Are you kidding me? 😳

[danotaylor]

Friends I am very sad to say, that as hard as i have tried for the past month, I have not been able to break the recently added pure black diamond male to the foods that my other 3 rays take readily. He eats a little shrimp here and there but nothing consistently and is losing condition. He is even disinterested in night crawlers, I believe due to stress because he is getting picked on by the other (smaller) male. I have no long term separation solution that is viable.
I have been in contact with his previous owner, and we agree that it is better to get him into a habitation where he has a good chance to recover. I really wanted this addition to my existing trio to work out, but as it turns out, it is not to be, and is not in the best health interest of the BD male to persevere any longer.
I know a guy in northern KY that has an online store, Jason's Pleco's, and he has the resources to take him in and recondition him. He happens to have a hybrid marbled female that he is willing to give me as a trade for the BD male, and she is already eating what I feed my current 1M2F trio. I think the addition of another female will be more conducive to the type of attention my male wants to give, so it's a win win for us both. Here's a vid of the female;

 

[Backfromthedead]

Friends I am very sad to say, that as hard as i have tried for the past month, I have not been able to break the recently added pure black diamond male to the foods that my other 3 rays take readily. He eats a little shrimp here and there but nothing consistently and is losing condition. He is even disinterested in night crawlers, I believe due to stress because he is getting picked on by the other (smaller) male. I have no long term separation solution that is viable.
I have been in contact with his previous owner, and we agree that it is better to get him into a habitation where he has a good chance to recover. I really wanted this addition to my existing trio to work out, but as it turns out, it is not to be, and is not in the best health interest of the BD male to persevere any longer.
I know a guy in northern KY that has an online store, Jason's Pleco's, and he has the resources to take him in and recondition him. He happens to have a hybrid marbled female that he is willing to give me as a trade for the BD male, and she is already eating what I feed my current 1M2F trio. I think the addition of another female will be more conducive to the type of attention my male wants to give, so it's a win win for us both. Here's a vid of the female;

JasonsPlecosCichlids used to be pretty active on here, he'll figure out that problem ray no doubt. Unfortunate that the ray isn't working out, but pretty cool that you're doing everything possible to care for it, finding the right home for it. I guess you couldn't expect a free ray to come with no strings attached at all, definitely still in the green on your end though.

 

[danotaylor]

thanks Backfromthedead I appreciate the sentiment mate! I sure hope Jason can do what I could not!

 

[danotaylor]

The ray swap was successful last night. I’m very sad to have had to do this, but it was definitely in the best interest of the black diamond male. Jason has it in a 380gal tank with a few fish, but he is the only ray. The marbled female is much darker than the video of when she was in Jason’s shop last year, hopefully she lightens up over the white sand. Either way, at 20” disc width and 28” total length she’s a big girl.
Here’s a video of her with her new friends this morning. She ravenously ate the carnivore pellets I fed this morning so we’re off to a great start feeding wise!

 

[wednesday13]

Glad it worked out for ya finally … That girl should lighten up soon. U def. made out in the end tho. 3 fm to one male is a much better ratio. IMO u would have ran into problems with 2 males together down the road anyway. Perfect now to just partition off the male when u have a prego female. Might not even have too with all the ladies to keep him busy.

 

[danotaylor]

wednesday13 thanks mate. I appreciate the input! The new gal has a pretty pattern, so I’m looking forward to her lightening up
Hopefully the 3 gals will keep that pesky male busy enough that he leaves the preggo one/s alone

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

So far, the male has settled in. Fed them shrimp tonight, ate one piece so far, mouths them, spits out, etc. Very active ray, noisy at the top of the tank but I like it. I will post some photos later.