szepesi@fluke.UUCP (Les Szepesi) (06/11/85)
I have a new 55 gallon freshwater aquarium that's in its second week of establishing the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle, and I'm thinking about how I'm going to populate it. Presently, I have a single black ghost knife. I am considering getting a freshwater ray that's available in one of the stores here and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this beast. I've been checking up on it for two weeks now, and it appears healthy. I understand the rays eat primarily tubifex. Do you feed them by pressing the worms against the glass, even though they're bottom feeders? Is it possible to have live plants with their habits of burrowing into the gravel? What about growth? A book I've consulted says they can grow to 4 feet in diameter, obviously too large for my aquarium. I've heard that fish will not outgrow there environment, but I have yet to hear a good explanation for this, so I'm inclined to doubt it. What if he does get to be that large? What is normally done with any fish that's outgrown its tank, beyond buying ever-larger aquaria? By the way, the ray in question is already about 1ft in diameter and living alone in a 15 gallon tank. Thanks in advance, Les -- Les Szepesi decvax\ John Fluke Mfg Co. ihnp4 >!uw-beaver\ PO Box C9090 MS 274G allegra >!fluke!szepesi Everett, WA 98206 USA ucbvax >!lbl-csam / (206) 356-6362 hplabs/
westling@cvl.UUCP (Mark Westling) (06/14/85)
Ask the pet shop people how they are feeding the ray. If they use
freeze-dried tubifex, they probably just squeeze it to remove the air and
then let it sink. It might be cheaper to try a variety of chopped lean
beef, shrimp, and earthworms. A friend who works at a pet shop told me
their rays would eat just about anything in small chunks that reached the
bottom, including dead feeder guppies. He also stressed that the tank
should have silica sand instead of gravel, otherwise the ray could be
bruised when it tries to bury itself.
Java fern would be a good plant to try. You tie it or wedge it to a piece
of weighted driftwood so it's near the bottom but not rooted in the sand.
Hygrophila is another tough plant; if you bury three inches of the stalk it
should be stable long enough to develop roots. And if all else fails, you
can use small ceramic flowerpots sitting on top of the sand to hold
swordplants or anything else. I've seen this done, and it doesn't look all
that bad (well, you get used to it).
I once read that some fish release a growth-inhibiting hormone into the
water, so the greater the number of fish, the more concentrated the hormone
and the smaller the individual fish. I don't think this would apply to rays
since they belong to a primitive class, and I can't imagine a body of water
overpopulated by rays (what a scary thought).
Some public aquariums will take an overgrown pet off your hands, and some
aquarium shops will allow you to exchange a fish for other fish or merchandise
if they think they can resell it. I would seriously ask around, because it
won't take much for a 1-ft. ray to outgrow a 55 gallon tank.
Also find out what to do if you're stung. In the movie "Bye Bye Brazil,"
there is a scene in which a man is stung by a freshwater ray, and his friend
tells him that the best ointment is urine and ... well, you get the idea.
Good luck!
--
-- Mark Westling
ARPA: westling@cvl CSNET: westling@cvl
UUCP: ...!{seismo,allegra}!rlgvax!cvl!westlinggold@druil.UUCP (GoldGT) (06/25/85)
I've had several freshwater rays and they're really easy to take care of. I kept mine in a 29 gallon tank with an undergravel filter and an outside power filter. I didn't have any plants in it and I used gravel, but the idea of using sand sounds good if you can keep it clean. The ray's favorite food seemed to be goldfish, but nightcrawlers were also accepted. I could only find one article when I bought my first ray and it said that they were not poisonous, so I would feed him by hand and could also pet him. Months later I found several articles that said the sting is poisonous and could be fatal! I don't think there is any problem as long as the stinger is removed and the wound is well cleaned. I was much less jumpy about putting my hand in the tank with one of my rays than I was about cleaning a tank with a pair of big Oscars in it! Mine lived one to two years and never got more than a foot in diameter, not counting the tail. I've read that they've been spawned in captivity in large tanks. If I remember right the pair was at least two feet in diameter. This just may be the most interesting fish you'll ever own! -- G. Terry Gold druxx!gold 30E104 (303) 538-1135