Sex My Motoro

[MattDunbar]

There isn't really suppose to be any pink on the bellyof rays in general! On e occasion they may have some redness by their mouth from scrapping them during eating where there is a substrate base, but other then that no pink bellies!

Okay, so I suppose its good that its going away. How long should I give to to come down before worrying about it? Or just leave it as long as its going away?


I'm guessing the above posts were right since I switched the substrate and the ray did spend about 2.5hrs bagged before being acclimated over the course of 45mins then let into the tank.

 

[chen]

Where did you get the sand from? Becareful not to use sand that has traces of silica in them as they can often cut the rays belly! Potentially that could have also caused the redness.

 

[MattDunbar]

Where did you get the sand from? Becareful not to use sand that has traces of silica in them as they can often cut the rays belly! Potentially that could have also caused the redness.

Its Estes' SpectraStone, the only freshwater sand the store had (considering I didn't want to go the playsand/etc route and risk anything. The guy who seemed quite knowledgeable in rays (set me up with a heater guard, instructed me on how to transition them to frozen foods if I prefer and even recommended it because of the chance of disease with feeders, etc) pointed this sand out to me.

 

[bcfd144]

well lets see if this helps.
Ghost shrimp are ok, but not a everyday food. they wont get all the vitamins they need just on ghost shrimp. I have 4 Motoro rays. They love ghost shrimp but thats not all I feed them. You may not want to cut up night crawlers but its good for them. A ray is a fish, fish love worms. and it has some of the vitamins they need. Mine dont seem to like bloodworms either, and hate frozen foods. but remember, frozen foods also dont have all the stuff they need either. when you freed seafood, it loses some minerals fish need.
So try this. Ghost shrimp ok but not just that. Night crawlers are good and easy to find and cheap. Live blackworms (some good aquarium stores have them) are good also, cheap and small enough for ray to eat easy. Just get a turkey baster and feed the blackworms to the rays with it. Some frozen food ok, but not just that only. If they wont take uncooked frozen shrimp or frozen krill, try tilipia fish. cut into small pieces and feed. but they prob wont like it to much either.
remember, rays are preditor fish. they like live food more than anything.
so, switch it up. ghost shrimp, blackworms, tilipia time to time, night crawlers.
start there and see how that works.

 

[jeffers]

yes i would also try with earthworms and tilapia and so forth. the ghost shrimp just wont cut it. plus will cost an arm and leg to fill the ray up everynight as it takes way more than 10 to do the job. plus live foods can carry parasites and diseases.

 

[Tor-Eriik]

Earth worms and nightcrawlers are "bankers", they will eat it like dogs, and it smells like **** when you cut it up, that makes it ideal for use when you wanna get them over to other foods. I chopped nightcrawlers, and shrimp, put it all together in a box, let it lay overnight, after a few times they suddenly ate shrimp, much easier for me And the glass in the aquarium can trick you with coloration, when youth rays swim on the windows they look pinkish, but when i see them surf in the aqua, they are white, so the window can trick you a littlebit.

 

[MattDunbar]

yes i would also try with earthworms and tilapia and so forth. the ghost shrimp just wont cut it. plus will cost an arm and leg to fill the ray up everynight as it takes way more than 10 to do the job. plus live foods can carry parasites and diseases.

Would worms not be just as bad with parasites and such? I plan on quarantining the shrimp as I get them, and there is a LFS who can get them for me at a reasonable price (less that 30cents ea) when I order in bulk.




Are there any particular worms that would be recommended that I can just toss in alive, rather than cut up? Also, when mentioning feeding with a turkey baster, is that necessary? Could I not just toss them in?

 

[PeteLockwood]

Earthworms will probably not need to be cut, night crawlers would likely need to be cut for a young ray.

Your goal should probably be to get them onto something bulky as a main food, otherwise you'll be spending $10 a day on Ghost Shrimp before you know it.

 

[MattDunbar]

Earthworms will probably not need to be cut, night crawlers would likely need to be cut for a young ray.

Your goal should probably be to get them onto something bulky as a main food, otherwise you'll be spending $10 a day on Ghost Shrimp before you know it.

Thanks.

Wow - how many ghost shrimp would the ray actually eat!? I was thinking of ordering 200, and having them last two or three months. I guess thats still pricey, at about a buck a day to feed my rays considering it does last 3 months.


Anyways, would it be bad of me to exclusively feed earthworms, or should I just get over it and cut up the night crawlers too?

 

[jeffers]

i buy my night crawlers from a worm ranch. they are captive bred and it dosent take long before they will be able to eat a full one or at least cut in half. but to start off with i would cut smaller. there are plenty of ways of doing this but what i do is get a glass of water, tweezers, and scissors. that the tweezers and get a worm dunk it in the water to wash off then start snipping. over another container that you will use to put them in to the tank. not very messy and easy to do

other people just put the worms into another container and just start snipping this will work also. after a while then start to change them out onto pellots and mp and tilapia or other frozen foods.