I sorry but I dont agree with your statements that a bigger aquarium made them more aggressive.....I IMHO believe it was because they were in a new tank and had to resolve heirarchy and territory issues. Having too small of a tank for too long causes long term health issues for your fish and can also lead to aggression as they grow bigger.
Warning about keeping gars with rays...
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KNH;4485173; said:
Not at all, it's a gar tank first and foremost and they should always be compatible with my australian lungfish and african arowana. I will be more weary in the future.
And I know that the bigger space is bringing out the aggression, not necessarily the ray. But it's been said many times that rays don't do well with gars so I was just reinforcing that with this sad story.
Man that is really unfortunate. So sorry about your losses. That is very sad. You try to give the fish an optimal living environment and end up losing a couple. I'm wondering if it is really moreso the trops and not the florida? I had florida gars in a 300 gallon with rays for 2-3 years and the florida gars were the least aggressive fish in the tank. Then again, a 300 gallon is not a 500 gallon either. I also had a huge aro in their to and most everyone stayed out of its way. I wonder if combination has something to do with it too...? Keep us posted on how the fish settle or not settle into their new environment. Definitely something to think about.
warmouth;4485190; said:
I am going to let the expert confirm this, but I too strongly believe it is the fact that they were in a new territory and felt like they had to establish hierarchy which led them to become very aggressive to old tank-mates.
If you ever move these fish from the 500 Gal back to the 150 gal, I suspect you will see similar aggression and possibly carnage.
Sorry for your loss,
Sid
Sidrock;4485515; said:
It's been well over a month since the tank went up and this just happened two days ago.
I don't agree with the "establishing hierarchy/territory" logic as opposed to the "gars are just plain old more aggressive in the bigger tank, period", because what you are saying means eventually some of these species that have been killed will work again (since the gars will be settled in and have established dominance), and I do not have that sort of faith after seeing the damage done.
I think the extra space is bringing out different behavior, not just because they are in a new location.
This is all my opinion of course, it could always be a mixture of both.
Sry to hear. No offence but this is why i luv when people stick together stuff they shouldnt(though rays tend to work) and say ill prove ya wrong. Just a matter of time till they come back saying thier gar or the other fish was killed.
and someone said JDM? seriously we dont need to bring up a horrible fish keeping practise especially when mentioning gar. JDM just kills fish. Nothing more.
PS sticky?
and someone said JDM? seriously we dont need to bring up a horrible fish keeping practise especially when mentioning gar. JDM just kills fish. Nothing more.
PS sticky?
For what it's worth, hystrix rays are one of the smaller species and mine had about a 6 or 7" disc. Bigger rays would probably stand a better chance.
I don't think I'll be trying it again though, as they are too expensive to risk and I don't need gars getting stung or eating stingers.
I don't think I'll be trying it again though, as they are too expensive to risk and I don't need gars getting stung or eating stingers.
