When is your ray active?

[T1KARMANN]

So rays naturally more active at night in the wild?

well mine are they seam to eat more at night also

i feed twice per day 6pm and 12an they eat double the amount of pellets on the 12am feed

 

[unknownuza13]

Mine is very active almost all day and now pounces at me at the front of the tank when I walk by wanting to be fed. I have no substrate but do have a few pieces of driftwood he hides under sometimes. I have heard that P14 are very active rays. I'm sure activity level has something to do with the species. I read on Franks website that p14 are the most active playful rays and this was one of the reasons for me wanting one so badly.

 

[JD7.62]

IMO rays dont know they are covered or not. Ive always had barebottom tanks and noticed new rays will instictivly flap their disk and lay motionless.

You see rays dont have a brain complex enough to use sand a tool to cover themselves, instead they rely on millionsof years of instinct to automaticly flap their disks when danger approaches. In other words they dont understand the sand is camoflauging them, they just know that if they flap their disk and lay motionless they reduce the risk of being eaten.

just my two cents.

 

[keepinfish]

probably scared looking for somewere to hide

if a ray has substrate when ever it gets scared it can cover its self on the spot without substrate it flaps around all over the place looking for somewere to hide when scared

rays do much better with substrate IMO as they spend 90% of the night digging in the substate looking for food its what they do naturally

when my ray pups were born i put them in a bare tank for 1 day they didnt look happy so i put a few hand fulls of gravel in the tank within 2hrs they were diffing and covering them selfs with the gravel if it wasnt a natural thing how would they know how to do it

Didn't look happy???explain?

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

IMO rays dont know they are covered or not. Ive always had barebottom tanks and noticed new rays will instictivly flap their disk and lay motionless.

You see rays dont have a brain complex enough to use sand a tool to cover themselves, instead they rely on millionsof years of instinct to automaticly flap their disks when danger approaches. In other words they dont understand the sand is camoflauging them, they just know that if they flap their disk and lay motionless they reduce the risk of being eaten.

just my two cents.

WOW!!! Interesting thoughts. I could see the instinctual side of flapping your disc but I think that rays do know if they are covered in sand. I once had 1/3 of my tank with sand (simply to test it out) and the ray would cover itself up. If it didnt know then why would it go to the sandy part of the tank?

yup..... Do you have a moon light....??? If not pick up one and watch them they go nutz at night..... I never really used a light directly over the top of my ray tanks for during the day.... I always just used ambient lighting from somewhere else in the room..... This seemed to help be more active during the day...... maybe that would be worth a try....

Yes, Ive got moonlights, I will try to just keep them on at night and see if there is a difference. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[JD7.62]

Good point, but why did my rays on bare bottom exhibit the same behavior? They outgrew it but I assumed it was because they just became comfortable with their surroundings.

Like I said I just think rays and most animals in general rely on instictive reactions rather then cognitive thought. I just dont see a fish being smart enough to to think, "hey there is sand, I will flip my disk to stir the sand up and when it settles it will settle on top of me to conceal my presence."

 

[T1KARMANN]

IMO rays dont know they are covered or not. Ive always had barebottom tanks and noticed new rays will instictivly flap their disk and lay motionless.

You see rays dont have a brain complex enough to use sand a tool to cover themselves, instead they rely on millionsof years of instinct to automaticly flap their disks when danger approaches. In other words they dont understand the sand is camoflauging them, they just know that if they flap their disk and lay motionless they reduce the risk of being eaten.

just my two cents.

mmmmmm so why do ALL rays have little sticky up eye that protude so they can see danger is gone then come out from the cover of the substrate they have covered them selfs with

rays are ment to be in substrate FACT just as much as fish are ment to be in water

all we hear about is natives stepping on rays in the wild why because they are covered in substrate its because thats what rays like to do

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

I think the issue is whether or not its a conscience effort or pure instinct to cover themselves up and know that they are sheltered in camouflage.

 

[T1KARMANN]

I think the issue is whether or not its a conscience effort or pure instinct to cover themselves up and know that they are sheltered in camouflage.

well i have had new born pups cover themselfs in substate if it wasnt a natural thing for rays to do them how would they know how to to that within 15mins of birth

birds flap their wings they fly rays flap they wings they cover themself in substate its what both animals were designed for

look at the rays mouth it designed to push its way into substrate it wasnt designed to blow water on a flat surface it was designed to blow water into substrate

everything about a ray tells us they are designed to live in substrate its a bit cruel to not give it to them IMO

 

[JD7.62]

T1, I think you are misunderstanding.

Im saying that rays do it instinctively (explains why they do it right after birth) so that is why IMO rays will do just fine in a bare bottom tank.

They dont know why they bury themselves, they just do.