discus and stingrays

windeindoiel

windeindoiel

I
Mar 24, 2005
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Canada
My boyfriend is planning to build an aquarium, he has the plans with him so I can't check the dimensions but I believe the smallest is the height of 2 feet. Or that may be the width in which case the height slightly more than 2 feet. The tank will be 204 gallons anyway.

I've done some reading and it seems some people have kept sting rays and discus together with no problems, but I'm curious what you all think? What I want in this tank is a nice school of discus, one sting ray (I'm unsure on what type, I want one of the smaller ones and I'll have to do more research and look around at what lfs have) and by advice of another site some tetras. Also my boyfriend wants to move the fish we have now into that tank so I wonder if a senegal bichir and a few silver dollars would be ok? (I already know the plecs can't go in there.)

What do you think?
 
Discus do best in species tank, ie with other discus. Rays needs a very large aquarium too.
 
In addition, rays needs SUPER DUPER ULTRA clean water. Meaning water changes every 2 days.

They are very hard to keep and would say no to this, but its all your choice.
 
Oddball~ said:
In addition, rays needs SUPER DUPER ULTRA clean water. Meaning water changes every 2 days.

They are very hard to keep and would say no to this, but its all your choice.
Click to expand...

Er super duper wouldnt = every 2 days, discus need decent water and i hae to do 50% every day, same with rays, 50% every day or maybe 2 days will be good, these are NOT novice fish.
 
Ooops, I meant to put every day. Typed up something else, tho. But everyday water changes are needed and rays need EVEN BETTER water than the discus do.
 
I've seen Discus and rays in the same tank before. Usually it's at a zoo or a lfs in a display tank. You throw in some neons or cardinals and it makes for a very cool tank. Rays get very big and are very difficult to keep and feed. My lfs doesn't recommend them at all for a beginner. Discus aren't as hard as rays, but again, not a beginner fish.
 
I know they're not a beginner fish, and I know about how clean their water needs to be. We bought a book today that was really nice, it has 2 whole sections on how to custom build a ray tank, which is great. I have to say the internet is awesome for info but nothing can really replace a well written book. So anyways I know that it'll be hard. My boyfriend has been keeping fish (especially oddballs) for quite some time, and I'm good the relentless researcher so I think together we could make our fish quite happy. With all this reading it seems that discus and rays need very similar water conditions so I think that will be ok. I'm more worried about the bichir (I have love for my little bichir) right now. And curious about the silver dollars and how they would be with the tetras, discus, and ray. Or do I not need the tetras because I have the silver dollars? A site recommended keeping tetras with discus so that's the main reason I want to put tetras in.

Also, the tank will be big. I have the dimensions now. 6 feet long, 32 inches wide, and 2 feet tall. Oh, it will be a big tank. :D 203 gallons I believe is what he calculated. Also 2 overflows to help with keeping the water clean.

And I was suprised by this as I had heard bichirs liked to eat anything they can, but no, he seems friendly even with everything in the tank. I haven't seen the eel in awhile to be honest but I imagine he's somewhere in the 20 some rocks piled up in the aquarium. When he did come out though he would sometimes swim behind and somewhat under the bichir quite frequently. Until he'd swim through the current maker thingy and go flying across the aquarium lol. Anyways the bichir has never even taken a nip at any other of the fish in the tank and even lets the little plec push him around.
 
If you are convinced on getting a ray go with a teacup stingray they dont get very big I think only 10inches in diameter but they do need a large tank and no gravel, they have to have sand or round rocks becuase it will cut there discs. Stingrays are a species only they dont normally do well with others but I have seen it done. They are also extremly hard to keep you water parameters have to be perfect. So tread lightly.
 
If I was going to do that tank, I'd put the rays, the discus and add a large school of 15-20 neons or cardinals. I think it would be a stunning tank if done that way. You'd need a sand substrate for the rays of course and very soft water for all the fish. I don't know if I'd want to attempt it because of how difficult all the fish in question are to keep. Good luck if you decide to go this route and let us know how it works out.
 
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