Stressed, injured or sick rays affecting other rays

[skynoch]

Okay so here is the deal. For the last 2 years I've been following a pattern in my rays behaviors that if there is a stressed,sick or injured ray in with a group of rays the other rays have also showed signs of stress.
At first I was just thinking that it was water conditions in the tank or it was me transferring a sickness from a ray over to a healthy tank but after watching for awhile and having pups of my own that have grown this is not the case. For example I had 2 pups that were in great shape eating very vigorously and I moved over a pup that was struggling in a tank by itself and not eating very well from the same system but a different tank. All these pups had come from my rays in the same systems. When I moved the one pup over with the two healthy ray pups and tried to feed them after about 10 minutes the two healthy pups ate normally the other pup didn't. The next day the 2 healthy pups stayed buried which they never were before and woudn't eat very much the following days got a little worse until finally the sick pup had passed. The day after the sick pup had passed my two healthy rays began moving around the tank again and eating well again.
I have also noticed this in other tanks with adults that a stressed ray will cause other rays in the tank to act stressed.
Has any other ray keepers noticed this? Does anybody know if rays release any chemicals when stressed or do these rays pickup on electrical impulses of others?

 

[HULON]

Very Interesting behavior My Peacock Bass have behaved in the same manner when one has hurt themselves being rowdy the entire tank seems to have a kind of a quiet toned down atmasphere to it no shinanigens for a couple days then back to normal ...I have not had an adult get sick and die ...And when they are Fry they will continue to eat when another is sick and dying tho ...

 

[Just Toby]

Oddly, my motoro is shedding her sting and I think it is her second ever, it seems to be irritating her a little as she thrashed her tail a little and she is a bit off her food.

The pearl male seems to be keeping out of her way and is not eating as vigorously. The water params are the same.

 

[creepyoldguy]

I have noticed this as well w a recently acquired marble. It is not eating and it has effected my female marble. I've had her for 6 months and was very healthy and active until input the male in. She is buried most of the time and still eats, but not as much

 

[calgaryflames]

I have noticed it with cichlids.

I do alot of sport fishing i know that when you come across a nice hole sometimes their might be 20 fish their.if you hook one they all get spooked.i think fish just get spooked I'n aquariums.just their instincts.i never seen SA rays I'n the wild so i don't know if they are solitary or hang out I'n groups?but i am sure if their was 5-6 rays togather and one got killed or injured the others will be spooked for sure.i think you are just noticing instinctive behavior mr skynoch

 

[vamptrev]

the main thing that i notice all the time is when one of my females gets beat up by a male, she gets stressed out but it dosnt rely affect the other rays. her eating will slow down and all the other rays just stress her out more by pouncing on her, biting her, etc. i end up seperating her until she toughens up again, then release her back w the pack

my last litter of pups there was one ray that got beat up rely bad by the parents and eventually died about 2 weeks later. this pup didnt affect the other 2 pups at all. both pups were eating like pigs while the other one was just sitting there dying in the corner.

guess my experiences are about opposite.

 

[DB junkie]

I have to occasionally seperate mine too. The male makes my big tank quiet. Ladies stay buried, hulled up in the corners. They were really active and playfull before he was added. He's hopefully taking a vacation this weekend for an undertermined amount of time.

Mine seem to run as a pack and if one gets beat up and stressed tthen the others just make it worse. Without intervention it gets ugly. Seems isolation is the first sign. If they aren't constantly piling on eachother and blowing in the sand they're usually signaling something's wrong. They usually stop feeding a few days after the isolation starts, but if seperated at the first signs of isolation they'll continue feeding and bounce back after a short stay in isolation.

 

[calgaryflames]

Look at it this way.if you were locked I'n a small room with five people and one got sick what would you do?? It's just instincts