Is it normal for BDs to skip feedings sometimes?

M

mareshow

Banned
I picked up my rays about a month ago, there is two of them a male and a female. Yesterday i did a little larger than normal water change (about 60%) and then fed them and they ate fine. I feed them uncooked, deshelled MP. Today the male pounced on his food like normal but the female didnt come out from the sand to eat. now she's out and active. She didnt eat anything but i'm wondering is this normal or should i be worried? i checked all the water parameters and everything is normal.

help experts? am i just paranoid?


Edit: Alright so i went downstairs to get more shrimp and when i came up she had buried herself again, i suppose i'm a little paranoid because the other day i noticed a broken thermometer when i woke up in the morning but couldnt find the piece. I thought nothing of it when they were both acting normal and eating a boatload as usual but now i'm worried again i just dont know :S
 
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skynoch

skynoch

Moderator
How long before the 60% waterchange was your last one? Could be a ph swing if it was awhile before the 60% W.C.. How big is your normal waterchanges? What do you have for tankmates. Large W.C. could also effect other tankmates making them more active causing your one ray to be more stressed. Was there a big temp shift after the W.C.?
I would do a 30% W.C. each day for the next 3-5 days and see how she acts after that.
 
bcarlos

bcarlos

Member
Yeah a 60% water change is huge. Smaller, more frequent WC's work like a charm for me.

If the female continues uninterested in food, invest in some feeding tongs and try spot feeding her. I'd also sipon your sand and look for any broken pieces of that thermometer.
 
M

mareshow

Banned
she ate this morning and everything seemed fine, i normally do a 30%ish waterchange once a week, it was 8 days since my last one however but the weird thing is my other ray is completely fine... as for temperature i get it as close as possible when i do a water change oh well i guess i'll just have to watch and see.

also i havent added anything new to the tank or changed anything, they have a diet of about 95% MP and 5% the NLS wafers, maybe she is allergic to something in the wafers because i fed her them a couple days ago so...

also my aros are fine so hmmm. this morning when she ate she was pretty active and as for ph it doesnt really change around here so... but i'll check it again

edit: so i check the pH again and it has dropped from its usual 8 to about 7.8 i have no idea why but must be something around here i guess, i'm going to try a 30% WC today... great more stress yay....

i tested again for ammonia and nitrites and i got 0 so....
 
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skynoch

skynoch

Moderator
Some rays are more sensitive than others to water conditions and pups are extremely sensitive. I've had small pups die when I got chlorine into my system (very small trace) but everything else in the system and pups that were larger but the same age were fine and eating.
 
chen88

chen88

Super Moderator
Yup,I do 40% every 3-4 days max. Not sure what to do now that I've got the auto drip installed. Might do 20-30 % once a week instead?
 
M

mareshow

Banned
yeah i know i felt terrible for waiting 8 days, and i want the best care for my babies but you know how it is.... my girlfriend kept me up to late and i couldnt do a water change so... they are both really active now so i think it was just a little grump period or something you know how women are LOL
 
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