looking for sting ray experiences

reefwars · #1 05-13-2010, 01:40 AM

planning on making a saltwater stingray tank out of a 120g tank looking for any advice you may have like filter sand protein skimmer tank mates etc anything at all thanks

dsaundry · #2 05-13-2010, 03:50 AM

120g is way too small imo. 300g-500g would be a minimum and I think that is too small..my 2 cents

whatcaneyedo · #3 05-13-2010, 04:12 AM

I've only first hand seen a blue spot and a cortez kept in captivity before. In both cases they were dead within a month. The blue spot was in a small store holding tank and the cortez was in a 225gal. Generally they need extremely large tanks with vast open sandbeds and are often very difficult to feed. I certainly wouldnt keep any ray in a 120gal either.

reefwars · #4 05-13-2010, 04:19 AM

all cents def welcome and i totally agree and keep in mind this is just a starter tank will upgrade when needed down the road hopefully a 300g then who knows maybe quittin time lol

reefwars · #5 05-13-2010, 04:24 AM

they say a blue spot grows to be 9 or 10 inches and needs 150-300 minimum and thats the ray im thinking of getting not sure how hard it is to find but ill deal with that later so i figure ill start with two small ones in a 120 and upgrade to a 300 maybe bigger depending on cost next summer as my final tank and use my 120 for either a sump for another tank or my oscars

whatcaneyedo · #6 05-13-2010, 01:44 PM

The disk of a blue spot might be 9 or 10 inches but the full length including the tail is easily a foot. If our little LFS in Prince George can bring in a blue spot you shouldnt have any problem getting one where you are. However how are you certain that you will receive a 'small' one? These are never stocked and need to be specially ordered so there wont be much to choose from. The one we had in town was a full foot long. Cortez are regarded by most as a more suitable ray for home aquaria.

I did a search for 'blue spot ray' on www.reefcentral.com in the Fish Only and Aggressive Tanks section. Only 3 pages of results came up but maybe there is something in there that will aid you:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/search...=1547138&pp=25

reefwars · #7 05-13-2010, 02:53 PM

thanks alot im gonna check those out im heading to calgary now for the day im gonna ask around down there while im checking the stores.i was talking with ken from blue world here in edmonton hes going to be the one to get them for me i belive im aiming as small as possible.hes had rays before and seems to know alot about them. im going to try to get 2-3" for starters im going to stress to them that they need to be small were looking have these guys for a long time.i was told buy a guy the other day diss the sump and go biggest skimmer i can buy any thoughts??? thanks for replying i need all the info i can get

whatcaneyedo · #8 05-13-2010, 03:06 PM

You're going to want to have as little liverock in the main tank as possible to maximize the sandbed area for the ray so I would say do a large sump and fill it with rock so that you can receive all of the benefits that it brings. With any tank containing larger than normal species of fish you want to have a skimmer that is rated for much higher than the actual system volume because you'll be dealing with larger than normal inputs of food and waste. My skimmer is rated for 400gal for my large snowflake eel even though my tank is only a 120gal (270gal system). I believe you also want a 3-5" sandbed of very fine perhaps oolithic sand as well for the ray to be able to properly burry itself.

karazy · #9 05-13-2010, 06:26 PM

i know this may sound like a dumb question, but why not do freshwater rays?

reefwars · #10 05-14-2010, 03:58 AM

im going to get the biggest skimmer i can get to fit and i think im going to turn my 120 into a sump when my rays start to grow .as for rock im thinking some soft edged peices in the end and the rest will go in the sump.i was told no sump was needed but it cant hurt and id feel better knowing its running.im going to go for a thick sandbed varrying in depth across the tank.any ideas on lighting anyone???

im starting with a 120 because im not sure how this will turn out if i can get a little success i will upgrade to a tank im thinking the longer the better.

the reason im going saltwater is because if it doesnt work out i can switch to a reef tank easily or a aggresive fish tank and already have other tanks going, ive never had rays and ive only met a small handful of people who did and they tell me that they are more lively but from all the ones ive seen in the store id have to disagree their always buried and the freshies are always out.

plus i grew up near the ocean and the salt and ocean smell remind me of it lol

thanks for all the advice guys!!