Blue spotted Stingray from Carti

[jhlebumfacil]

Hi. I was planning to buy a blue spotted stingray from Carti (it costs about 500) for my 100g FOWLR (still in planning stage). Any suggestions for food, main tank setup (e.g DSB), others?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

[philaquarist]

Hi jhlebumfacil,

Looks like your tank is way too small.. suggest you read through the FAQ's in WetWebMedia, where Calfo advises a tank of "200 gallons bare minimum... and more importantly, the most common species in the trade, Taeniura lymna, is staggeringly difficult to even keep alive (truly for experts and public aquaria only). If you must have a blue spotted ray, please seek the hardier Dasyatis kuhlii... less blue spots but much more likely to survive (small and adaptable)". There's much more info also available on the reef fish book series by Scott Michael.

BTW, this was one of my mortal sins in my past aquarium life: keeping a sting ray in a way-too-small (and overcrowded) normal-dimension aquarium, way back in the 70's. If I have the chance to do it all again, I'd keep one in a BIG (but wide and shallow) tank, very similar to the way freshwater stingrays are kept.

Phil

[jhlebumfacil]

[jhlebumfacil]

[philaquarist]

Hi jhlebumfacil,

To the best of my recollection, I've tried to take care of a blue-spotted sting ray three times, all without sucess. Mind you, this was in the 1970's, when I had a 60x18x18 inches marine plywood tank, which was already a very big tank for those days.

The first one died in less than two weeks without eating. But again, believe it or not in those days, that was probably a very normal aquarium lifespan for exotic fish (meaning fishes other than damselfish ).

And just like the practice then, that did not stop me from immediately ordering another one! (O.T. in those days, one would "order" his desired fish, as the only marine LFS then did not keep regular stocks of anything except damselfish; then you would hope that the order would arrive in a few months).

When it arrived, the second one also refused to eat, and died (I think in a week or so). BTW, I would try to feed the stingray with shrimp or with crabmeat, just like all thge other fishes in my tank. I tried for a third time. This one finally ate, but again after a few days, it stopped eating, and died soon after.

From my little readings on this topic, here are some thoughts (I can't guarantee they are all correct )

1) All sting rays need a large area with uncluttered/unobstructed fine sand, where thay can freely move (and or hide partially buried). I think most normal hobby tanks are too narrow (a specimen of Taeniura lymna that is 12" wide could hardly maneuver in a tank that is only 18" wide and is full of live rock). People who keep freshwater sting rays usually keep them in special tanks (wider and shallower, with just a few rocks as a hiding place). Maybe that's the right approach. The other way is to keep rays (and sharks) in salt-water ponds (I read about such a pond in WetWebMedia which was somehing like 8ft long and 4ft wide).

2) I have also read that even when they do eat, many sting rays eventually die of bacterial infections which result from small body wounds, received when they scrape against corals or rocks. In a crowded tank, this will surely happen.

3) In my entire life, all the sting rays I have seen in cartimar are presumably Taeniura lymna. As the WetWebMedia gang have written, these are almost impossible to keep for long, and should really be left for professional or public aquaria. I have never seen the "other" blue-spotted stingray Dasyatis kuhlii, which is supposedly easier to keep and smaller. In fact, I did not even know that such an alternative existed until about a year ago, when I accidentally read about it. Since I am not capable of differentiating the two species, I guess one would need to do some research.

HTH,

Phil

[Gamol]

Sir phil. I guess the Dasyatis kuhlii has a triangle shaped body and has a long and slender tail.. I've seen these in my diving trips.. I saw some before at cartimar.. Selling for 450pesos..

These are the picture:


And the guitar shark that I saw:


And myself:


OT:I dont know how to post pictures... I cant get it.. Kailangan ko ng hands on na magtuturo..

[jackryan]

bro, just put the pics using this script format...

[img]URL_of_the_pics_here[/img]

[Gamol]

Ok bro.. Thanx

[philaquarist]

[Gamol]

[jhlebumfacil]

Phil, you lost me when you wrote Taeniura lymna... just kidding... Your comprehensive explaination left me at awe ... there's so much to know...

Gamol, I really appreciate the pictures (except the last one, just kidding ) pictures do provide a big difference when you see one what you're writing about.

Whew! reefphilippines.com indeed has a lot of experts and hat's off to you Phil and Gamol... newbies like me are really blessed with this wonderful website.

Cheers,

JH

[Gamol]

Yup! RP is very helpful and humble mga peepz dito at mababait pa.. Marami tutulong sao dito..