Trim female's stinger and ray mating

[batang_mcdo]

I trimmed my females stinger as i was worried my male
Might get stabbed whilw trying to
Mate , as he has been harassing her for the past 2 days. Will female rays need their stingers? Now
I'm worried she doesnt have any defense , will they need to stab male rays to stay safe? I caged the male
For now.

 

[Arkangel77]

the male will non stop harass her when he wants to breed - no matter what you cant stop it. Seperation is the only way

 

[tlindsey]

I trimmed my females stinger as i was worried my male
Might get stabbed whilw trying to
Mate , as he has been harassing her for the past 2 days. Will female rays need their stingers? Now
I'm worried she doesnt have any defense , will they need to stab male rays to stay safe? I caged the male
For now.

jim barry

 

[jim barry]

Personally I have never trimmed a barb. I cant comment as to whether a female must have the barb to stay safe. But I would say it makes no difference, although the extreme can happen and there is never a constant normal in ray keeping/breeding.
But from experience, I have lost a female to constant harassment from a male and the female had her barb.
I have also lost a breeder male due to being punctured in the gut by a females barb.
Personally im not a fan of catching large rays unless you absolutely have to and certainly not to remove a barb. They only grow back so you will be doing this the rest of the rays life once you start.
A male will harass a female regardless of having barbs or not. If it gets too bad you have to separate them, that's the only way to deal with it. Sadly I was on holiday and my kids were watching the tanks when I lost the female due to constant harassment.

 

[batang_mcdo]

Personally I have never trimmed a barb. I cant comment as to whether a female must have the barb to stay safe. But I would say it makes no difference, although the extreme can happen and there is never a constant normal in ray keeping/breeding.
But from experience, I have lost a female to constant harassment from a male and the female had her barb.
I have also lost a breeder male due to being punctured in the gut by a females barb.
Personally im not a fan of catching large rays unless you absolutely have to and certainly not to remove a barb. They only grow back so you will be doing this the rest of the rays life once you start.
A male will harass a female regardless of having barbs or not. If it gets too bad you have to separate them, that's the only way to deal with it. Sadly I was on holiday and my kids were watching the tanks when I lost the female due to constant harassment.

Thanks , how do you know when to separate the male from
The female? I saw that my female looked tired yesterday so i
Placed the male in the cage first, today my female seem back to normal
And appettite also normal , only thing is her damaged disc. Planning to add back the male tomorrow, bit not sure what is the threshhold when i should separate them. What would be the signs to look for?

 

[Matteus]

Thanks , how do you know when to separate the male from
The female? I saw that my female looked tired yesterday so i
Placed the male in the cage first, today my female seem back to normal
And appettite also normal , only thing is her damaged disc. Planning to add back the male tomorrow, bit not sure what is the threshhold when i should separate them. What would be the signs to look for?

View attachment 1456233

This is a good question, I would also like to know if anyone has any insights to this.

 

[flyingsaucer owner]

If the female starts to look a little jaded and badly torn up it’s often best to separate for a while to give her a break.
Once the male has had a taste though it’s pretty much guaranteed that he’s gonna keep harassing until she’s pregnant if she’s mature.