Rays on a budget- My (somewhat long) story w/pics

[Clearwater guy]

Including the pup and one that is being kept for me off-site, I have 9.

I've kinda kept the 'off-site' ray under wraps, and have not wanted to reveal exactly what it is, but I feel that I owe a bit of an explanation due to the amount of time that has passed... I have a mature male paid for and in very good hands, and I am hoping like a last-dollar lotto player to get a female to go along with him...But this type of Ray is not so easy to obtain. I have great faith in my supplier, and I am greatful for his efforts.

Mike

 

[andyjs]

This is a very interesting thread. Subscribed!

I definitely plan on getting into rays someday, but it will be a while before I'm ready (starting my last year of college (undergrad at least), finding a job, moving out on my own, etc.). My girlfriend has recently become basically obsessed with rays and telling me I have to get some when I can afford them. I hope this venture continues so I know where to get my rays when I'm ready

 

[tscharf]

Glad to hear about your grandtotal of rays. Im getting one today just so I can begin to understand the proper care required for a ray, but I have permission to get a second once I know what im doing. So maybe the female can be my second when im a little more confident in my abilities as a ray keeper. I would hate to get her from you then have her die after all the hard work you've put into caring for her

 

[Clearwater guy]

I've found the rays to be a lot tougher than most people seem to think. They can adapt well to most water parameters.

The only issue is that they need way more biomedia than the equivalent weight of most other species. The amount of waste they produce is incredible, and an easy to access pre-filter is a good idea to catch food particles.

All of my losses, I am now certain, were caused by excessive Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate. Since I made the sump much larger, the water test have all been great.

Speaking of Biomedia...stay tuned. I'm getting very close to being able to offer a better 'scrubbie' at a better price. These will actually be made for the purpose of aquarium biomedia, and not just 'pot scrubbers'. I havn't gotten a sample yet, but I believe they are made out of a more porous material. They are larger than the pot scrubbers, and they are all a darkish green color.

Mike

 

[SpeshulEd]

Rays are pretty easy to care for if you know the basics. When they're so small they seem so delicate, but as long as you have a ton of bio media and keep up on water changes, you're fine. Just like Clearwater Guy said!

...I'm interested to hear more on these new pot scrubbies.

 

[tscharf]

Yea I just got him and he looks incredible, he looks more golden than anything against my black sand. He is a motoro by the way. I am very happy with him, he's small right now, about 5in in diameter in a 125 with my red tail and a fluval fx5 and a fluval 305 as filtration. Him aand my red tail spent most of the day yesterday investigating eachother but now seemed. To have settled in nicely together.

 

[Clearwater guy]

Awesome! Where's the pic? lol.

You'll soon find that one is not enough...nor is 2...lol. You'll definately want a female to go with him.

I'm already trying to claim parts of the main floor here... I say "honey, these black rays need to be seen!"...and "honey, this Motoro breeder male needs a spot of his own.. I can't sell him, he was one of the first rays."

But I think she wants me to start covering some bills around here first.

Mike

 

[tscharf]

Well right now we don't have internet at my apartment and im doing all these updates and posts via my droid2 which I still have yet to completely figure out but ill give it a try, forgive the poor quality of the pics but I could only get them from a birds eye view because the tank is rather dark and the flash reflects of the glass.

im not sure if they attached or not but we,ll see.

I have a question though, when should I start to worry about him not eating the pet store said he'd been eating good for 3 weeks and I saw them feed himfeeders there but he hasn't eaten since I got him home. I've tried earthworms, smelt, mesquito larvae, and omnivore pellets and he hasn't touched it.
on a related topic, should I worry about him having to compete for food with my red tail or will he be able to hold his own and get food

 

[SpeshulEd]

You should be worried about your rtc out-competing him for food. I always had to overfeed my tank when I had mine in with my rays because he'd out-eat them every time.

Also, the rtc looks way bigger than the ray and if not, will grow far faster than the ray. Make sure he doesn't turn the ray into a burrito.

I'd also make sure that the ray doesn't have any parasites as they're common with rays.

For feeding, I'd try blackworms and ghost shrimp. I've never seen a ray not take one or the other. Fatten him up and then start trying to get him to accept other foods. Rays are pretty easy to feed once they start eating. I usually feed worms and mix them with raw shrimp or tilapia until they accept that. Then start mixing in pellets. My new ray was on pellets within a month of getting her and is growing like a weed.

 

[tscharf]

Yea id been watching her for three weeks very closely while she was in the store and intend on keeping a close eye on her for the next couple, the rtc isn't much biggeer than he is, he's just closer to the camera, and the ray already sent him spinning across the tank, the rtc just swam close to him kinda checkin him out and the ray whipped him with his tail and the rtc did flips across the tank. I checked them both out and all fine and dandy, infact the two are practically inseperable and hangout together constantly in the tank, ill try and get some blackworma and ghost shrimp tomorrow.