Pups Getting Eaten

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Raymann88

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 1, 2011
606
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Canada
Anyone experience breeding rays in a group (1 male to 2 or more females or 2 males to 3 or more females) and having the pups getting eaten at birth by the other adult rays in the tank. If so, was it a one time occurance or repetitive and by the same ray(s) or different ray(s)? I've heard of animals eating or attacking the offspring from others and males knowing which offspring are not theirs and attacking them.

I've bred rays in pairs and had no problems with the parents attacking the pups. Curious if there is a high or higher risk of breeding rays in a group and the pups getting eaten or if the pregnant female needs to be separated.
 
Contact vamptrev I seem to remember he had an issue like that before
 
The most common way that pups get eaten is when a female is giving birth the males get super excited and want to breed again then they bite the pups while they are comming out. If a pup has a wound then the mothers natural instinct is to eat it. Im pretty sure this was what happened when i caught my one female chewing on a pup.

Is this happening with blackies? They seem to be more aggressive then motoros. I would seperate the prego female until she gives birth


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I do remove my pups after birth as soon as I can. With most ray pups being born in the middle of the night, it could be several hours before pups get removed. I have not experienced this myself as up to now I've bred my rays in pairs, but I'm thinking of doing a big ray tank as I have 1 male BD and 3 female black rays (2 BD and 1 BD/Leo). I'm thinking it would be easier to put them all together rather than having separate tanks and constantly moving rays (most often the male).
 
Not to hijack but a question for those that apply...

Would a tank of females be ok with each other when it comes to giving birth?
Instead of removing the preggo female would the females all be ok with each other and not bother the pups if born during a time where you can't get to them if the male is removed?
 
In my group tanks, I as well remove any pups as soon as I notice. The only time I have seen were a concern could be is I feed my rays once and there was a pup buried and didn't notice and all the ray went into feeding frenzy and I noticed the poor thing trying to get out of the way but I could have seen the poor guy getting chomped on by accident. Now on I check very thoroughly when expecting pups, so I don't feed and cause an accident.

As far as Female only tank I would only think that same would apply I hungry ray is going to chomp down and an accident could happen.

I have not personally seen any aggression toward pups right after birth on any on my litter's with large groups of rays in any tank I have keep.
 
It's best to feed a ray comm tank more than normal the weeks coming up to birth

What I have found is my adults are all scared of the new pups just after birth and as soon as the pup touch and adult the adult moves away very fast

This fearfulness doesn't last longer than a day so I also remove the pups ASAP to a tank connected to the main tank so no change in water parameters


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If you really know your rays I think your personal judgment will be best. I'd never let any of my rays give birth with a certain savage beast female I have. Besides that I'd trust my others .

The female I think your referring to was always a very cute timid ray when she was mine:) but times may have changed?

And another question ... Why who's prego mike lol
 
T1KARMANN said:
What I have found is my adults are all scared of the new pups just after birth and as soon as the pup touch and adult the adult moves away very fast

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Interesting. I've had pups born with just the parent pair in the tank with sand bottom and the pups would be burried in the sand. The parents would swim over the pups, pause, feel around with the front of their disk and move on. It was neat to watch. It was almost like they were checking on the pups to see if they were ok.
 
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