Ray advice needed please :D

[bigcol]

Hi guys, im picking up a 4'x3'x2' 179G in a few days, sounds a nice size and the guy assures me its big and heavy so must be nice

I want to start keeping a few rays in this tank maybe even put my baby silver arowana in that i just purchased.

My question is what type of rays can/could i keep in a tank of this size also what water params would be needed to keep rays? How many could i purchase? substrate to use plants etc etc?

They dont have to grow massive either as this will most likely be their home for as long as they live, i know theres a few questions in here but ive allways wanted rays just never had a cube like tank to keep them in. This is the perfect opportunity for me to start so please help guys.

Thanks in advance

 

[turkeyboy85]

in short.... tank is to small for rays, it would be a good starter tank but its to small for life, check out the ray profile stickies for your sizes of rays, the three smallest are reticulated, hystrix, and scobina. Substrate would either be bare bottem or sand, gravel can cut the bottem of thier disks, and water params, basicly just keep clean water, and dont let your ph fluctuate, rays can live in different types of ph fine, but the fluctuations will kill them

 

[bigcol]

in short.... tank is to small for rays, it would be a good starter tank but its to small for life, check out the ray profile stickies for your sizes of rays, the three smallest are reticulated, hystrix, and scobina. Substrate would either be bare bottem or sand, gravel can cut the bottem of thier disks, and water params, basicly just keep clean water, and dont let your ph fluctuate, rays can live in different types of ph fine, but the fluctuations will kill them

Thanks m8,im busy reading the stickys as we speak, im not gonna let the size of the tank put me off as i might beable to get a bigger 1 evetually im gonna put this tank into storage for now give it a good clean up and do a lot of research on rays before i rush out and buy 1

 

[Tom]

Just build a custom made pond. It is cheaper and will be more efficient in the end.

Regardless of what rays stay small and what ones don't, the minimum tank size requirement is 8'x4'x2'. Of course some rays do gut much larger and require something bigger but even the smallest need the dimensions mentioned above.

They can be kept in something smaller for a few years. But why waste the money when you can do it all at once?

 

[jwong1024]

You can probably keep 2 rays in there for a year or 2 depending on how big you get them and what type. As far as substrate I recommend bare bottom or some sand. Water parameter need to be 0 ammonia and nitrite, as little as possible on the nitrate and ph should be around 7. With rays, not really a good idea having plants. The aro should be a very good tank mate. Keep water temp around 80-84 and clear clear. Filtration is a must and good luck. Keeping us updated with pics is a must.

 

[bigcol]

Ok thanks for that guys, i was up late last night doing alot of research on rays and im gonna give it a go, also a fellow member here tom500 said the smaller rays will be ideal for that sort of tank size so i think thats what i will start with for now. I think its best to gain a little experience with rays 1st before jumping into the really more expensive types there is out there. I will be using sand and no plants at all, also 2 fx5's for filteration should be enough from what ive read and been advised by you guys.

Thanks for the advice and help and advice guys, great help, im sure alot of pics will follow in the near future