Future of the Ray Keeping Hobby?
- Thread starter DB junkie
- Start date
No breeding standards overseas, so the market is getting flooded with mutts, cheap rays by design, are now even cheaper due to a large influx of them into the market. You can get very attractive looking hybrid pups, but a lot quickly get ugly, or fail to thrive as adults.
yea its really all over the place. theres a motoro hybrid for sale on here for $500.
i just think people are throwing numbers around at this point. if anyone wants to meet me at the ontario boarder id be happy to buy some cheap rays. even mutts
In addition to all of the other observations made (influx of cheap mutt rays, energy inflation, etc.), I think demographics are playing a role too.
As the Baby Boomers age out of the big fish hobby, I think the hobby will decline. I've seen quite a few boomer hobbyists retire from active big fish keeping. They get old enough that the maintenance is just too much work. Or they get sick or die. As until very recently the largest demographic, the boomers leaving the hobby is having an impact. Generation X is a far smaller demographic than the boomers and so can not pick up all the slack. Boomers tend to have more $$$ too, and are more likely to have the home space needed for big fish keeping.
As for the Millennials/GenY? I think they are in general less into fish and more into computers; further I think they are less likely to have the home space or discretionary income needed to keep big fish like rays.
Another factor contributing to the decline of stingray keeping is (I think) Covid. Covid produced a short but sweet burst in activity for ray keeping, and big fish keeping in general. As a side hustle I have imported Asian arowana and tank mates for 20 years, and I've seen demand for rays and big fish come and go repeatedly. But I have never seen a demand spike like occurred in the depths of Covid. With the government $$$ money and time on their hands stuck at home a lot of people either jumped into the big fish hobby or else indulged more. Now that we are out of Covid with a bit of an inflationary hang-over, I think a lot of people are jumping back out.
Will stingray keeping ever come roaring back to the glory days of 10-15 years ago? Given the changes in human demographics and the broader economy I doubt it. But I am sure there will be demand spikes in future. We seem to be in a bit of a lull now.
As the Baby Boomers age out of the big fish hobby, I think the hobby will decline. I've seen quite a few boomer hobbyists retire from active big fish keeping. They get old enough that the maintenance is just too much work. Or they get sick or die. As until very recently the largest demographic, the boomers leaving the hobby is having an impact. Generation X is a far smaller demographic than the boomers and so can not pick up all the slack. Boomers tend to have more $$$ too, and are more likely to have the home space needed for big fish keeping.
As for the Millennials/GenY? I think they are in general less into fish and more into computers; further I think they are less likely to have the home space or discretionary income needed to keep big fish like rays.
Another factor contributing to the decline of stingray keeping is (I think) Covid. Covid produced a short but sweet burst in activity for ray keeping, and big fish keeping in general. As a side hustle I have imported Asian arowana and tank mates for 20 years, and I've seen demand for rays and big fish come and go repeatedly. But I have never seen a demand spike like occurred in the depths of Covid. With the government $$$ money and time on their hands stuck at home a lot of people either jumped into the big fish hobby or else indulged more. Now that we are out of Covid with a bit of an inflationary hang-over, I think a lot of people are jumping back out.
Will stingray keeping ever come roaring back to the glory days of 10-15 years ago? Given the changes in human demographics and the broader economy I doubt it. But I am sure there will be demand spikes in future. We seem to be in a bit of a lull now.
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I'm pretty much stuck in the middle on this topic... Pure blood are definitely needed.
But I tend to like hybrids as well. Simply because some of them are absolutely gorgeous and their patterns are one of a kind.
In a perfect world I would love to have enough space to keep several different pureblood species and also a tankful of hybrids.
As far as the aquarium hobby goes for stingrays in particular... I believe there will always be hobbyists wanting to keep stingrays. There's a new generation of people born every year.
I think the key is making sure experienced hobbyists are willing to help and give them the direction they need.
... And my negative thoughts toward hybrids mostly comes from Asia. With the exception of the high-end breeders I would say there are a lot of breeders overseas who create hybrids calling them pure blood and definitely messing up the gene pool.
With imported wild caught stingrays slowly declining there is a strong possibility the pure bloods will eventually disappear from The hobby.
But I tend to like hybrids as well. Simply because some of them are absolutely gorgeous and their patterns are one of a kind.
In a perfect world I would love to have enough space to keep several different pureblood species and also a tankful of hybrids.
As far as the aquarium hobby goes for stingrays in particular... I believe there will always be hobbyists wanting to keep stingrays. There's a new generation of people born every year.
I think the key is making sure experienced hobbyists are willing to help and give them the direction they need.
... And my negative thoughts toward hybrids mostly comes from Asia. With the exception of the high-end breeders I would say there are a lot of breeders overseas who create hybrids calling them pure blood and definitely messing up the gene pool.
With imported wild caught stingrays slowly declining there is a strong possibility the pure bloods will eventually disappear from The hobby.
