Stingray beginner needs help - Reticulated

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whynot91

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Stingray beginner needs help - Reticulated


So i bought a stingray and i loved the way it moves around and buries itself in the sand so i went and got 2 more. They are all reticulated (teacup) stringray. The one i got first is about 4.5 inches and 2 i got after are about 6 inches in diamater.

They seem to be ok but then i dont know anything about stingrays. My only concern right now is their feeding. I dont know what they are eating or even if they are eating. A lot of food i throw in there lands on the ground. This is what i'm feeding my other fish right now. Do they eat any of this?

1. Arowana sticks
2. cut up shrimp
3. cut up squid
4. cut up carrots
5. omega1 mix
6. super worms

Its a 180 gallon and these are the tank mates.

1. green arrowana
2. jardini arowana
3. 2 bichirs
4. peacock bass
5. 2 hi fin sharks
6. datnoid
7. pleco

Also, if anyone has recommendation as to what i can feed them considering thier age size. I know they love ghost shrimp but thats not going to fit in my budget.

Are stingray's mostly nocturnal?
 
Congrats on the new rays. First a few more questions for you. Are the rays you got wild caughts from a lfs store or where they in someone else care before this? Can you take ant pics of them for us? Rectics stay smaller in size than most stingrays and have quite abit smaller mouths than other speices. Besides the ghost shrimp your feeding you should start to get them over frozen food and pellets. Bloodworms is probably the most common to start and then mysis shrimp for frozen. For pellets you could try some form of discus sinking pellet to start. As they get bigger and settle in you can use cut up shrimp basically minced with sissors is the easiest, cut up trout worms (in 1/3's), cut up talapia and for pellets hakari carnivore and nls h20 wafers (brocken up) or lg. fish formula.
Your tankmates may not work for you as they get bigger. The jar for sure and the green possible when it gets full grown, bichers are hit and miss just make sure they are smalle than the ray, peacock bass when full grown may be a problem, hi-fin sharks I'm not sure, dats depending on the size and type an pleco also depends on the species. If it is a comon pleco no it won't work.
Stingrays will feed at anytime you offer food but often tend to hunt other tankmates more so in the night.
Once we ge a little more info we can offer some more advice.
Oh ya what are you using for filtration and tank temp?
And if these wildcaught and have not been in captivity for awhile keep them seperated until eating well and for the first week keep the tank covered and lights out. Once they are nice and fat and eating a good variety you can try with some of your tankmates and see if they are able to get the food and not picked o.
 
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Concentrate on making sure they get food!...make the effort to ensure they eat, eat and eat because that's going to be a tough way for them to get acclimatized to the tank with no energy. Try various foods, various sizes until they start biting!.
 
Here are the approx size of the fish i have in the tank. Right now i'm running 2 FX5's but i have extra spare which i dont mind running if i need to.

peacock bass - 4"
2 hi fin sharks - 2.5"
datnoid - 2"
pleco - 5.5"
green arrowana - 7"
jardini arowana - 5.5"
2 bichirs - 5"

@skynoch: I'm sorry i dont know if they were wild caught, i should have asked. I'm really a beginner with stingrays but i'm getting more and more interested in them.

@matt: how much do blackworms run for and where is a good place to buy them?

@chen: i hear you. I really cant tell if they are eat. They seem to love buring themselves and they seem comfy. I guess thats how they are in the wild. The bichir was giving one of them a tuff time now they have backed off. The bass doesnt seem to bother them but yes the bass want to get to food first.
 
They bury themselves as a reaction to be "undercover" from any predators...if you have one of those prongs or sticks to grab a few pcs of cut up shrimps try and get it down to them without spooking them and see if they will take it...try, try and keep trying with other food until they attemp...if they start chewing and spitting it out...keep at it with those food since it was good enough to get into their mouths..they would get use to them ....I know whenever I get new rays most of them being WC but most being well over 7-8" I have sleepless nights for the first week because of the feeding...eventhough they start eating on day one, it's not until they do it for a good 3-5 days straight until you're out of the woods.
 
Everything seems to be covered here. We will assume these are wildcaughts which will mean they need to be seperated from everything else to start just to make sure they are able to eat. I didn't mention blackworms because they are almost impossible to find in Canada but if you can find them they are great starters. Go with the ghost shrimp or bloodworms to start otherwards.
These rays are usually packed with too many per bag when shipped and usually suffer from ammonia problems which make them hard to get started or keep.
Good Luck
 
Here is an updated video of my tank with the new 3 rays and 2 hi find sharks:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzOJ8-cJoI"]YouTube - 180 Gallon Monster tank - part 2[/ame]
 
So i put extra super worms in my tank so they fall on the ground and put the cut up shrimp/squid at the same time.

My 2 big stingray's were eating the superworms and shrimp! Eureka! I did take the advise of cutting them up into smaller pieces, i guess that was the trigger.

I noticed they just kind of take their time, they are also trying to get to know their new tank mates. I think their biggest threat honestly is the bichirs which i think i'm going to have to give up. The peacock bass, dat and sharks don't care for them much.
 
Good stuff!...now it's a matter to keep them going on the food for a good week or so to get them going!....as long as everyone gets a bit of food in! including the bichirs...
 
Good to hear they are starting to eat. I'm really surprised as most rays aren't that interested in superworms. Try giving dew worms or trout worms a try and you will see them freak over them if they eat superworms.
 
I know i was so pleasantly surprised!

On the advise of someone here i just watched them for 20 to 30 minutes. I honestly think yesterday was the first time they ate after i moved them to my tank. They moved very slowly like they were dragging towards the food.

Today they seem to be so much more active and swimming everywhere. I cant really see thier mouths but i cant tell they are eating cuz they keep boping thier heads and then when they move away the food is gone :P

I gotta say i'm lovin the ray experience!
 
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