A few people are posting about other rays fighting for food and I don't even think about that with my setup simply because I house one ray in my tank. How do you guys go about making sure everybody gets a little something? Just with my arowana like I mentioned he steals a lot of food I'm sure everybody has that one ray that dominates the other rays.
Ray feeding schedule
- Thread starter johno27
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Usually in animal slowing down their metabolism(feeding less often) would increase fat stores, b/c the animal's body believe it is in a state of starvation, so it try to store as much as possible. Not sure if it applies to rays. Also several small meal a day takes more energy to break down compare to one big meal.It's a double edged sword.
I believe that if you want to keep a ray from getting fat you'd think it would be more ideal to feed several smaller meals throughout the day rather then less frequent/more food. IF they're metabolism is so fast I'd suspect they'll begin storing fat fast if not fed often enough. Start letting them gorge every few days and it should be good conditions for massive fat storage.
SO, if you feed smaller more frequently what happens? The monster of the tank comes to life and soon the smaller, weaker rays don't get to eat
BIG healthy rays will beat the crap out of eachother without frequent enough feedings.
I feed my male on one end of the tank and my female on the other. It has been that way since there was a divider in the tank and luckily for me they got into the habit of looking for food on opposite sides of the tank
It has to be a lot tougher for the guys with multiple rays and not just two
It has to be a lot tougher for the guys with multiple rays and not just two
Well I have alot of thought about this very thing over the years.
In the wild, rays are not able to eat everyday, or not as much as we feed them. Fish are also the same way.
I feed only one time a day now. Every evening. Then do not feed on Sundays.
Sundays I do water changes on the ray tanks.
When I first got rays, I read were feeding twice a day was best. So I did. But also had to do three water changes a week.
Now of course since then, my filtration has been stepped up and is better than what filtration was out years ago..
So about a year ago, I decided to cut back and see what happened.
I did an exp on the rays so to speak.
I had two tanks with Motoro rays
So I fed one like everyone said to do. Twice a day.
Fed the other tank, one time a day. (this tank got half the food as the twice a day tank being I only fed it one time a day) didnt cut back on portions, just amout of feedings.
I did this for 3 months.
I had to do less water changes on the once a day tank.
Rays still were active and healthy. Didnt see any change and no weight loss. Tail base still stayed nice and fat.
So that is when I decided to cut all my tanks back to one time a day.
And I have never fed on Sundays. This is my water change day now for all my ray tanks. This to me, like others have said it was a day of rest for the tank itself...
Time for water to catch up and mix in..
I saw no point in feeding that day and also doing a water change.. To me, not alot of point to add in nice fresh water, then mess it up again with food waste.
Of course everyone does their own thing. This is mine and works for me.
Has cut my food cost by half...(as the rays get bigger, food amount does go up)
water changes have to be less now.. (larger filtration has helped with that as well, Fx5 filters) and i stay on the testing of my water. Always looks good.
Do not see a change in the health of the rays..Active, healthy, growing and doing good..
thats my plan and sticking to it..
In the wild, rays are not able to eat everyday, or not as much as we feed them. Fish are also the same way.
I feed only one time a day now. Every evening. Then do not feed on Sundays.
Sundays I do water changes on the ray tanks.
When I first got rays, I read were feeding twice a day was best. So I did. But also had to do three water changes a week.
Now of course since then, my filtration has been stepped up and is better than what filtration was out years ago..
So about a year ago, I decided to cut back and see what happened.
I did an exp on the rays so to speak.
I had two tanks with Motoro rays
So I fed one like everyone said to do. Twice a day.
Fed the other tank, one time a day. (this tank got half the food as the twice a day tank being I only fed it one time a day) didnt cut back on portions, just amout of feedings.
I did this for 3 months.
I had to do less water changes on the once a day tank.
Rays still were active and healthy. Didnt see any change and no weight loss. Tail base still stayed nice and fat.
So that is when I decided to cut all my tanks back to one time a day.
And I have never fed on Sundays. This is my water change day now for all my ray tanks. This to me, like others have said it was a day of rest for the tank itself...
Time for water to catch up and mix in..
I saw no point in feeding that day and also doing a water change.. To me, not alot of point to add in nice fresh water, then mess it up again with food waste.
Of course everyone does their own thing. This is mine and works for me.
Has cut my food cost by half...(as the rays get bigger, food amount does go up)
water changes have to be less now.. (larger filtration has helped with that as well, Fx5 filters) and i stay on the testing of my water. Always looks good.
Do not see a change in the health of the rays..Active, healthy, growing and doing good..
thats my plan and sticking to it..
I feed mine usualy every other day, somethimes every day, had them for soon to be 2 years, growing great, eating great. I dont say its how it should be, but it works fine here. And im not into overfeeding so they can get as big as possible in as little time as possible. I have 9 rays in a 550g indoor pond, on a filtrationsystem everyone here would laf their ass off and say it could never work(2xfx5 and eheim 2080). I try to feed during or before waterchanges, so they get nice and clean water afterwards.
There's a big difference in opinions based on what you're trying to accomplish.
Back when I had little glass tanks (180 and under) with canisters and HOBs I wanted to "maintain" rays. I wanted to keep them, but also feared thier max size, due to knowing my setups weren't ready for adult rays. They were far from mature, and I had no desire for them to grow up.
Times change. Eventually those rays grew up. Once they begin to mature and breeding activity starts everything changes. Not enough food can be a serious problem if your rays are aggressive. Everyone gets along a LOT better when everyone's full.
There's not a breeder out there that's going to tell you food isn't an important factor in breeding. And one of the most important factors is that there's enough.
Back when I had little glass tanks (180 and under) with canisters and HOBs I wanted to "maintain" rays. I wanted to keep them, but also feared thier max size, due to knowing my setups weren't ready for adult rays. They were far from mature, and I had no desire for them to grow up.
Times change. Eventually those rays grew up. Once they begin to mature and breeding activity starts everything changes. Not enough food can be a serious problem if your rays are aggressive. Everyone gets along a LOT better when everyone's full.
There's not a breeder out there that's going to tell you food isn't an important factor in breeding. And one of the most important factors is that there's enough.
I have a hard time beliving these once a day feedings or less are good for the ray. In the wild they are eating all day long (or atleast trying to). Do your rays ever stop moving in your tank? They shouldnt be...They are always on the prowl for food. Why would it be any diff in the wild?
When scientists open up a ray they always find food in their stomachs
When scientists open up a ray they always find food in their stomachs
I started feeding once a day more out of neccesity (work schedule) and have not noticed any changes in ray behavior or loss of weight etc...
The rays are always up the glass or blowing through the sand just like they where when I was feeding twice a day. I would have no problem feeding twice a day if I thought I needed to and if and when breeding starts I am sure I will have to.
The rays are always up the glass or blowing through the sand just like they where when I was feeding twice a day. I would have no problem feeding twice a day if I thought I needed to and if and when breeding starts I am sure I will have to.
