first baby rays

[koietc]

hi, i'm new to the forum but have been in touch with a few of you in the last couple months. I purchased 3 nice rays from Darren at monster fish bowl & at the time he said that one may be bred already. well it may have been true, 99 days after delivery I have my first baby rays. what a rush!! I want to thank everybody that I have pestered for info & will continue to ask for advice. the father is pearlx motoro, the mother is an unknown light colored motoro hybrid & all (12) little guys are awesome & unique. yes, (12) 4" little wonders. stingrays are a great experience to have & I will remember this morning for a long time. pics to follow.

 

[exoticaquaria]

Congrats! But a thread like this need pics!

 

[koietc]

it was early, before work. I will post pics of the parents & pups soon.

 

[tman]

Congrats, I wonder if it was my old female.

 

[hondas3000]

wow what did you feed the the female, 12 is a lot and she must be huge as I have 7 pups before and the mom is 30".

 

[koietc]

hi, she was eating about 7 4-5" smelts a day plus some prawns with shell on & an occasional feeding of nightcrawlers. about every second day I put massivore pellets in the mouths of the smelts before feeding. she is about 21" across. I had a friend take pics a few minutes ago & sent them to me but I have no idea how to post them. another friend will help me do that tomorrow. i'm really poor with computers.

 

[exoticaquaria]

Let me help you! Since you sent me the pics anyways.

 

[koietc]

thanks for the help posting pics mike. tman the lighter one is the female, maybe one of your old girls? 36 hours after & none of the parents are eating, except the male had 2 nightcrawlers. is there anything to do or worry about? the baby rays are in the upper tub which is about 80 gallons & overflows back to the main pond. all the rays will go to the store soon into a new 800 gallon tub but I didn't want to move them while pregnant. now I just have to wait for the other female to have her pups.

 

[exoticaquaria]

thanks for the help posting pics mike. tman the lighter one is the female, maybe one of your old girls? 36 hours after & none of the parents are eating, except the male had 2 nightcrawlers. is there anything to do or worry about? the baby rays are in the upper tub which is about 80 gallons & overflows back to the main pond. all the rays will go to the store soon into a new 800 gallon tub but I didn't want to move them while pregnant. now I just have to wait for the other female to have her pups.

Usually after birth, the female won't eat for a few days. It is normal. However, keep an eye on her and make sure she eats soon. Some people keep the mother separate until she gains some strength. BTW, did the male get to her right after the birth?

 

[tman]

thanks for the help posting pics mike. tman the lighter one is the female, maybe one of your old girls? 36 hours after & none of the parents are eating, except the male had 2 nightcrawlers. is there anything to do or worry about? the baby rays are in the upper tub which is about 80 gallons & overflows back to the main pond. all the rays will go to the store soon into a new 800 gallon tub but I didn't want to move them while pregnant. now I just have to wait for the other female to have her pups.

That's my old female! I raised her from a pup until she had her first pup and then sold her as I got into black rays only. Good Job!!

 

[tman]

If you don't mind here is your female when I owned her and she was just a pup.

This was November 2009 and then another picture in May/2010 and lastly March 2011.

Pretty cool to see my old stingray still in good care after 5 years and a few owners!

 

[koietc]

I now hope to move them to my store & put the adults on display for the public. baby rays were not on my agenda but I will find them good homes in a couple of months. mike, it seems there is a little tear in her disc towards the rear, otherwise she looks fine.

 

[koietc]

looking for some ideas. 4 days in & i'm not sure if the little ones are eating or not but they are starting to get active. the problem is the adults have not eaten in six days. the male did take a couple smelts in between but that's it. water conditions are great & nothing else is changed, any ideas?

 

[tman]

Just keep up on water changes and maybe add a little salt.

 

[koietc]

if I was to use salt, how much is a little bit & are there any problems using it with the little ones sharing the same circulating water?

 

[koietc]

I think I just found out why my adult rays are all messed up with their habits. back in picture one was my 2 females the lighter colored one had the 12 pups & I was thinking the dark one was soon. well, 9 more pups this evening. I hope after all this excitement my adults will settle back into their fun & interactive habits. Darren from monster fish bowl, look what you started. ha, ha, ha

 

[hondas3000]

I think I just found out why my adult rays are all messed up with their habits. back in picture one was my 2 females the lighter colored one had the 12 pups & I was thinking the dark one was soon. well, 9 more pups this evening. I hope after all this excitement my adults will settle back into their fun & interactive habits. Darren from monster fish bowl, look what you started. ha, ha, ha

nice now 9 + 12 = 21 pups, I am sure you feeding them hormone of some sort hahaha, j/k. Now it is a your full time to take care that many pups now.

 

[koietc]

here is pic of the 21 all together.

 

[hondas3000]

That is amazing, I breed a lot of ray too but never get 21 in short time like that, mine is like whole year add up . Good luck with the feeding..

 

[koietc]

I have tried just about everything to get them to eat. now, today I went back to bloodworms & about half of them got excited & seemed to eat a little. if they all get rolling I want to sell most of them to afford a pair of nice black & whites. maybe hondas3000 will still have his pair of bdxleo. hint, hint.