Ray Exercise!!!

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Ive done both and personally I think it can go either way. Right now my rays are on sand, the cheap wal-mart play sand, and seem no better then the ray I kept on bare bottom.

I just think its a matter of choice.

Really?!? You dont see a difference in activity?

With one of my rays Ive actually seen the opposite effect! Now that there is sand he hides more! But it doesnt matter I still see him now and then and im sure he is more comfortable covered up.

 

[Nic]

mine were always active and never had any substrate unless mike @ h20 had them on some ...

 

[T1KARMANN]

Ive done both and personally I think it can go either way. Right now my rays are on sand, the cheap wal-mart play sand, and seem no better then the ray I kept on bare bottom.

I just think its a matter of choice.

if the rays had a choice they would chose the substrate

its no harder to keep a tank clean with or without substrate

45mins twice per week to do a 25% water change with a gravel clean for me

if you keep the gravel thin you will find it never gets dirty anyway as the rays are always turning it over looking for food

you also have the good parts gravel add to the tank as it has a massive surface area

their was someone who removed all their stubstrate and all their fish died due to the lack of good stuff on the substrate being removed

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Makes me wonder, how much BB can fit on a grain of sand?

 

[JD7.62]

Gr8, one thing I did notice..on barebottom my rays would still flap their disk as if they were covering up in sand and "hide" there motionless. They did not, however, sift like they do the sand. Other then that they seemed the same.

I had my tank bare bottom when I was running eight tanks at once. Now that Im down to one, I have sand and yes I think there would be a whole heck of alot of beneficial bacteria growing on the sand.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Gr8, one thing I did notice..on barebottom my rays would still flap their disk as if they were covering up in sand and "hide" there motionless.

So doesnt this tell us ray owners that sand is best for our rays?

Given theres such a need to flap through sand so much that they do it when its not even available? Bare bottom almost seems mean. Im not saying that bare bottom ray owners arent good ray keepers, im just saying that why not keep them in an even happier environment?

 

[CichlidAddict]

I would think that giving the rays the most "natural" environment possible would be best for them. A sand bottom is more natural than glass IMO and their behavior will reflect that most of the time. I'm sure there are exceptions but if I ever get rays you can bet I'll have a sand substrate.

 

[Nic]

if the rays had a choice they would chose the substrate

its no harder to keep a tank clean with or without substrate

45mins twice per week to do a 25% water change with a gravel clean for me

if you keep the gravel thin you will find it never gets dirty anyway as the rays are always turning it over looking for food

you also have the good parts gravel add to the tank as it has a massive surface area

their was someone who removed all their stubstrate and all their fish died due to the lack of good stuff on the substrate being removed

you mentioned this before and is why i am considering the fine gravel..

Makes me wonder, how much BB can fit on a grain of sand?

i could answer this in a dirty way..... but it would add alot more to the bio...

So doesnt this tell us ray owners that sand is best for our rays?

Given theres such a need to flap through sand so much that they do it when its not even available? Bare bottom almost seems mean. Im not saying that bare bottom ray owners arent good ray keepers, im just saying that why not keep them in an even happier environment?

thats easy convenience.... and for newly aquired rays it is better in the sence you can see what the rays are eating etc....

 

[JD7.62]

So doesnt this tell us ray owners that sand is best for our rays?

Given theres such a need to flap through sand so much that they do it when its not even available? Bare bottom almost seems mean. Im not saying that bare bottom ray owners arent good ray keepers, im just saying that why not keep them in an even happier environment?

I have to disagree and here is why;

Rays are not cognitive beings. They rely on instincts. For example, when my ray was on bare bottom he would still flap his disk as if to bury him self and continue to lay motionless. There was no sand there. He did not know that there was no sand there and that he, in fact was not hidden. What it was, was what ever startled him triggered an instinctual (did I just make up a word?) reaction to bury himself.

Likewise, when on sand, the sand triggers an instinct in the ray to "sift" for food. On bare-bottom that trigger is obviously not there so they do not do it. When I sold that particualr ray to Rallysman, who had sand, the ray immediately started sifting after spending nearly a year in my tank with out exhibiting such a behavior.

That is why I believe it does not matter if rays are kept on sand or not. The fish are not thinking "damn I wish I had some sand in here so I can sift endlessly all day for food even though Im never going to find any." Instead the sand TRIGGERS that response. The ray has no idea what he is missing when there is no sand vs sand.

Make sense?

 

[Aqua Sanctuary]

i agree with that. sand is a win!