Recently, I have confirmed that I would be getting a ~200g tank during this December. One of the ideas that crossed my mind on stocking the tank involved a few Discus fish, and possibly a Teacup Stingray or two. Could this be done? The substrate would be sand, and the filtration would powerful, I'd assume.
Thinking about a Stingray + Discus tank
- Thread starter Alvin.C.1114
- Start date
Yea. Just be prepared for alot of water changes or a drip system
Sent from my iPod touch using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPod touch using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Yes, it can be done. And yes, your discus' faces might get chewed off. (and yes, I'm speaking from experience!) 
It'll last for a while, but once your rays get over 5ish inches, anything is game! If you don't mind the possibility of an expensive discus snack, I think they'd look beautiful together!
It'll last for a while, but once your rays get over 5ish inches, anything is game! If you don't mind the possibility of an expensive discus snack, I think they'd look beautiful together!I am sure results can vary, but I have successfully been keeping FW stingrays and Discus for 5 + years now with no issues. The Marbled Motoro Male in my profile picture (with his Discus friends) is approximately 12 inches and I have never seen any signs of aggression toward the Discus. They look great together and the only negative (but not really) is the frequent water changes to keep the water parameters in-order........The Discus even help to clean-up the small pieces of shrimp and/or massivore left-over in the tank after the rays eat.....
I had this combo for about 8 months, rays never bothered the discus until one day one of my 9" marbles pinned a 5" discus and got a good taste of him. Within 2 weeks I lost 3 discus from them getting their eyes sucked out. They look good together but the discus move way too slow and at night they like to sit on the bottom where the rays have easy access.
We have a similar setup with 2 rays and 4 discus. No one has bothered each other but the rays are only 5-6" across right now. We do have a Royal Blue discus in there that is only 2", and he gets right in the middle of the blackworm pile to get his fair share, and no one but the other discus has messed with him. If you don't feel comfortable risking high priced fish with rays, you could get some geos. It's neat to watch them follow the rays around at feeding time to grab the leftovers the rays kick up. I was worried about the geos munching on their disc, but that hasn't ever been a problem. Either one of these setups is really beautiful!
I think it will work for a while, but eventually something has to give. I had motoros and a leopoldi x pearl with an assortment of large tankmates for about two years, then it went downhill fast. First it began with 6 burundi frontosa about 6 inches each they had grown up with in a 24 hr period, saved the rest of the colony once I set another tank up. Then a 6 inch flagfin and numerous similar sized tinfoil barbs, all fast swimmers but everyone has to sleep sometimes. I moved out all the smaller tankmates when the rays got to 12 inches and left only fish that should be off the menu. Over the next year and a half they darted a 17 inch tigrinus, a 17 inch broko peacock bass, and a royal clown knife over 24 inches. The got a little to close during feeding time and took a barb from a defensive ray. The tig took almost a month to die, swimming in clockwise circles and not able to stay balanced, clearly a neurological problem due to toxin. The bass and the knife both did the exact same thing and died within 18 hours of being darted.
Point is, try it for a while but be ready to move the discus after the first attack. Once they get the taste its over. Only thing I have had long term without issue is a silver arowana. They were together until the aro hit the 30 inch mark then it was time to go. He went to a 500 gallon.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Point is, try it for a while but be ready to move the discus after the first attack. Once they get the taste its over. Only thing I have had long term without issue is a silver arowana. They were together until the aro hit the 30 inch mark then it was time to go. He went to a 500 gallon.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
And to add to coyote thugs story, I lost a 24" silver aro to a motoro sting. Died in about a week. Curled up in a corner swimming irratically... took me a while to put the math together tho. I aslo considered discus n ray and everyone told me the same horror stories. I went with datnoids instead. Not as colorful but still a flat fish etc. and they are much faster. If and when I see issues tho im ready to move them. Goodluck
If you made sure the stingrays were well feed and the discus were big enough. Another reason why it could work is stingrays are banthic dwelling fish meaning they are at the bottom of the tank most of the time and the discus ate free swimmers the rays would have to get pretty hungry before they went after the discus. So over all if you got big 6-7" discus ant 4-4.5" rays that don't get big such as teacups i personally feel like that the rays would leave each other alown
Sent from my DROID X2 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Sent from my DROID X2 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App