PLEASE Help, Ray Won't Eat

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daniells1

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2011
11
0
0
Texas
Hello,

I found this site and am trying to assist my husband- he is the fish pro and I confess I am a novice. So please forgive the lack of accurate terminology.

We've had our Cortez Ray just over a week and s/he has had a great appetite until today. He has had some difficulty locating the garlic soaked krill and shrimp we've been feeding, as well as difficulty getting it in his mouth despite removing the shell and cutting the pieces very small. Now he stays buried and won't come out to eat. Any suggestions are welcome!

THANKS for your help!
 
How old/large is your ray? Is it a wild caught ray or captive bread? Have you checked your water conditions, if there is high levels of ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites rays will sometimes not eat and go into hiding. Does he appear to be breathing hard?

Not sure about soaking everything in garlic, have heard of adding some garlic to there food as a supplement but not every meal.

Could try some chopped up night crawlers on him, and if he wont eat those blackworms are there favorite. Nightcrawlers you can get from walmart, blackworms you have to order online unless your lucky enough to have a LFS that stocks them. If he just stopped eating today I wouldnt be to worried, rays can go for weeks without eating, just make sure your water is ok.
 
I'm sure many here will try and help. I assume your ray is fairly new to the tank? I would recommend some live ghost shrimp... krill, silver sides, night crawlers are all great to try but if he's wild caught it may take some time for him to get used to frozen food.
Good luck.
 
Thank you all so much! Yes our tank is a new set-up. It was completely cycled for several weeks before we slowly added fish. We have 4 tangs and 1 lionfish in addition to the ray. Like I mentioned, we've had him about 10 days. He is fairly young/small (~6 inches across). Ammonia & nitrite (I believe- husband did the test) did go up a bit a day or two ago, but are now back to normal.

We do not soak the food in garlic for each meal, but were told by our LFS that it would help him locate the scent of the food and ward off other health issues. No idea if he is wild or captive. He seems to seek food from the surface when we feed so he may have been hand-fed, although I have tried hand feeding him and he seems a little shy and timid about the process. We will try some different foods.

He does not appear to be breathing hard and I'm not sure about the pelvic bones as he has stayed buried.
 
I would try to feed in the late evening when the lights are out in the tank and in the area where the tank is located. Many of the rays are most active then. After you have it eating in the dark on a regular basis then it'll be time to introduce food during the day.
 
Thank you, Totroc. We did try that last night. Please excuse a dumb question: how do we tell that he's eating well in the dark if we can't see him?
 
are you sure it isnt getting picked on by other fish? Dont worry about the amonia unless it's real high, most of us that have larger elasmobranch set ups always have more than 0 on the scale. I myself would not have a Lionfish in with a Ray because the Ray could easily get stung if trying to glide over the top of the Lionfish. Also check the underside behind the mouth to make sure it does'nt have a lump there (goiter) stoping it from swallowing food. It sounds like to me something sudden happened so watch to make sure all are playing nice. BTW I have minced garlic im my home made food for my rays and they eat it up but the basement smells alittle. Another thing is you dont have to feed your ray every day specially if it's a newer setup, this will cause spike in you're amonia also if too much food is laying around.
 
I have been observing the tangs to ensure they haven't bothered him. Luckily they are small and stay away from him. The Lionfish was not my choice either, but my husband loves him. Typically the lionfish stays on one side and the ray stays on the other.

We had been feeding every day until the nitrite went up then stopped for a day or two. He ate the next feeding but not yesterday. I've heard so many conflicting ideologies, how often does everyone feed and what quantity?
 
Welcome to the site.

Guessing this thread started in the Freshwater ray section. Many of the answers are with that in mind. That being said, I'll offer the following:

Please don't feed earthworms, blackworms, nightcrawlers or any thing of that nature. Diet should be seafood - krill, clam, salmon, scallops, shrimp, fish etc...

A trace ammount of ammonia is fine. Saltwater rays react differently that FW rays do when it comes to water chemistry. Stable is better than creating big swings trying to keep the water "perfect".

To keep him heathy, don't feed a lot, feed small amounts more often. It's what they'd do in the wild.

You're safe in guessing that a Cortez will be a wild caught ray.

To get it eating you might have to fast it a few days. Try oily foods (Salmon, clam, squid). Also, try Ocean Nutrition's shark/ray cubes (you can get them in frozen form).

Do you have a picture of it? It might be a fat happy ray that doesn't eat tons. I wouldn't worry right away. If need be, several here can help walk you through the next steps if the situation doesn't change.
 
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