Trying to get my stingray's onto prawns.

[DanDanUK]

Hi guy's

I've got 2 newly bought stingrays Potamotrygon genre it's the peruvian false hystrix/motro not much infomation is avalible on this perticular species.

Any way i was just wondering if anyone had any tips on weening the rays off worms and onto prawns ?

Buying worms is a bit more costly and i can get prawns much cheaper plus i'd like to vary the diet of the rays instead of just feeding them worms all the time.

I was told to soak some prawns in crushed up garlic and leave it for an hour or so then feed them to the rays, i did this and they wouldn't even entertain them so obviously i'm a little worried now because i want them to eat and there not

So any help would be great!

Thanks in advance

Dan.

 

[davo]

soak it in worm juice? starve it?

 

[DanDanUK]

I don't really wanna run the risk of starving them to be honest with you any other fish and thats what i would have done but these fish are really skinny at the moment so thats one other reason i'd like to use prawns to fatten them up !

 

[michael]

I am trying to do the same thing with some of mine! I am going to try the soak with worms pieces or loading the worms with minced shrimp like Li did.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

i find that chopping them up into little pieces helps.

 

[Honda12]

Crush up the worms and soak the prawns in them for a while. That is how I got my retic on smelt.

 

[redtailfool]

Dan for rays that small ,make sure you cut them into thumbnail sized pieces ( or smaller )
Try the worm soak for an hour.. make sure that the shrimp gets the pasty, gutsy extract of the worm so the shrimp piece would appeal to the the rays as much as possible.

From there, its a matter of being persistent and offering shrimps to them even if they dont eat it at first. I take drastic measures and do not feed my rays for several days just to make sure they eat shrimp. I have had a pretty high success rate with this. Still, i have had several rays ( 4 ) , that never weaned on shrimp... including my beautiful 12" henleii.

 

[Deathcurl]

Yes, try the soak method...and incorporate pieces in with your normal feedings. Gradually back off on the worms and increase the shrimp percentage. That did the trick with some of my stubborn feeders. A lil trickery never hurt, haha.

 

[Oddball]

Also ensure that the prawns you're offering them are raw. Rays won't usually go near prawns once they've been boiled or steamed. Mine readily accepted raw shell-on bay shrimp.

 

[T1KARMANN]

Also ensure that the prawns you're offering them are raw. Rays won't usually go near prawns once they've been boiled or steamed. Mine readily accepted raw shell-on bay shrimp.

well i dont know about that mine love the cooked peeled prawns that come frozen from the super market

cut the frozen prawns from the supermarket (the iceland ones are the best and cheapest) then chop up the live earth worms and soak the cut up prawns in the worm blood over night

but if you have just got the rays i would give them big feeds of worms twice per day if thats all they are eatting for at leat 2 weeks befor you try to get them onto dead food