an indoor pond at some point (which I have available). I have him in a 180g tank with a few medium sized tankmates who don't seem to care that he is there. I have two large emperor filters and I hooked up a cannister filter. I think the water is fine but after reading this forum I'm kind of paranoid. I will check it out tommorrow to be sure.

I'm basically worried about the water quality in the future and the fact that this rays tail is somewhat dark and skinny. The rest of his body seems to look normal. I love all of my fish and am always up for a challenge. I'd really like to keep this guy but something is ringing alarm bells in my head. Thoughts?
 
keep em! just up your waterchanges and invest in better filtration
 
What about the tail though? I'm used to keeping decent sized fish but not really fish that seem this prone to these kinds of potential problems. I really want this to work out but I'm not too proud to admit that I might have made a mistake.
 
5-6" Motoro is still small. The tail being skinny might be normal especially coming from a LFS as they usually underfeed them. Feed 3 times a day and it should fatten up. U have pics of ur ray? Also what's it eating now?


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I hope you're right about his size. I just got kind of worried when I started reading about parasites, etc. From my experience..."now" is the ideal time to take care of any and all tank problems. I really try to stay in front of problems in all of my tanks. If there is something you don't know you need to figure it out...fast. I'll try to post some pics tommorrow.
 
Also...so far I've only tossed in some earthworms...which he ate quickly...and bloodworms for the other fish. I think he ate some of the bloodworms too. I have some other stuff I was going to start experimenting with tommorrow.
 
I hope you're right about his size. I just got kind of worried when I started reading about parasites, etc. From my experience..."now" is the ideal time to take care of any and all tank problems. I really try to stay in front of problems in all of my tanks. If there is something you don't know you need to figure it out...fast. I'll try to post some pics tommorrow.

Yes a picture would be great. Easier for answers. Also when I got my wild caught marbles their tails weren't thick and the male was 6-7" and female was 10". After I power fed them 3 times a day for a few months they bulked up quite nicely. I just can't see a LFS power feeding their "for sale" rays unless it's their own store pet.


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Also...so far I've only tossed in some earthworms...which he ate quickly...and bloodworms for the other fish. I think he ate some of the bloodworms too. I have some other stuff I was going to start experimenting with tommorrow.

Yes earthworms are good but try to get him to eat other foods quickly as it can get frustrating to get them off of it. My pair of WC rays have been stuck on worms for the past 8 months...look into the stickies for methods on stingrays in taking other foods. GL.


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Yes a picture would be great. Easier for answers. Also when I got my wild caught marbles their tails weren't thick and the male was 6-7" and female was 10". After I power fed them 3 times a day for a few months they bulked up quite nicely. I just can't see a LFS power feeding their "for sale" rays unless it's their own store pet.


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It is a locally owned store and they know me well enough that they don't usually try to BS me but I know they only feed every 3-4 days. What I think I'm going to have to figure out is ideal feeding vs. ideal filtration. I don't want to come across as overly sentimental because I'm not but it really means a lot to me to get it right. I take this stuff as serious as anyone.
 
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