New Little One

[TNT77]

I got this little cutie today. :)
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0054.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0053.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0063-1.jpg

[Second Hand Pat]

Not sure about cute but certainly very cool.

[TNT77]

Not sure about cute but certainly very cool.
Aww Pat your gonna hurt her feelings. Shes got to be the friendliest ray I've gottin in so far.

[jimg]

Nice! good luck with it.

[Second Hand Pat]

Tell her that she is awesome too ;)

[nwehrman]

Nice ray!

[TNT77]

Nice ray!
Thanks. :) She has a really nice pattern to her. It should darken up in the next couple days.

[Ike]

Rays are so cool! Too bad they are outlawed here in AZ. I didn't know there were freshwater aquarium species :)

[TNT77]

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0048.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0050.jpg

[DLock3d]

Tara, how many do you have? What size tank for the rays? Do you breed them?

[TNT77]

I have 3 retics and 2 new hystrix. One of the new hystrix I'm still not sure I'm going to be able to get her to pull through. She came in really bad shape. Place I got her from will replace her if she dies but I'm not going to give up on her quite yet. And I am hoping to breed but atm I only have one full adult and all the females are still quite young. The older rays are going in a 210g when it finishes cycling and the young hystrix are going in a 75g to growout for a while.

[DLock3d]

Do you have any good links for beginners to rays? Do they require as much attention as discus?

[TNT77]

Monsterfishkeepers has some really good begginer articles on rays. And they can be more difficult than discus at times. They require the same water quality that discus do but they require ALOT more room. I'm pushing it a bit with my 24" width on my tank I would rather be at 30" but if I have anything that looks like its going to get too big I do have a 7' X 7' pond I can set up. Or hopefully have a bigger ray tank by then. :) The smallest of the rays; retics, hystrix, and scobina still can get to 14" disk width. And wc retic rays can be a PITA to get to eat. Took my 3 retics about 2 weeks to get eating decent. If you want to start with a small rays the hystrix are far better eaters than retics; but they tend to be double in price. The scobina are hard to come by and very pricey out of the three but they are very pretty rays.

[TURQ64]

I had a funny twist with my Hystrix today..I switched to Louisiana Nightcrawlers from Canadian. The Hystrix are in with WC Greens and Blues...When I fed them the new Nightcrawlers, none hit the bottom; the Discus sucked up every 'crawler!...That's a first for me..They must be softer than Canadians or something...

[TNT77]

I had a funny twist with my Hystrix today..I switched to Louisiana Nightcrawlers from Canadian. The Hystrix are in with WC Greens and Blues...When I fed them the new Nightcrawlers, none hit the bottom; the Discus sucked up every 'crawler!...That's a first for me..They must be softer than Canadians or something...
Where do you get your crawlers from?

[TURQ64]

I've had several bad experiences ordering 'crawlers..You'd think with my proximity to Canada, but..anyway, these are great..They don't need refridgeration, like Canadians..I got them from D&S Wormfarm ..bed run 1 lb. 48.00

[TNT77]

Thanks I've been thinkin about trying to switch the bigger rays over to nightcrawlers.

[Sean Buehrle]

Pretty cool.

[TNT77]

Just wanted to show the progress of the other little ray I recieved.
Day 1
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0062-1.jpg
Couple days later.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0047.jpg
Today. :)
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT00483.jpg

[TNT77]

My little girls. :)
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT00432.jpg

[Second Hand Pat]

Tara, how do you sex these guys? Seems like their body color deepens as they settle?

[TNT77]

Males have a clasper..a stingray pee pee :) on their pelvic fins. They are extremely easy to sex.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/clasper.png

[Second Hand Pat]

Ray sex class is in session....if only discus were as easy ;)

[TNT77]

And yes they do get a deeper color as they settle. And in most strains of rays they also darken as they grow. The little one is about a 1/2" smaller than the other ray.

[TNT77]

Ray sex class is in session....if only discus were as easy ;)
Haha ya not alot you see a male with 2 pee pees. :D LOL it would take away alot of the fun if discus were too easy.

[Second Hand Pat]

All true Tara ;)

[TURQ64]

They are mature when the clasper's curl up like a rolled up poster..

[TNT77]

Updates on the girls. They have been eating great so I decided to give them a bit of sand to bury in.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0073.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0072.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0070.jpg

[TNT77]

They are mature when the clasper's curl up like a rolled up poster..
Believe they also get swollen looking. My larger male is mature enough to breed but all my females are a bit young yet.

[Second Hand Pat]

Looking good Tara, bet they like the sand?

[TNT77]

The smallest one seems alot less scared, more relaxed since I put the sand in. They dont really bury themselves much but they seem happier. Maybe the reflection off the bottom got to them a bit.

[TNT77]

Just an update on these girls.
This is the skinny one when I got her.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0062-1.jpg
Today
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/PICT0008.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/PICT0005.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/PICT0001.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/PICT0009.jpg

[Disgirl]

I work at a public aquarium with the saltwater rays. When one gets that skinny it usually dies. You have done a great job at fattening that one up Tara! What all did you feed it to get it back to good health?
Barb

[TNT77]

I work at a public aquarium with the saltwater rays. When one gets that skinny it usually dies. You have done a great job at fattening that one up Tara! What all did you feed it to get it back to good health?
Barb
Frozen/live blackworms and my frozen mix I make for my discus..the rays go nuts over it. I want to add red wrigglers at some point also they are getting big enough to accept them without having to cut them up. It did take about a week or so to get her eating..I had to hand feed her several times a day. But once she started on her own she ate with a vengence.

[Rummy]

They are so precious. It is incredible how they have put on so much weight. Wonderful job. Please keep us updated.

[Second Hand Pat]

Quite the difference. Good going Tara. She looks fabulous.

[TNT77]

Realized I hadnt posted a pic here in a while. These girls are getting huge.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/PICT0060.jpg

[Rummy]

Beautiful. What size are they now? How old are they? About a year?

[TNT77]

Beautiful. What size are they now? How old are they? About a year?
They are between 9-9.5" right now I believe. And I think you are close..not sure the growth rate of wc hystrix in the wild. They had to be close to 4" when I got them in December.

[Chicago Discus]

I should post a photo of my little guy.....yours are so big...Josie

[DLock3d]

It makes me so mad that fresh water rays are illegal in Texas. :(

[TNT77]

It makes me so mad that fresh water rays are illegal in Texas. :(
They have such personalities. The one that used to be skinny is so personable and the other female is a food stalker...she pounces her cubes lol. I think it might be all the hand feeding I had to do with the one in the beginning that makes her more friendly. The retic male that is in the tank with them has a hard time getting to the food first so he has devised his way of stealing. He comes up when they are eating and swims under the girls and steals the cube. Its funny to watch.

[DLock3d]

Do the freshwater rays have poison barbs? have you ever been stuck? Not sure how all that works.

[TNT77]

Do the freshwater rays have poison barbs? have you ever been stuck? Not sure how all that works.
Yes they do have the stingers you can see them in some of the pictures. And no Ive only comes close once and it was when I was transferring a huge retic male to another tank. It really takes alot I think to make most of them sting something. The stinger really doesn't inject a poison like a scorpion does its covered in a mucus that contains the poison which is contained within a thin sheath. When the stinger is stabbed into something little spikes along the stinger or the tip of the stinger rip the sheath and the poison is then transferred to the wound. The poison in a really simple way of putting it rots away any tissue it is exposed to among other things.

[shoveltrash]

........trying to picture how you transfer a 9" ray from one tank to another.............
LOL
Tara they are beautiful!
you must be so proud to have saved that lovely female :)

[Disgirl]

Tara, if you ever get stung by the barb you need to put the stung part (hand, finger, etc) into water as hot as you can possibly stand it for 2 hours. It helps withdraw and neutralize the venom before it does too much damage. But the pain from a stingray hit, fresh or salt water, is intense. And poor Steve Irwin, Crocc. Hunter, had an 8" barb right into his heart. He had no chance.
Barb

[Second Hand Pat]

Tara, she has really grown for you. They both look great.

[nwehrman]

They look great Tara...


Nicole

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MaiaDee]

Uh-oh. Now I want rays.

They are great, Tara. Thanks for all the updates :)

[Discus-n00b]

I'd love to get a ray! I'm just so scared of the barb that I haven't lol And I'd need a bigger tank once they reach adult size lol

[TNT77]

........trying to picture how you transfer a 9" ray from one tank to another.............
LOL
Tara they are beautiful!
you must be so proud to have saved that lovely female :)
Thanks Trish I think they are too.
And it really isnt hard especially in sand. They bury if they get scared so all I have to do is scoop them up in a huge plastic bowl sand and all lol.

[TNT77]

Tara, if you ever get stung by the barb you need to put the stung part (hand, finger, etc) into water as hot as you can possibly stand it for 2 hours. It helps withdraw and neutralize the venom before it does too much damage. But the pain from a stingray hit, fresh or salt water, is intense. And poor Steve Irwin, Crocc. Hunter, had an 8" barb right into his heart. He had no chance.
Barb
Thanks for the info Barb. I did know that hotter places in the body tended to help neutralize the poison but never thought of that.
Ya the Steve Irwin thing was sad. They said it wasn't really the sting that initially killed him but the damage the spines did to his heart when he ripped the stinger out.

[TNT77]

The girls are getting big. This girl has a nice pattern to her.
Then.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0063-1.jpg
Now.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/DSC01561.jpg
But this girl has the personality.
Then.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/discus/PICT0062-1.jpg
Now.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/DSC01563.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/Rays/DSC01564.jpg

[nwehrman]

They are looking great! The transformation of them is amazing!


Nicole

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TNT77]

So there was alot of chasing and disk nipping by my retic male the last couple of weeks. The girls appetites have gone through the roof. So maybe...just maybe he got the job done. We will see what happens. :)

[ZX10R]

This was my male wish I still had him. Sold him a year ago to some guy in Indiana I called him back in the summer and tried to get him backed but the guy refuses to sell him.
http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac101/sig4s/Price023.jpg
http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac101/sig4s/Price015.jpg

[TNT77]

He would have been perfect I love the pattern on him.

[ZX10R]

He would have been perfect I love the pattern on him.

He was mature also as you can see :o

[TNT77]

He was mature also as you can see :o
Lol yes no doubts about that.

[ZX10R]

This is the place that has him and refuses to sell him back to me. The guy was a jerk in my opinion

http://www.aquaticsandexotics.com/store.htm

[TNT77]

The girls new man. Hopefully picking him up this week.
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l555/tbennett77/malehystrix.jpeg

[ZX10R]

The girls new man. Hopefully picking him up this week

Is this from that guy in Chicago my brother gave you the info on? Nice looking ray he has nice color and pattern

[TNT77]

Is this from that guy in Chicago my brother gave you the info on? Nice looking ray he has nice color and pattern
Yes he is. He is very nice and fully mature male. Exactly what I was looking for.

[ZX10R]

Yes he is. He is very nice and fully mature male. Exactly what I was looking for.

Great to hear :thumbsup:

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Nice looking fish Tara.

Are rays easy to moderate as far as getting them to spawn? Will they care for their babies like discus (if they don't eat them first) or?

Found this good article.

http://www.freshwaterstingray.nl/Engels/Breeding.html

[TNT77]

Nice looking fish Tara.

Are rays easy to moderate as far as getting them to spawn? Will they care for their babies like discus (if they don't eat them first) or?
Depends on the ray some wc just wont breed. And most separate the babies right after birth which is what I will be doing if I manage to pull it off.

[Second Hand Pat]

Nice looking male Tara. Good luck with the breeding aspect :)

[Trier20]

Looks great Tara! Photos never give a ray just. Always much cooler in person! Hope they make you some babies :)

[shoveltrash]

He is NICE Tara! Best of luck with the breeding :)

[Dogvet06]

beautiful rays...good luck in the breeding!