BGK & Stingray....

[roper930]

I don't know how many people here know about rays, but I'll take a shot and see if anyone knows the answer to my question....Can a Black Ghost Knife & Ray be in the same tank? As far as temperments I know they'll be fine together, but since they each use types of electrical sensing, will they bother eachother at all? I don't want to hurt, confuse or stress out either one as they are my 2 most favorite fishies! I know you're not supposed to keep more than one electrical fish in a tank, but since these two use different types, I just wasn't sure.

Anyone know??!

Beth

[FishStick]

Are you talking about the stingrays you find in the ocean?! :confused: If so, im sorry to say that you will never be able to keep the two together, as BGKs are freshwater fish, and stingrays are saltwater...also, a sting ray would require a *very* large aquarium.

Let me know if im wrong though...are you reffering to a freshwater stingray?

-fs

[roper930]

Yes, it's a freshwater ray.

[Anton Wernher]

I'm pretty sure he is refering to freshwater rays:). I have seen these two fish(not sure what species of stingray) kept together and they seemed to be fine. Granted I am not well versed with electomagnetic sensing/emmitting fish I would assume that they have some sort of mechanism to filter out noise from other species or other fish of the same species. We need one of the ray(they don't emmit anything do they?) or knife fish experts to chime in. TnCgal??

[JamisonBWolsh]

I have seen fw stingrays for sale at the store for less then $100. They seem like a nice fish to have. You do need to have sand. I do not know much about them. If they use an eletrical field (im not sure if they do), then they will have a problem. Its like mixing an elephant nose and a bgk. One will kill the other. Unless the tank is big enough...

[TnCgal]

Hi y'all. No, rays don't emit anything and I have seen those two species kept together without any problems.

One peice of advice about shopping for rays... be extra careful of the kind that you buy because some of them get enormous. I was lucky enough to get the teacup variety and he is staying nice and small in my 90g. Any other kind and you will be looking at at least a 12-24 inch radius depending on the type.

Hope this helps !

[Anton Wernher]

Originally posted by JamisonBWolsh
Its like mixing an elephant nose and a bgk. One will kill the other. Unless the tank is big enough...

I am interested to know why this is...

[roper930]

Just as a note, teacups are not a specific "species" of ray, it's just a generic name for any baby ray or "pup". Even the smallest rays get up to 12", but that could take awhile depending on the species and their environment...
All I know regarding the electrical senses is that the BGK emits pulses for navigation, communication & feeding. Rays are particularly sensitive to such things so I've heard...They use some kind of similar sensing (I wanna say something like electro-static or something...)to detect food that is buried in the sand.

Beth

[Anton Wernher]

I thought knifefish were wave emitting fish (which I believe have the ability to change frequency ) where as mormyrids had pluse type emmissions. (I am going on memory of a conversation that is about 2 years old with a fish bio prof. from UNC )

[JamisonBWolsh]

Originally posted by Anton Wernher


I am interested to know why this is...

Why? because the 2 electrical fields will intermingle and confuse the fish. They use it to find food and locations. Both fish are blind (well the eyesight for the elephant nose is VERY poor, ghost is blind I think?)
Anyways, they will search each other out and kill each other. IN such a small tank (anything less then 60 gallons) they cannot tolerate that. IM not into the scientific analysis, maybe Tncgal can help?

[Anton Wernher]

I know one of the two species uses wave emissions(i believe it is the knife fish) and has the ability to change frequency as interference is detected. Would this not solve the problem?

[roper930]

If it can change frequencies that would be Great!! :D
Tho, does anyone know the right answer?? :rolleyes:

Beth

[Anton Wernher]

Well I am in the univeristy library I guess I could start some research:P. It might take me a while though... (shouldn't I be writing a paper?) :)

[roper930]

Well, Gee Wiz!! Make yerself useful!! :p :D
I'll be sittin here for just over another 2 hours til quittin time....(I am working, too...here and there...) ;)

Beth

[O-man21]

I have never heard of freshwater rays. I didn't know of such a thing

[Anton Wernher]

Found this on the web http://www.sidwell.edu/us/science/vlb6/projects/brobinson/background.html ... looks like it could be usefull however I have only skimmed it.

[Anton Wernher]

From the above link
"The JAR has been found to be present in all species of fish that emit a weak EOD, mormyrids and gymnotiforms, except in the genus Sternopygus."

The bkg is of the genus Apteronotus...

JAR = jamming avoidance response

[TnCgal]

Originally posted by roper930
Just as a note, teacups are not a specific "species" of ray, it's just a generic name for any baby ray or "pup".

Actually that "used" to be the case until recently. Teacup rays are a relatively new stingray on the market and there hasn't been a lot of research until the last couple of years about them and now there is a classification of ray species known as a "teacup" meaning that it is a "miniature". Information on the teacup is still very scant as research continues but there are some sites that post what little there is.


http://www.tcp-ip.or.jp/~y-miura/fws/Esyurui.html#reticulata

Hope this helps ! :)

[roper930]

Wow Anton, that was a fascinating article...Very informative!
I guess now my concern is will the waves the BGK sends out bother the ray...?

Hmmmmm....... :confused:

Beth

[Serrateeth_2002]

Probably not but bgk can be considered bottom dweller since if it swims around it is usually near the gravel,FW rays don't usually tolerate other bottom dwellers or worse,they will eat other bottom dwellers.