Warning about keeping gars with rays...

[Madding]

I kept about six gars with three rays at one point in my 150g with no problems (about 6 months).

Moving them to the 500g turned the gars into completely different fish, much more aggressive and completely throwing all species compatibility I had thought I mastered out the window.

My two tropicals ripped my hystrix stingray to pieces just a day before I added my two new gars to the tank. They also killed my 10" jade goby whom had lived with gars for about 2 years before going into the 500g.

Take this as a lesson when you think you are proving everyone wrong about tank-mates you were warned against. It may work for a day, a month or a year but someday your gars might just have a change of heart.

You've been warned...

 

[keepinfish]

did it kill the hystrix?

 

[KNH]

Are your Florida gars more aggressive as well or just the trops?

 

[Madding]

did it kill the hystrix?

Hystrix is dead. They bit its tail entirely off and there was too much damage for my hospital tank to do any good.

 

[Madding]

Are your Florida gars more aggressive as well or just the trops?

All of my gars seem to be aggressive at times, my trops are just the biggest and thus their damage is noticed more easily.

 

[kevinfleming21]

awww, sucks for the goby. I just got one of these guys that is around 7-8" and I love him! Neat fish, sorry to hear of the agro gone wrong though. This is why JDM works so well though. Not enough space for aggression to occur. (also not advocating JDM)

 

[Madding]

awww, sucks for the goby. I just got one of these guys that is around 7-8" and I love him! Neat fish, sorry to hear of the agro gone wrong though. This is why JDM works so well though. Not enough space for aggression to occur. (also not advocating JDM)

Yeah, my 150g was unintentionally turning into a JDM tank while I waited for the 500 project to finish.

Now they are really showing what I imagine is closer to natural behavior.

 

[jlnguyen74]

It's not about gar with ray. It's about tank space. You think giving your fish more tank space will make them "happy." Instead, more space will make the aggressive. It happened the same when I move my pbass from 225-gal tank in 500-gal tank. They tore the tail off the Flagtails, the Armatus, the Aimara, the Tarpon, Azul beat up Orino, Azul fight with Azul... You name it!

 

[xander]

damn michael, how big was the hystrix? will have to see how crazy my cubans go this saturday...

 

[KNH]

I agree that larger tanks allow the fish to act as they naturally would. Sorry Madding for your loss. Has this changed your mind on stocking?