looking for a small ray 12" or smaller

[jayb12]

what are my options?

[sunfishh]

Do you mean a baby ray or a ray that stays 12" long?

[Octoshark]

Would this be going in your 250 gallon aggressive fish tank? And do you mean 12 inches including the tail? That is something to pay attention to when someone lists a size.

[Octoshark]

Well anyways, the Blue Spot Ray has a disc size of 12 inches. Be sure you look up the right species though as there is also a Diamond Blue Spot which is bigger.

The Blue Spot I am referring to is Taeniura lymma

LiveAquaria.com (recommends 250 gallons) and BlueZooAquatics.com (recommends 125 gallons but I would go with LiveAquaria's more generous recommendation) both sell the Blue Spot and both list max size 12 inches.

My only concern is that if it goes in the 250 gallon with the eel, some eels may pick on the Blue Spot Ray.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+288+289&pcatid=289
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?cid=24&pid=267&did=1

[Baldwin]

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've always heard that brown rays are hardier than the blue spot. I do think the blue spot is prettier though.

[vamaro]

Hi, I have 3 California round rays. You can get these as babies and they are easy to keep. I hand feed mine and they are like the family pets! I had a blue spotted ray in the past and it was much harder to keep and feed.

Be careful mixing the rays with the trigger and the angel. The rays often get picked on and get their eyes eaten.

The only trigger that I have in my tank with the rays are cross-hatchs. I even had a morish idol that was beating up a full grown ray.


Tusk - how is the tusk? I love those fish but never owned one?

[saltyguy51]

as vamaro said, california rays are the hardiest in the small catagory and max out at 12" accross but i have never seen one that big. The yellow rays are pretty hardy also and do grow alittle bigger than the Cal. rds.. There are the Atlantic rays that stay simular in size to these also and then like what was said, the blue dots, but are hard to get eating and even if you do get them to eat I have read they can stop all of a sudden and end up dying anyways. Once in a while I have heard people have kept them for years, no triggers (clown, huma, udulated,niger, or any aggressive ones at all) they will kill the Rays by causing infections from the wounds.

[jjk_reef00]

Go with the california ray. Mine is about 10" across and very active. I've seen my LFS try to keep blue spot rays and they are no where near as active or curious. My ray will swim to the top of the tank to be petted and always comes over to check things out when I'm working on the tank.

[tran901]

what is the very minimum size you can put a small/baby ray in?

[FishBoy05]

They could go in a 4 foot tank as long as you plan to upgrade in the future.

[vamaro]

You need to plan to have some space for them as they grow. However a lot depends on the personality of the ray. Some rays are really active and some spend most of their day hiding. When you go to purchase a ray, just watch them for a while and you will see what rays are more active. I built my tank at 30 inches wide to give them some additional space. My rays swim all day.

Rays are very cool to keep and are more like the family pet then your typical fish. All of my rays hand feed. My kid pets them, etc.

You need a really good quality and/or oversized skimmer too. They need to be fed everyday and they eat a lot. I was having some nitrate problems until I upgraded my skimmer. Now my nitrates are at about 2.

Soft sand is also needed. I use the Bermuda Pink form Carib-Sea. This is perfect for them.

[tran901]

i figured that my 75 would be too small for them...esp with the other fish in there....i guess i will have to wait till i get enough cash to build a big tank for one...they are just too pretty and gorgeous

[vamaro]

Yeah, 75 it too small to hold a ray unless you a building a new tank right away. But, the fish would have listed will all work fine with the rays. You just need a bigger tank.

Vince

[Octoshark]

California Stingray aka Round Stingray:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+288+2225&pcatid=2225 (not in stock but at least there is a supplier)

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=1&pid=273&cid=24 (listed as 23 inches max though)

[jayb12]

thanks for the heads up guys, this was very informative.
yes he is going in my 250 gal. i have soft dolomite as substate (was inteneded for a cat shark) i dont feel my trigger or angel will pose any problems, they are living very comfortably with 2 lionfish and never had a fin nip issue or confrontation.


my tusk fish is awesome, very curious and gentle fish, people love to look at his teeth!