Would a 6x4x2 tank work for retics?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Alright I plan on babying them. I just want to make sure everything is perfect before I plunge into this.

I plan on a wet dry and vigorous water changes. I want to get some retics from the LFS I go to. They get them from cichlid exchange adn they look extremely healthy everytime I see them. But they are always on hold for someone who has a 125 gallon tank (He had an ammonia spike or something and I guess he wanted to make sure they wouldn't die so the LFS babysits them). But they are always swimming around and pushing their disc out of the top of the water. They are only about 4-5 inches in diameter though.

I already do water changes so much on my tanks I have now that I have gone to 3 doctors becasue my hands keep peeling and bleeding. My care for fish has exceeded my care for my own health. Do they make melafix for humans? I think I need that.
 
Losing power is a big worry here, I have a bucket of battery powered air pumps. I think we lose power, on average, about 7 days a year.

Stingrays need a lot of DO right? I remember reading on wetwebmedia that its extremely vital to have some air stones or powerheads with high currents.
 
PoopSmart;1487622; said:
I already do water changes so much on my tanks I have now that I have gone to 3 doctors becasue my hands keep peeling and bleeding. My care for fish has exceeded my care for my own health. Do they make melafix for humans? I think I need that.
Click to expand...

:chillpill:
 
sjick;1487621; said:
how old are your retics miles? size?
Click to expand...

I have had them about.. 6 months? They are in the 5-6" range.. they were tiny tiny when I got em.. I want to stud out the male to make hybridized rays with retic-like patterns, hopefully that stay smaller like the Tigon vs. Liger experiment.

No need to de-rail :D Sorry Poop.
 
PoopSmart;1487625; said:
Losing power is a big worry here, I have a bucket of battery powered air pumps. I think we lose power, on average, about 7 days a year.

Stingrays need a lot of DO right? I remember reading on wetwebmedia that its extremely vital to have some air stones or powerheads with high currents.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. lots of gas exchange at the surface. Especially since alot of people keep rays at such high temps, the water doesn't hold as much 02.

Believe it or not, my rays went without a filter or air for 6 hours while I was at work.. The fish room froze, and I did everything I can before having to move the rays into a 100g tank. I had the 180g covered with blankets, heaters from extension cords, and turned off everything but the return pump.. The tank got down to about 65 degrees over a period of 1 night, so I moved them.. No stress, no losses.. no issues. Rays are pretty darn tough once acclimated, I just think they are all half-dead when in LFS.


BTW, My rays came from Cichlids exchange.. they are nice rays at a good price (not charging more than $50 a ray, right?.. CichlidEx is selling em for about $24/ea shhhh) but they did have internal parasites, and I did have to treat them .. my LFS treated em once, and so did I.. the smallest one with the snubbed tail sure doesn't seem to keep up with the other 2 that have been in captivity longer and received extra doses of meds.

Hope that helps..

You must be from the NW?
 
Northwest? No I am from the St Louis area. But my LFS said the price they would charge for them is about 60 dollars. I don't mind because the shipping is what kills the price. Even if they make an order of 175 dollars worth of fish I am sure the shipping costs so much to get to the middle of the US, probably at least $80. The other LFS charges 140 for retics, so to me, 60 is a deal, I really can't get them any cheaper.

I remember the quote for shipping from jeff rapps was somewhere around 90 dollars.

The LFS is called Malawi Aquatics. they pretty much only carry cichlids, oddballs, and a few monsters. My favorite LFS.

How did you treat your rays? I remember reading you had to treat them, did you use a garlic method or a medicine?
 
PoopSmart;1487710; said:
Northwest?


How did you treat your rays? I remember reading you had to treat them, did you use a garlic method or a medicine?
Click to expand...

$60 is pretty good if they are getting flown in from Portland, OR..

No Garlic. IMO it's a myth. It's water soluble, so 'soaking' your food in it is a waste of time. and even if you inject and they get a good amount of it, tests have shown it takes an incredible amount of garlic to kill internal parasites.. it enhances smell, and does nothing else, IMO.. read up alot on it after I was a firm believer for so long.

The LFS treated with a pretty harsh med, because she had columnarus (sp) break out on her entire system.. She did a fecal sample of the ray, and thats how she diagnosed it. I want to say she used flubendazole, which some people have told me it will kill rays. The ray that was treated with it, is faster growing, darker, eats more vigorously, healthier poops, and is more active than the 2 that weren't treated with it. The other 2 are still eating and growing, and I treated them with a PraziPro bath, but I still see stringy feces from time to time.

I was in the middle of starving them onto pellets when the power went out, so it really sucked that they were skinny when it happened. I had planned on giving them a week off with no food, giving them PraziPro injected red wigglers, and then getting them onto the pellets. Aborted the plan, but will re-do it soon.

The pro over at the Shedd Aquarium treats her import rays with Panacure when they first come in, she said it does a good job on nemotodes. I have also heard Metro is good, and ray safe. Baths are less effective than ingestion, IMO..

:D
 
that's a good footprint...8x4 would be ideal but 6x4 would do fine....you could keep motoros in there for a long time....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom