True hardiness of blue-spots? And other questions

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loconorc

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Sep 11, 2007
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These are some of the most beautiful marine creatures out there, and one of my favorite animals, period. I know they have a terrible reputation in captivity, but really, are they THAT bad? Is it because of bad conditions during shipping and at fish stores and the following stress?

Assuming a blue-spot stingray was properly shipped and brought ASAP to its final destination, kept in a more than sufficiently large tank by itself, offered the best diet possible, and with the best water chemistry, how likely would it be for it to live a long, healthy life?

And what exactly is the typical lifespan of captive stingrays, salt or freshwater?

What are some suitable tankmates for salwater rays? Catsharks? Morays? Lionfish? And how decorated could a ray tank be? Would they demolish live rock formations or even coral?

Stingrays are one of my must-keep animals, but I certainly wouldn't mind a leopoldi or motoro freshwater stingray, maybe with a silver arowana tankmate.

Thanks!
 
well i would think they COULD live to be like 15-20 ish.. and most fishthat are accepted with sharks should work for rays.. eels, grouper, lookdown, pilots, etc..
and i would also have to think that they'd need a fairly clear sandbed.. as far as corals go i think the constant digging and stirring of the sand would cause turbidity problem for the corals. so i would only do corals that can deal with murky turbid water, things like candycanes..
 
Wow, 15 years? Thats a plus, I thought it would be significantly shorter.

If I were to decorate a predator tank, it would only be a few very hardy, colorful species, just to brighten it up a bit.

I'd certainly provide a deep, healthy sandbed for the rays. I love watching them hunker down, just exposing their eyes. Too cool.

Can lionfish coexist with rays? What about morays or even an epaulette or catshark? Would these fish be okay with a few hardy corals as well?

Before keeping saltwater rays, especially blue-spots, I woud definately keep a freshwater stingray or two, as well as gaining other experience with saltwater fish. I already have a fair amount of both, but I still wouldn't quite feel confident about keeping these fish yet. I'm not one to get over my head keeping animals out of my league. I am much more into reptiles than I am fish (although I know my way around), and I see that happen all too often.
 
Ok - first off there is actually two species which are called Blue Spot stingrays.

The 1st and most commonly sold in LFS or to private aquarists is the Blue-spotted Ribbontail Stingray (Taeniura lymma). This is the species that tends to be very hard to keep - rarely living more than 1 year in captivity - although it's natural wild life span may be 10 or more times as long.

The 2nd species tends to be rarer - but is sometimes sold to private aquarists. This species is the Bluespotted or Masked Stingray (Dasyatis kuhlii) and is known to be a hardy species.
 
Yes, I know the 2 species. I am asking about Taeniura lymma. I am aware that Dasytis kuhlii are more hardy, and that lymma are the ones with the bad record in captivity, thats why I made the thread. I don't ask questions on forums without doing some research myself beforehand. I am pretty accquainted with stingrays, after reading this forum for 2 years and reading lots of online literature on them. Thanks for trying to clear that up, but I'm aware of that.

I know you're one of the big dogs on this forum, so I was hoping you'd come along and answer. :)
 
my #'s were general, semi-educated guesses BTW
 
I would hardly consider myself one of the "Big Dogs" of this forum. Maybe one of the more vocal -although that could also be debated.

Still the longest I've ever heard of someone keeping a Blue-spotted Ribbontail - is about 2 years. And that aquarist had a tank with excellent water quality(for a Shark or ray), plenty of swimming room(kept it in a 750 gallon pond -IIRC) and was extremely careful in watching for the slightest sign of sickness or disease(then treated it ASAP) in the ray.

IMPO - While they may be a beautiful ray - they are one of the last rays I would ever consider owning - because of their difficulty in keeping them.
 
That's alright BIGgourami, I was just looking for the opinion of someone who at least knows rays better than I do. Then again, that would be most people on this forum, lol.

Krj, you still seem to be one of the more intelligent people on this forum, if youre not a 'big dog', you're still a respected opinion, at least for me.

2 years is dissapointing, though sort of what I expected. Do you know what happened to that ray? Is there some breakthrough that could allow the rays to live longer? I probably won't ever keep a blue-spot or any other SW ray in the first place, but it's still something I would like to pursue. However, I'd still be more than content with a pair of FW rays and a silver aro. It's mostly rays that I'm interested in as far as fish go, but it's still nice to have something else to brighten it up, whether it be an arowana or a lionfish to complement a blue-spot.
 
Well the Aquarist(I know of) that had kept the Blue-spotted Ribbontail for 2 years - actually had a couple of "close calls" where they nearly lost the ray - but ultimate during one of these close calls the ray died.

While I'm not saying - it's an absolutely impossible to keep species - just a very difficult one.

As for rays - FW rays are a good choice for people with lots experience with FW tanks & also love rays. Also there are several species of SW rays that are excellent choices - most notably the Round rays (Urobatis) and the smaller species of Whiptails (Dasyatis). In fact there's a couple of species that easily are as beautiful as the Blue-spotted Ribbontail.

As for tankmates - Personally - I tend to consider Lionfish a bit of problem - since there are several stories of Shark/Lion battles that result in death. And since rays are little more than flatten sharks - they could be a potential problem. Stingrays can do well when being kept with sharks - so long as they are the small benthic species - such as Horns, Coral Cats, Eppies or Bamboos.

Also - you have to remember - a ray tank - should have a lot of open swimming room. In fact most rays - actually swim as much or more than some of the benthic sharks.
 
How easy is it to get captive-bred rays, either SW or FW? In the reptile biz, thats a huge deal, especially for me. Are wild-caught rays fine as pets?

What are the whiptails you mentioned that are as beautiful as blue-spots?

Ultimately, I'll probably end up with a pair of FW rays (it would be fun to breed them), and maybe a small reef tank for show. I've had big saltwater tanks in mind for a long time, but after thinking about the costs and everything, its not very practical, especially considering the other animals I keep or plan to keep. It'll always be in the back of my mind though...
 
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