Hello there everyone!
For my marine ecology course I need to write a short topic-essay about... anything related to marine ecology. I am choosing to write a short paper on Sharks and Rays in private aquariums. This is rather ironic, on account of the fact that I do not own any sharks or rays of my own. To compound the irony still further, I know more about keeping sharks and rays than I do any other kind of marine fish.
Above all that though, I seem to be best with marine inverts... that aren't coral.
Back on topic, I was thinking about making my paper focus on 1. The Bluespot stingray [Taeniura lymma]; how its a terrible pet and yet is widely available and 2. The Bullseye electric ray [Diplobatis ommata]; how it would probably make a very good pet, but almost no one keeps them. I was planning on drawing parallels to the wide availability of the nurse shark vs short-tailed nurse shark.
My main points would include: The bluespot's grievously high mortality in captivity, and the possibility of getting the electric ray established as an ideal captive bred and born species for elasmo-keepers, due to its *tiny* size. From what little I've read, the small narcinidae electric rays can do reasonably well in captivity if you keep the parasite-free; otherwise they become anorexic and die a slow, horrible death.
My question to you guys are:
1. Has anyone actually kept the bluespot stingray long term? Last I checked [a few years ago] apparently no one has been able to keep the healthy for more than a few months. Has this changed?
2. Does anyone have any practical experience working with the Bullseye electric ray, or any related species?
3. Can you guys, just off the top of your heads, list species which are overreresented in the trade and make terrible captives [i.e. blacktips] vs excellent species which are underrepresented [i.e. Japanese wobbies?]
4. What is your opinion overall on how the [marine] elasmo business is doing [in terms of quality of species available, quality of information, etc] compared to the exotic mammal, reptile, and invert business?
I remember this thread from way long ago.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-a-electric-sharkray-Anyone-got-any-info-PICS
Hey Seanathon, how is the little guy doing? I would love to hear updates about him/her!
Thank you all for your help in advance! Bear in mind that I will either list your user name or just this forum in general as a misc, "non-scientific" source [as in, not a scientific journal article].
This thread will shortly clone itself over to sharkraycentral.
For my marine ecology course I need to write a short topic-essay about... anything related to marine ecology. I am choosing to write a short paper on Sharks and Rays in private aquariums. This is rather ironic, on account of the fact that I do not own any sharks or rays of my own. To compound the irony still further, I know more about keeping sharks and rays than I do any other kind of marine fish.
Above all that though, I seem to be best with marine inverts... that aren't coral.
Back on topic, I was thinking about making my paper focus on 1. The Bluespot stingray [Taeniura lymma]; how its a terrible pet and yet is widely available and 2. The Bullseye electric ray [Diplobatis ommata]; how it would probably make a very good pet, but almost no one keeps them. I was planning on drawing parallels to the wide availability of the nurse shark vs short-tailed nurse shark.
My main points would include: The bluespot's grievously high mortality in captivity, and the possibility of getting the electric ray established as an ideal captive bred and born species for elasmo-keepers, due to its *tiny* size. From what little I've read, the small narcinidae electric rays can do reasonably well in captivity if you keep the parasite-free; otherwise they become anorexic and die a slow, horrible death.
My question to you guys are:
1. Has anyone actually kept the bluespot stingray long term? Last I checked [a few years ago] apparently no one has been able to keep the healthy for more than a few months. Has this changed?
2. Does anyone have any practical experience working with the Bullseye electric ray, or any related species?
3. Can you guys, just off the top of your heads, list species which are overreresented in the trade and make terrible captives [i.e. blacktips] vs excellent species which are underrepresented [i.e. Japanese wobbies?]
4. What is your opinion overall on how the [marine] elasmo business is doing [in terms of quality of species available, quality of information, etc] compared to the exotic mammal, reptile, and invert business?
I remember this thread from way long ago.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-a-electric-sharkray-Anyone-got-any-info-PICS
Hey Seanathon, how is the little guy doing? I would love to hear updates about him/her!
Thank you all for your help in advance! Bear in mind that I will either list your user name or just this forum in general as a misc, "non-scientific" source [as in, not a scientific journal article].
This thread will shortly clone itself over to sharkraycentral.
