My filter socks are 5 micron so they take care of most of the waste. A sump is for bio and cleanliness. Depending how low of a micron you use
Tips and advice on first rays
- Thread starter Landon Werner
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- stingrays
Landon, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. Try not to flip flop on stuff, go with something you know works and tweak it for you, more than one way to skin a cat. Here is how I anticipate this to go for you:
Enter rays
Rays fine for a few months
You will hit your first hurdle, I suspect nitrate/ammonia issues, constant clogged filters, something like that
You will work to repair it, you will get it under control, but next hurdle won't be far off, be it aggression issues followed by bacterial or fungal issues
You will probably stress out and work to upgrade again, likely getting it under control
Things will be good for a short while after you adequately figure out your filtration/total ray system, but you'll notice that you love the little buggers and they look way cramped in the tank, you want to get more rays and a bigger tank
Now here is the three way fork in the road that most monster fish keepers come across at some point: option a) upgrade tank, and spend a lot more time tinkering with your filter, b) sell the fish, c) keep them in there an incredibly stupid amount of time longer and then likely give them away cuz you don't want to feed them anymore. I feel like everyone here is going to advise you not to do option c, please.
In my opinion option a and b are both just as good. There is nothing to say that growing out a ray pup or two in your current tank for a 6-12 months is bad or unacceptable at all. You just need to ensure you have a backup plan early so as not to be caught with the fish longer than is acceptable. This may involve practically giving way a fish you played a lot before. I personally feel my 3 adults in my 400 have no space at all, I really do feel bad sometimes still, but eventually you accept you're doing your best.
Option a is the best option, we all hope you find a way to make it work, sometimes stuff works out beautifully and sometimes stuff crashes quickly. So just want to reiterate my first sentiment, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. Guess my point is you have to ask yourself if you are truly committed to upgrading or at least temporarily providing care for these creatures, if you are then there is nothing wrong with getting a few pups for a tank your size, just know that grace period may be a lot shorter than you expect.
Enter rays
Rays fine for a few months
You will hit your first hurdle, I suspect nitrate/ammonia issues, constant clogged filters, something like that
You will work to repair it, you will get it under control, but next hurdle won't be far off, be it aggression issues followed by bacterial or fungal issues
You will probably stress out and work to upgrade again, likely getting it under control
Things will be good for a short while after you adequately figure out your filtration/total ray system, but you'll notice that you love the little buggers and they look way cramped in the tank, you want to get more rays and a bigger tank
Now here is the three way fork in the road that most monster fish keepers come across at some point: option a) upgrade tank, and spend a lot more time tinkering with your filter, b) sell the fish, c) keep them in there an incredibly stupid amount of time longer and then likely give them away cuz you don't want to feed them anymore. I feel like everyone here is going to advise you not to do option c, please.
In my opinion option a and b are both just as good. There is nothing to say that growing out a ray pup or two in your current tank for a 6-12 months is bad or unacceptable at all. You just need to ensure you have a backup plan early so as not to be caught with the fish longer than is acceptable. This may involve practically giving way a fish you played a lot before. I personally feel my 3 adults in my 400 have no space at all, I really do feel bad sometimes still, but eventually you accept you're doing your best.
Option a is the best option, we all hope you find a way to make it work, sometimes stuff works out beautifully and sometimes stuff crashes quickly. So just want to reiterate my first sentiment, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. Guess my point is you have to ask yourself if you are truly committed to upgrading or at least temporarily providing care for these creatures, if you are then there is nothing wrong with getting a few pups for a tank your size, just know that grace period may be a lot shorter than you expect.
Option a practically explains my life. I swear a quarter of my day I'm re adjusting or positioning or changing or doing something to the water or equipment on my tanks. I'm definitely prepared for my rays. Here's some pics, I'm receiving a pair out of this batch.
Hey everyone so I just picked up my rays today and got them into the tank after a 40 min acclimation process of drip filling and emptying their bag, using 10 gals of water in the end from my main tank, and then putting them in. So far all is well, even got the male to eat a silverside about an hour or so later. Unfortunately, they came on short notice and I didn't get to get rid of the bichirs before they came, but so far they seem to tolerate eachother nicely.
When the rays were in the bag, it looked like they had some ammonia irritation on the bottom of their discs, kinda of a pink of more than white. Still has same color but has decreased slightly in one and is totally gone in the other. Anything I can do to help other than water changes? Again, one is better but other is not, and occurred before I got them.
How big are they?
Pups normally have pink bellies, but of course ammonia irritation can also be the culprit.
Keep the tank lights off, permanently, that will help reduce stress and allow the Rays to settle.
Keep to your regular water changes but avoid doing overly large ones, smaller more frequent would be my choice as big influxes of different water can stress the fish.
Make sure they're feeding.
Ensure plenty of dissolved oxygen is present
Pups normally have pink bellies, but of course ammonia irritation can also be the culprit.
Keep the tank lights off, permanently, that will help reduce stress and allow the Rays to settle.
Keep to your regular water changes but avoid doing overly large ones, smaller more frequent would be my choice as big influxes of different water can stress the fish.
Make sure they're feeding.
Ensure plenty of dissolved oxygen is present
Yeah they are from jojo T Thekid , and one, the smaller and female, is much more active and looks very healthy, a little more than usual sand sticks to her but I'm sure her coat will come back, and the bigger male is much more still, moves when he needs to, and only the female sucks on silversides and eat bloodworms, the male I have only seen eat a few bloodworms, but he might be sneaking food too when the tank is more quiet. I had the lights on for a few hours today but I'll keep them off now for a few days, I think that will help a lot too. I have shrimp I can try too, just haven't tried it yet but I will tomorrow. Is it common to get rays on a pellet diet? Not as an only source of food but some pellet that they would hit on the bottom? Just curious because I think the fe male was eating a few shrimp pellets as well.
I bought a 8x2x2 tank today, not ready to set it up, but I have it. Dual overflow, was in a motel 6 lobby, got it for $200! Should last me longer than my tank, but still not wide enough for long term. Be good for my bichirs and silver dollars though so I'm excited. June is when I can set up the 8 ft tank
