Update & Pictures

[ashleysomething]

Hey everyone.

I just wanted to give another update.

Tabitha (female):
Her hip bones are more pronounced, but her underside has returned to normal color. She's been eating a lot more frequently and has been exhibiting more of her personality; however, she's still a little lethargic.

Thaddeus (male):
He seems to be completely fine. He's the fattest we've ever seen him, but his hip bones are still protruding just a bit. His disc isn't curling at all these days. His appetite is voracious (to the point where he's trying to eat Abner's earthworms, ha) and he's been very active. His underside has perfect coloration. Overall, he seems to be in great shape.

Abner (arowana):
He has been acting a little different. He's been resting at the bottom... A LOT. His scales are worn on his underside, but he hasn't been nearly as skittish or shy. Could anyone tell me why he might be resting at the bottom of the tank so much?

We are continuing to keep the lights off with a black blanket around them, and that has been working wonders. Whoever gave us the blanket advice, thank you. I feel confident that that has been a key part of their recovery.

I also just wanted to say thank you to everyone else for their advice and support. Matt and I are very grateful, and our our little stingrays are very lucky.

Here are some pictures I took tonight.
Abner's dinner (and the bubble disc) made it into most of these pictures. Sorry. I know earthworms aren't the most picturesque things in the world.

Thanks again, everyone. Really.
Matt & Ashley

Tabitha's underside.

Thaddeus in the forefront. Tabitha in the background.
It's a good view of the back of his disc where it used to curl.

Here, you can see where Tabitha's disc turns up just slightly on the front and back of her disc.

This is just a sweet-looking picture of Tabitha.

Tabitha & Thaddeus.

Abner & Tabitha.

A front view where you can see the slight turning up of Tabitha's disc.

Abner's mug shot. You can see some of the wear of his scales in this picture.

Abner & Tabitha.

Abner, Tabitha & Thaddeus.

Thaddeus, Abner & Tabitha.

Abner, Thaddeus & Tabitha.

 

[stingray man]

Every body looks pretty healthy over all

 

[cichlid savage]

I'm glad they are doing better. Continued success with their recovery.

 

[ashleysomething]

Every body looks pretty healthy over all

Yeah, I think so, too. It's a relief. It's crazy how you almost feel like a parent in the emergency room with your kid at 4am, heh. Instead, it's just running around the house from 12am to 3pm doing water tests, siphoning out sand and doing crazy amounts of water changes.

 

[ashleysomething]

I'm glad they are doing better. Continued success with their recovery.

For sure, thank you.

 

[Kevaldo]

keep up the good work and they will be fine

 

[Miles]

Lookin good.. thanks for the update

Looks like Tabitha might of been nipped before she got home to you guys? regenerating a disc at the same as being introduced to captivity in a glass box is probably pretty stressful on the body.

I noticed when rays are regenerating a disc, it looks as if most of the 'fat' and body energy go towards fixing the disc, not putting on weight.

The good thing about your rays is that they dont look thin.. most thin retics, you can see the veins and the disc is very lightly colored, almost transparent.. you will notice as they put on more weight that the disc will become alot darker and 'thicker/chunkier'.. all my TFD retics had the transparent discs, veins, and hips when I got them but just free feed them blackworms and they will start to put on weight in no time.

After taking a second glance at the pix.. neither of them are very skinny and it looks like they have some pretty thick discs.. having a dark disc that has a distinctive white line around the rim is a sign that it has a thicker disc and not a skinny transparent one..

As far as the hip bones protruding, even my larger rays show hip bones at time. I think its a trait of retics. They are considered the most laterally compressed ray with a very shallow body. They will never be large tall bodied rays like Motoros or especially Histrix. They do get the 'J-Lo' booty like other rays, but its never as pronounced as I have seen on Motoros or Leos.. it almost seems like their belly is below the base of their tail, rather then packed on top like other rays. My largest female will eat until she can't eat anymore and she only has a small lump on her backside and you can still see the indentation of her hips..

So don't concern too much with the thin hips, its really common in the super juvie retics anyways - my littlest one shows them if I don't feed for 3-4 days. The main thing is that the disc isn't thin and veiny... just got to keep them packed full of food. AjfromAT captive bred his retics many times, and I remember seeing photos of the newborns.. I thought to myself - wow those look skinny.. but thats just the way they are when they are born, very thin bodied rays..

Does Tabitha gorge herself on blackworms at all? Or is she still too listless to fight for food? Give her some time - she will start pouncing them... and if you treated with Prazi, she shouldnt have a gut full of worms at this point.



So do you think the sand made a difference? The undersides were a little red? The mouth or gills red? Wonder what the issue is with the spiracles.. Just trying to get some feedback.. In the future you should just import some substrate from 'The Amazon' because that's where stingrays come from

 

[ashleysomething]

keep up the good work and they will be fine

thanks, kev. it definitely seems that things are turning up. good thing... i'm in love with those little punks, ha.

 

[abortedsoul]

Beautiful rays!!! Are they for sale?

The pictures you took are awesome. I love you!

The redness inside the spiracles isn't apparent in this picture; I heard that it might be some kind of bacterial thing? If anyone has seen this before, what have you tried?

 

[ashleysomething]

Lookin good.. thanks for the update

Sure thing. It was my pleasure to finally start my first thread on mfk, hehe.

Looks like Tabitha might of been nipped before she got home to you guys? regenerating a disc at the same as being introduced to captivity in a glass box is probably pretty stressful on the body.

Actually, that was all Thaddeus, ha. She also broke the tip of her tail off since he's been here. I'm thinking that was probably him, too. Retic pup love?

The good thing about your rays is that they dont look thin.. most thin retics, you can see the veins and the disc is very lightly colored, almost transparent.. you will notice as they put on more weight that the disc will become alot darker and 'thicker/chunkier'.. all my TFD retics had the transparent discs, veins, and hips when I got them but just free feed them blackworms and they will start to put on weight in no time.

Yeah, the chunk they do have, they've just packed on the past few days. I'm glad to see it. It makes me happy to have fat pets. And it's good advice to free-feed them. We've been doing that since we siphoned all the sand out. It's insane how fast it disappears. As long as they'll eat it, we'll supply it, though. I wanna see some retic booty! It's crazy that you call them 'J-Lo booty's! Matt calls them that, lol. I just say, 'booty.'

As far as the hip bones protruding, even my larger rays show hip bones at time. I think its a trait of retics. They are considered the most laterally compressed ray with a very shallow body. They will never be large tall bodied rays like Motoros or especially Histrix. They do get the 'J-Lo' booty like other rays, but its never as pronounced as I have seen on Motoros or Leos.. it almost seems like their belly is below the base of their tail, rather then packed on top like other rays. My largest female will eat until she can't eat anymore and she only has a small lump on her backside and you can still see the indentation of her hips..

So don't concern too much with the thin hips, its really common in the super juvie retics anyways - my littlest one shows them if I don't feed for 3-4 days. The main thing is that the disc isn't thin and veiny... just got to keep them packed full of food. AjfromAT captive bred his retics many times, and I remember seeing photos of the newborns.. I thought to myself - wow those look skinny.. but thats just the way they are when they are born, very thin bodied rays..

This is reassuring to hear, especially for Matt. Thanks for the info. It's really beneficial to have someone on here that's like the 'designated retic man,' lol. It really helps us out a lot, so thanks.

Does Tabitha gorge herself on blackworms at all? Or is she still too listless to fight for food? Give her some time - she will start pouncing them... and if you treated with Prazi, she shouldnt have a gut full of worms at this point.

Tabitha's usually a little piglet, but the tides have turned lately. Thaddeus is a little ahead of her on recovery, so now he's the little worm disposal. I think she's just a few days behind him, though. I feel confident that appetite of hers will be kicking back in any time now. It better, ha.

So do you think the sand made a difference?

I'll be honest. I really do think it made a difference. I mean, I felt like I saw a change for the better even moments after we took the sand out. I'll have to have Matt try to confirm that. It was like 3am and I was pretty out of it, but I'm pretty sure that's how that went down. Regardless, I feel more secure that it's out of there. And I think the tank looks a lot sleeker now, too, hehe. It was a good idea.

The undersides were a little red?

Tabitha's slightlyslightlyslightly red on her underside, but it's pretty much out the door, if not completely already. I know it's definitely been improving. It was a lot worse just a few days ago even...

The mouth or gills red? Wonder what the issue is with the spiracles.. Just trying to get some feedback..

I'm not really sure about the red spiracles. I know Matt sees them, but I can't, lol. Hopefully we're getting some good feedback on that, though... just to cover all our bases.

In the future you should just import some substrate from 'The Amazon' because that's where stingrays come from

Ha, definitely! We're thinking about heading that way after our wedding in May. We'll have to snatch some up if we end up over there. Definitely.