well i just saw on craigslist a couple countys away from me someone is selling there 125gal fw tank with Amiracle Wet Dry Filter,eheim Canister Filter, Marineland Magnum Canister filter..i plan on buying this hes selling it for only 450$ with canopy and stand(i love craigslist) ive bin reading the stickys and researching for a while now and i saw this tank and i said to myself "its time" lol im pretty sure that filter system would be good enuff can anyone fill me in on what rays to start out with and the best fish to mix with them i really only want 2 rays and have some fish for the middle and top of the tank to fill it out...also he had this set up as an african cichlid tank if this helps at all thanks in advance
thinking about starting a ray tank
- Thread starter BobbyG123
- Start date
I am no ray pro but an observation i made is any other fish will make it challenging to get food to the rays.
a standard 125 might work for some time but you would have to think about a bigger home for rays in the long run
is there a ray out there that would be good in a 125 also how long would it take to prepare myself for a bigger tank? a year or so? or do they grow fast....i was also thinking about the filteration i do no there discs are sensitive so would the intake for the canisters suck on them at all or no?? is that enuff filteration cus i no there is alotta waste for them...and one more thing whats the best parameters the tank should be at thanks for the info oh and for the dude up top(first post) i was thinking about that if i do add other fish it wont be till i feel the rays are comfortable and i get used to caring for thempitbullfish;1904050; said:
you will be able to do smaller species of rays for about 2-3 years. once the size of the disc and tail reach close to the width of your tank then i would start thinking about a new home for them. rays along with all other fish love clean water with regular water changes (mine are done once a week). ph for a new ray should be kept low at about 6-7 and after it is settled in can go between 6-8, but keep in mind that spikes in the ph can stress and even kill the rays. i agree with hotfish that it can be difficult to have tankmates with rays for competition for food and even the rays getting picked on. i wouldnt risk it unless you had a much bigger tank. good luck and make sure you post some pix
pitbullfish;1904664; said:
the ph is not a factor really.... i know of tigers and flowers that have been dumped in higher ph..keeping it consistant is the key.. just get the rays in the tank they will adjust.... retics would last the longest in your tank.... keep them by themselves in there for awhile and once eating aggressively then add some tank mates...
No offense, but if you said "It's time" when you upgrade to a 125g.. what are you going to when "It's time" to upgrade to a 300g+ tank in a year or two?
I see alot of new prospective raykeepers get excited when they finally get a 'big tank', like a 125g.. but they fail to realize that is just a starter tank and upgrading is sooner than you think, especially because everyone usually starts out with Motoros.
I see alot of new prospective raykeepers get excited when they finally get a 'big tank', like a 125g.. but they fail to realize that is just a starter tank and upgrading is sooner than you think, especially because everyone usually starts out with Motoros.
Nic;1904689; said:
i agree ph should be kept at a constant level. on another site someone who is also a member here (wont say any names) kept his new ray at a constant 8 that i know of and had a concern about the ray not being active and not eating. against my suggestions to lower the ph, the ray ended up dying. it was a young retic and he only had it for about a week. dont get me wrong it might of been other factors but thats the only thing i could come up with is a new ray and high ph didnt sound good to me. not all rays require lower ph when newly acquired, but IMO if they are acting funny like not eating and seems very stressed it might be just getting used to the new environment or other factors such as water quality or just bad health.
Your intakes on your filters will be no problems for ya. I've just went through a stint of trying to lower my ph and it causes to many problems so your best bet is to stick to whatever water comes out of your taps. My water's ph is 8.5-9 and when I test with a tds meter it's reading is 1860 ppm. I've never had probems with my hardier species of rays adapting (motoro) and eating within a couple days. I'm assuming you will be getting a ray from a breeder or lfs so just make sure it's eating and you won't have any problems with wildcaught acclimation. The thing you may need to be aware of is before your ray outgrows your tank you will be needing to do 100%-200% water changes a week near the end. Lifes easier with a big tank. Go for it I say but be prepared for the work.
pitbullfish;1904768; said:
could have been ammonia... it is more toxic @ high PH.... i understand where you are coming from but allot of people cant control there ph properly when lowering it and make it unstable and cause a swing and kill the fish as well.....