Why are motoro stingrays illegal in California? (serious question)

[MN_Rebel]

I think we all agree that rays can live at temps lower than 80F, but in rivers and lakes in the US I just can't see them "taking over". It takes a few years for them to reach sexual maturity and they don't produce a lot of offspring. There would have to be a large group of individuals released in the same locality at the same time, and several years (generations) for them to become established. Again, I don't condone the release of any aquarium fish into a local body of water.

The problem is that their offspring are large and already immune to most predation.

 

[Zoodiver]

Have you ever seen the water they live in down in South America? It's a far cry from the sterile tanks we keep them in.

 

[suckerfish]

Have you ever seen the water they live in down in South America? It's a far cry from the sterile tanks we keep them in.

true true. as I said I wont argue with you. don't make me be an internet bully. lol
much respect to you and all you do for and with our mutual love- fish

 

[krichardson]

Have you ever seen the water they live in down in South America? It's a far cry from the sterile tanks we keep them in.

So why do they require super pristine water conditions in captivity?

 

[MN_Rebel]

So why do they require super pristine water conditions in captivity?

That could be same said for these sensitive species such as discus, tetras, sturgeon etc...their native habitat are not exactly pristine water conditions....

 

[krichardson]

Yes,I've heard of rays dying due to tank water conditions much more than those other fish but I guess discus could be right up there with them.I'm not debating here,I am curious because I would like to keep rays some day.

 

[gorak]

The tank conditions that kill them are far worse then the rivers. The rivers are inbetween the clean tanks and the rancid tanks that kill them.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Zoodiver]

So why do they require super pristine water conditions in captivity?

I've always wondered that. When I started my time keeping FW rays at the aquarium in Dallas, the water they were tied into as the crocodile pool. It was pretty good, but not nearly what hobbiests say they require. You can imagine what a pair of 1,000 lbs (or more) crocs can do to water quality with a good poop or just walking around stirring up the substrate. The large volume was stable, and I would bet that was the key. We were keeping leo (breeding leos at that) in that pool back when keeping black rays alive was a very touchy subject. LOL

 

[Dan F]

So why do they require super pristine water conditions in captivity?

I suppose it is probably the nitrates that do it. From what I've read, nitrate levels in the Amazon basin (and unpolluted rivers in general) are quite low, under 5ppm for the most part. I read a study recently where they say slash-and-burn ranching of cattle has tripled those levels in some areas, but 15ppm is still quite low by aquarium standards.

 

[Pharaoh]

No experience for rays, but I was reading something about how it isn't what is in the water that is necessarily bad, such as nitrates and nitrites, but it was more in relation to the sensitivity of the fish to the Ph of the environment. In their natural environment, they may be able to handle a lot of nitrates because the PH is consistent and does not swing. In the aquarium, swings can happen very quickly if they aren't managed well. So it is a correlation of the amount of nitrates/nitrites to the level of Ph in the water. Hopefully that made sense.