Ray question about temperature

[blkg35]

A buddy called me for advice about temperature and rays but I know nothing about rays. He bought a ray and the water temperature was 83 degrees. His tank temperature is 77 degrees. Will drip acclimating it for 4 hours be good enough to put it in his tank? I know when you drop temperature on fishes, the most you should do is 2 degrees a day to prevent temperature shock. How about this situation, is it the same?
Any advice is appreciated......

 

[johno27]

He might want to meet in the middle and turn the tank up to 80 slowly just to be safe

I am not 100% sure though maybe someone else can chime in

 

[ajsmith235]

i would def. raise the tank up to 80. it will benefit his existing fish in the tank as well

 

[blkg35]

His tank is 300gal and it will take forever to get the tank up to 80degrees.
Right now the ray is in a bucket being drip acclimated. Is there any other way to do this? Could he leave it in the bucket for a day with the bucket water at 80degrees?

 

[ShadowStryder]

77-78 is ideal for rays. I would slowly drip acclimate the ray it should be fine. I keep my tanks
at this temp and so do many others. Really the only time rays deal with 80 degree plus water temp
is when they enter the shallows to sun or feed. When in the deeper waters it is cooler. Plus it makes
it easier to raise the temp if ever needed to treat for something.
Honestly I never even drip, I just take out most of the water in the bag leaving just enough to cover ray,
Then I add a couple of cups every 15 minutes or so for a period of 60-90 minutes. Removing the same amount
every time before adding more from the tank.

 

[blkg35]

77-78 is ideal for rays. I would slowly drip acclimate the ray it should be fine. I keep my tanks
at this temp and so do many others. Really the only time rays deal with 80 degree plus water temp
is when they enter the shallows to sun or feed. When in the deeper waters it is cooler. Plus it makes
it easier to raise the temp if ever needed to treat for something.

So jumping from 83 degree water to 77 degree water in 4 hours will be fine? Just wanna make sure before I let my buddy know.
Thanks everyone for your input.....

 

[ShadowStryder]

OOPS Double post

 

[ShadowStryder]

So jumping from 83 degree water to 77 degree water in 4 hours will be fine? Just wanna make sure before I let my buddy know.
Thanks everyone for your input.....

Shouldn't be an issue, just remove water from the bucket each time before you add the new tank water. Rays swim from deep cold water to the shallow warm waters in a matter of seconds so..........Just take your time and stress them as little as possible when capturing it to add to the tank. If you are going to drip then just remove water so it turnsover to match the tank water as the new water drips into the bucket.

 

[blkg35]

Thanks buddy......

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

Honestly I never even drip, I just take out most of the water in the bag leaving just enough to cover ray,
Then I add a couple of cups every 15 minutes or so for a period of 60-90 minutes. Removing the same amount
every time before adding more from the tank.

I agree with Don although I do drip to a certain extent. It doesn't really make sense to leave a fish in a bucket for 4 hours or an entire day. The stress alone of being in the bucket has to be worse than the temperature change. It might have been in 83 degree water but from transporting the fish from point A to point B the water temperature has obviously decreased, the 83 degree temperature isn't "imprinted" into the ray and anything less than will cause it to roll up and die. I think your friend may be thinking too much into it.