Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Cornuta]

Hi baloo

Ive been doing a wee bit of browsing regarding the rays. I really need to get my hands on the P numbers Aqualog book. I have a few of them already but the ray one is always quite expensive and never seen it on eBay yet.

I think that I can rule out reticulata and i think you are right that I can rule out Histrix too. It doesn't help when they are imported under the wrong names and it seems that people post them under erroneous names too on the internet.

Anyway, closest I can see if either this http://www.raubwelse.de/galerie/rochen/r002.htm or this
http://www.raubwelse.de/galerie/rochen/r009.htm i am tempted to go with the yepezi as it morphologically it is the closer match.

Any other good site you know for IDing them?

cheers
Colin

[baloo]

you wilkl not find a better ray reference regarding pictures then the german sites. pay special attention to the tails as markings and thorns are the easiest way to id rays. i know the 2 sites you linked and they are good but as dealer sites not that acurate
email the webmaster at www.potamotrygon.de and ask him if he would agree to look at ur pics. andreas is one of the most knowlegeble private keepers over there. yepezi is quite possible but since so many variants are known it could also be a few other species. not as straight forward as with other fish. .........sadly

[stu__r]

Man gys im just in love with the rays.

How difficult are they to keep.

Ive never done much aquatic animal keeping. Would be realy interested in keeping rays in the future and im a sell confessed shark/ray fanatic.

Any info would be a great read.

[baloo]

they r not as difficult as pl make out stu bt then i'm doing ths for 24 yrs now so i have all the bavck ground info i need
basicly ur water needs to be tip top and a large filter system is needed to keep it that way

[Cornuta]

Yeah, like Baloo, I've been keeping fish 20 odd years and the freshwater rays are not too difficult to keep. I have also kept marine rays and catsharks which were a bit trickier and ultimately, they get bigger too.

Rays do well in a tank with a large surface area and relatively shallow water. EG My tank is nearly 4 foot front to back and over 5 feet wide but only about 2 feet deep. The bigger the tank the better.

My rays got used to feeding from reptile forceps within 2 - 3 days and i offer them raw prawns, earthworms, raw squid, raw octopus and other meaty bits and pieces too. This makes sure that I know exactly how much each individual is getting. I feed the puffer and Polypterus the same way too.

They need a fairly big filter, water temp about mid 70s, pH about 6.5 - 7 and a 12 hour day/night cycle. Most of the rest is really just general fish husbandry stuff with weekly 25% water changes etc.

Sometimes, newly imported rays are emaciated but they can put on weight quickly. Let me know if you ever decide to take the plunge and I can offer some more tips on what to look out for.

A ray like mine normally costs about £70 or so for about 10 - 15cm disc width

cheers
Colin

[baloo]

one thing that should bementioned is that rays are very active with the few exeptions of course, and utilise any surface area they can find. my motoro female goes up and down the glass on the front, back and sites of the tank. if you had a high tank it could actually work to the rays advantage especially if you wanna keep surface predators like arowanas who have been know to take large bites out of rays.
i keep and have kept aros with all my rays and had no problems but that don't mean it couldn't happen

[stu__r]

Thanks very much for all the great info. I will say it will be awile before i do go for a ray but im sure i will at some point altho keeping a shark would be a dream to me i must say.

What are the sizes of the species you guys are keeping??

Also what would you guys say is the general tank size for an individual??

Again thanks for the info and if and when i do choose to get anything like this i will get in contact.

Also any chance of pics of the catsharks mentioned??

[baloo]

in a 6x2x2you could keep potamotrygon scobina and potamotrygon reticulata aswell as potamotrygon orbigney. all 3 max out at about 12" disk with the retic having the longest tail.
my motoros will grow to about 2 foot diameter but 32" diameter females are known
there are a few species that grow to about 14 to 20 inch diameter that can live in a 7 or 8 foot tank by 2.5 foot wide. you have to realise how big some of these rays can get. a tigerray for example will grow to about 2 foot wide and 4 foot long.
a china ray will get to well over 3 foot wide.
you really need to figure out what tank you can afford and have space for before you decide on a ray. my motoros are temporary. i will have a trio of reticulated rays hopefully this year.
if you can keep up with the waste keeping rays is easy. forget what you read about them being difficult. once a ray has settled and is aclimatised they are very hardy. you have to get a good filter and if you use the e-heim type buckets you will need more then one. my big filter has a 200ltr volume. its what you call a 4 chamber filter