any stingrays?

movadoman21

Member
hello i was just wondering if i can get a sting ray for my slat water tank and what other fish can they go with and where or what web site can i find them in?
thank you
 

ocellaris_keeper

Active Member
Unless you have a 300-500 gallon tank that is really long stay away from the sting rays. these animals need a lot of swimming space.
You will have to have ONLY fine sand in your tank (no other substrate and little or no LS - the sting rays will scrath themselves on the rock and die.
They're great looking animals that just are real tough to keep.
 

sammystingray

Active Member
Yellow stingrays are a very hardy animal in my opinion, and they need a tank atleast 125-150, and that's for the only stingray I would keep.....a yellow stingray. Not the best looking, but the only one that would fit in a tank that small and actually do well consistently. In my opinion, they don't need the room a shark or something would since they don't swim all the time....half the time they stayed buried up to their eyes in the sand. Not something for someone just starting in the hobby though. Sloppy eaters, and a heavy burden on the bioload.
 

polarpooch

Active Member
I have had great success with a bluespot in a 180. The key is bottom swimming area, though. You'd want a long, wide bottomed tank. Fine sand ("sugar sand") is the only substrate I use. No live rock for the ray to scrape herself on. No fish to bother the ray.
Also, water quality is more important to rays than some other hardier fish. They're fairly sensitive, so RO or DI water is essential, in my opinion. And you can't skimp on water changes.
This is strictly my opinion, but I think one of the reasons my bluespot does so well BESIDES water quality and tank size is that I have the tank way OUT OF THE WAY of everything. No foot traffic near the tank, no dog near the tank, no noise near the tank, no lights near the tank. I try to make sure nothing bothers her.
I will also say that I expect to move her to a larger tank when she gets bigger.
As for other rays, I agree that yellows would probably be the only other ray besides the bluespot that could remain in a (large) home aquarium. I hear yellows are much hardier than bluespots, too.
Aquarium Sharks and Rays by Scott Michael is an excellent book on ray keeping. In fact, I can't find much else out there about them. Buy it first if you're really serious about keeping stingrays.
 
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