WC Ray Pup hardiness? Myths, Facts, etc ....?

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E

E.C.H

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 20, 2009
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UW! Go Huskies!
I wanted to dis-spell some of the myths/rumors I've heard about purchasing newly caught Stingray Pups (Motoros, etc.). In this specific case I'm talking about Motoro and/or Marble Motoro pups. I'm on the fence about buying 3 or 4 newly harvested pups and not sure of their adaptability to the home aquaria, esp. for a beginner such as myself. I know they have to be Q.T.'d for a while and provide them with an abundance of blackworms..... can some of you pros add more suggestions, pro's or con's to aquiring WC Pups? Thanks.
ECH
 
I'd like to help you out buddy but I'm not very knowledgible in Rays. However, I have been told that they're harder to get on pellets. I know some people who bring in a bunch only to have them die during shipping.
 
i have a lot of wild rays and never really had a problem, but captive is better. With wild rays you have the worry of parasites, and other issues.

When i first started keeping rays i had 2 wild motoros and now i have had them for 3 years... never treated, never had a problem with them.
 
ive had a wildcaught act like a CB and start eating right away, and also had a wild that took about 2 months to start eating/acting good

depends on the ray, tank, tankmates, etc...

the better the water quality the better your chances ;)
 
I got my first WC Marble 8 days ago and he was eating cut up night crawlers 10 minutes
after acclimation. Have another coming next week and hope he does just as well.
 
My 2 WC m/f motoro have had no problems as well for the past 3 years, though they were larger already (6") when I bought them. I just had my 4th liter born today (3 pups) and they have been put in a separate tank (130g grow out) so they can find their food easier and not worry about being lunch for the larger fishes. I usually feed them blackworms but I may try nightcrawlers if I can't find them. They should be okay until the weekend anyways.
 
but why take from the wild when there is an abundance of captive breed motoros around.
Especially to those of you in the US?

Unless your after something that is not readily available around you, go captive i say.

just my 2 cents.
 
I'd much rather support captive breeding programs than take animals from the wild.
I've done plenty of WC rays in my time. Some are very tricky to get eating, and as posted - you have to Q them very well to make sure you're not going to be fighting parasites and other unknowns.

Motoros are one of the most commonly bred FW rays - I'm sure you can find some great animals if you look around.
 
I hear alot of people who have had wildcaught rays and say they have had no problems. I'm just wondering how many people who have had wildcaught rays have actually picked them up from the airport themselves straight from peru, columbia, Brazil, ect... Where there was no lfs or someone else inbetween that actually did the initial acclimation. It is here that I've found most my problems. Between the catching,starving, and plane delays I've had some rays come in in rough shape and very succeptable to disease. Most of these rays take awhile to start eating or never do. They may have ammonia poisoning of some sort that my show up now or later or hooks in them that can cause problems at any time. If your getting your wildcaughts at a lfs ask them how many they lose on arrival? Or alot of lfs get there rays from distributers that take the loss initially. My point being that when you say you have a wildcaught ray that has given you no problems, how many rays died to get that one?
Never have experienced any of these problems with captive bred rays.
 
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