Planning on getting first ray, advise needed:)

[Censis]

Hi guys, have not kept rays before, planning to get a ray for my comm, need to clear some doubts before purchasing one, hope you can help me

Planning on a teacup ray for a start, and I have some questions.

- what's the minimum tank size for a ray( for my case teacup ray )

- on the safety issue(MOST CONCERNED) with rays, I'm concerned about their stinger on their tails, normally do you guys remove the stinger or leave it there or what? Does is mean it'll be dangerous for me to put my hand in tank to do tank maintainence?

- heard rays cannot take salt, reason why and if I have added salt in my comm before, is it okay to add in a ray?

- would bare bottom be okay for them or they need fine gravel?

- any other major things to take note of?

Hope you guys can help me, have not kept a ray before

Anything eles which you find that I need to know could be input in your replys, all replys will be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

[Raynatic]

Originally Posted by Censis

Hi guys, have not kept rays before, planning to get a ray for my comm, need to clear some doubts before purchasing one, hope you can help me

Planning on a teacup ray for a start, and I have some questions.

- what's the minimum tank size for a ray( for my case teacup ray )

- on the safety issue(MOST CONCERNED) with rays, I'm concerned about their stinger on their tails, normally do you guys remove the stinger or leave it there or what? Does is mean it'll be dangerous for me to put my hand in tank to do tank maintainence?

- heard rays cannot take salt, reason why and if I have added salt in my comm before, is it okay to add in a ray?

- would bare bottom be okay for them or they need fine gravel?

- any other major things to take note of?

Hope you guys can help me, have not kept a ray before

Anything eles which you find that I need to know could be input in your replys, all replys will be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

IMO

you might wanna start with a motoro instead of teacup as they are much easier to keep, secondly, I don't think anyone would remove the sting when they are small, just be a little bit more careful while handling and you should be fine, bare bottom would be easier for maintenance and cleaning, and lastly be wary of adding medications in the water as rays are very sensitive, have fun and enjoy

[Censis]

Originally Posted by Raynatic

IMO

you might wanna start with a motoro instead of teacup as they are much easier to keep, secondly, I don't think anyone would remove the sting when they are small, just be a little bit more careful while handling and you should be fine, bare bottom would be easier for maintenance and cleaning, and lastly be wary of adding medications in the water as rays are very sensitive, have fun and enjoy

Thanks for your reply, will consider motoro too.. Is there anyway to prevent me getting a chance to get stung from the ray? Like, is there anything I can do to permanently remove the sting or ensure that I'm safe?

[Raynatic]

Originally Posted by Censis

Thanks for your reply, will consider motoro too.. Is there anyway to prevent me getting a chance to get stung from the ray? Like, is there anything I can do to permanently remove the sting or ensure that I'm safe?

there is no permanent way to remove the sting, stingrays aren't aggressive, so they do not stick up their tails to attack like scorpions,so you just needa be careful,by not touching the sting yourself.

[Oneiromancer]

As long as you don't attempt any funny stuff, it should be fine. I've thankfully not been stung so far.

Agree with the recommendation for Motoros. Teacups aren't as hardy.

[EvolutionZ]

Im keeping a trio of teacup (2m, 1f) in my 422 and ill try to help...

Originally Posted by Censis

Hi guys, have not kept rays before, planning to get a ray for my comm, need to clear some doubts before purchasing one, hope you can help me

Planning on a teacup ray for a start, and I have some questions.

- what's the minimum tank size for a ray( for my case teacup ray )
i would say for adult teacups, at least 422 tank. Since they max out at 12".

- on the safety issue(MOST CONCERNED) with rays, I'm concerned about their stinger on their tails, normally do you guys remove the stinger or leave it there or what? Does is mean it'll be dangerous for me to put my hand in tank to do tank maintainence?
No one remove the stings on the ray, it might kill the stingray, or you will get stung by the ray... so far for my tank, i avoid the stingray as much as i can. But as long as you do not disturb it, they will not sting you. But i was once stung by my small motoro years back though.. suddenly strike my hand when i got near him. had to go clinic to take a jab.

- heard rays cannot take salt, reason why and if I have added salt in my comm before, is it okay to add in a ray?
I believe ray cannot take salt because they are scaleless fish. Therefore unable to tolerate salt content. i suggest u do multiple large water change before adding a ray in.

- would bare bottom be okay for them or they need fine gravel?
Bare bottom is fine, but IMO they do very well in fine gravel like SUDO bottom sand.. just like their natural enviornment. they love to hide in the same. calms them down i guess.

- any other major things to take note of?
I noticed that for Teacup ray, getting them to feed whatever they want is priority, i had another female with me. Tried all the live food i could, but the female just dont want to feed.. end up dying 1week after i bought her. My 2 males is feeding on Frozen blood worm and the female is still on live Tubi.

Hope you guys can help me, have not kept a ray before

Anything eles which you find that I need to know could be input in your replys, all replys will be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

I hope the above can help you...

[Censis]

Originally Posted by Raynatic

there is no permanent way to remove the sting, stingrays aren't aggressive, so they do not stick up their tails to attack like scorpions,so you just needa be careful,by not touching the sting yourself.

Originally Posted by Oneiromancer

As long as you don't attempt any funny stuff, it should be fine. I've thankfully not been stung so far.

Agree with the recommendation for Motoros. Teacups aren't as hardy.

Originally Posted by EvolutionZ

Im keeping a trio of teacup (2m, 1f) in my 422 and ill try to help...




I hope the above can help you...

Thanks for your replys guys, think I roughly got the ideas about keeping stingrays.. Espescially on the sting part, if you don't disturb them they won't disturb you.

But I still have a tinge of fear about the barb thing, best if its safe, if really no choice, I'll have to just bear with it. Another thing is I saw some people rays they put a " plastic tube " on it's sting, like " covering " the sting.. Does it work? Like, it is a temporary thing where after a cetern period of time it will just come out?

Thanks guys, finding ways to minimise the chances of danger, but if there's really no choice, I'll have the ray with the sting and avoid it as much as possible.

[Jon-san]

Bro, rays change their stingers every few months. Attempting to re-attach the tube every time a new stinger is produced just increases the chances of you being stung. Most tank maintenance is done on the walls of the tank anyways, should be no issues with being stung while doing tank maintenance. For me, I just use a big net to push them away from the spot I'm working on. As long as you don't attempt to pat your ray, I don't see any reason why you would get stung at all. Oh, and do remember to remove the old stingers from the tank once the rays have shedded them off. You wouldn't want your ray to accidentally spear themselves with their discarded stingers. I'm keeping all the stingers from my 2 rays. Can see a significant growth in the size.

[Censis]

Originally Posted by Jon-san

Bro, rays change their stingers every few months. Attempting to re-attach the tube every time a new stinger is produced just increases the chances of you being stung. Most tank maintenance is done on the walls of the tank anyways, should be no issues with being stung while doing tank maintenance. For me, I just use a big net to push them away from the spot I'm working on. As long as you don't attempt to pat your ray, I don't see any reason why you would get stung at all. Oh, and do remember to remove the old stingers from the tank once the rays have shedded them off. You wouldn't want your ray to accidentally spear themselves with their discarded stingers. I'm keeping all the stingers from my 2 rays. Can see a significant growth in the size.

Alright bro Jon San, guess the best thing is still leaving the stingers alone and rays alone.. Just curious, when their stingers have dropped, are the stingers still poisonous?

[azon]

Originally Posted by Censis

Alright bro Jon San, guess the best thing is still leaving the stingers alone and rays alone.. Just curious, when their stingers have dropped, are the stingers still poisonous?

only still poisonous if just drop off with the skin still intact.. once the skin peel off than the stinger is nothing but a piece of bone..