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

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fook said:
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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Feeding every 3-4 days for a ray is well underfed...they suppose to eat everyday. I understand your situation. For me I like to overkill on filtration especially with stingrays as they eat like pigs and crap all day.


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I should say that I go to this store often enough that I could keep their inventory for them and I haven't seen a ray there until now. So I don't know how often they fed him but they feed the bread and butter fish about every 3-4 days. I do think it's probably one of the better stores around here though. They could have only had this ray for about a week or so before I saw him. I'm there at least once a week. There is no way I would have not seen him before.
 
If you already have an indoor pond ready for when he gets bigger your doing better than most people who buying a ray at there lfs with no idea what they are getting into. Sounds like all you really need right now is to add a little more filtration for when he gets larger. A sump would be nice, or maybe a couple FX5s if that's not an option.
 
Keep him. Sounds like you will be a good ray keeper. Very likely it has been starved for awhile. If WC, then it has been starved, shipped, starved again, shipped again, starved at LFS, transported, and now needs time to put on weight. Alot of people think rays are weak and very hard to keep. I think the opposite. They get very mistreated and come in weak, but once acclimated and eating, are the toughest fish I have owned.
 
Well, I checked the water out today. Ammonia was high so I did a 25% WC. It still seems a little high so I guess I will have to change water again tommorrow. Been feeding 3 times a day since I got him. I got him to take shrimp tonight from metal tongs but he didn't really eat it. It was more like he tried a few times and gave up. Maybe I didn't cut it small enough? It seemed like maybe he ate some of it. He was more than happy to eat an earthworm though. Maybe better not let him get too picky right away. Also...I bought raw shrimp...is it ok to feed him the orange precooked shrimp? I was able to find that in much smaller pieces but I won't give it to him until I know it's ok.

And maybe it's just me but it seems like the base of his tail is looking a little thicker and more colorful after just a few days. In any case, of all my fish this guy is the coolest (and most pain in the ass so far) and I've decided that I can't get rid of him. I have to rise to the challenge and it will be great. I've been thinking about the idea of a sump. I have plenty of room below the tank and on a large concrete ledge behind the tank. What size should I be looking at for a 180g tank?

Edit to say...by precooked I'm not talking about something silly like breaded shrimp. Just the small, orange shrimp.
 
i dont feed pre cooked. i wpould do larger water changes or add prime. The ammonia will stress and or hurt your ray. good luck
 
Thanks for the advice, guys/gals. I alway use Prime when changing water and I throw in a little extra. I was looking at that tank a few minutes ago and it hit me that maybe taking everything out of the tank caused the ammonia level to go up a bit. I did that before I got the ray. I took out all decorations, gravel...everything...and did a water change. I left nothing in there but glass, water, heaters and fish....and I put in all new filters. Maybe I over-did it. Perhaps I should have left some of the gravel in the tank for a week or two and then remove it. I'm thinking maybe it threw off the balance in the tank.
 
yeah sounds like you killed off your cycle. Get some used media from the fish store that sold u the ray. If not the ray will surely have a tough time soon. I would start pumping water in and out every day.
 
fook said:
Thanks for the advice, guys/gals. I alway use Prime when changing water and I throw in a little extra. I was looking at that tank a few minutes ago and it hit me that maybe taking everything out of the tank caused the ammonia level to go up a bit. I did that before I got the ray. I took out all decorations, gravel...everything...and did a water change. I left nothing in there but glass, water, heaters and fish....and I put in all new filters. Maybe I over-did it. Perhaps I should have left some of the gravel in the tank for a week or two and then remove it. I'm thinking maybe it threw off the balance in the tank.
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Either u killed off your cycle or your filtration couldn't handle the excess feeding. As u mentioned in your 1st post that u just added a canister filter to the rays tank. Was the canister pre cycled or was it a new filter/unused just added? if it wasn't used before I would say your canister filter's bio media was pre mature and your 2 emperor hobs couldn't handle the bio load from the excess feeding.


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The canister filter was pre-cycled. But I still have all of the gravel I took out and it's even still wet (I don't know if that matters). I don't want to just throw it back in there because it was a pain to get out (with deteriorating driftwood...big mess). The driftwood was a huge mistake and the main reason why I took everything out. But what I think I can do is get some nylons and fill them with the old gravel and put them back in there for a while. That way I won't make a big mess but I might be able to speed up the process.
 
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