freshwater rays.

MIKE D

Cichlid Fanatic
Jul 2, 2007
767
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Maine
I went to one of my LFS today and stumbled upon a freshwater stingray. it was about 6 inches across. It was marked for 59.99 I wanted to buy it but I remembered I had to do more Christmas shopping and I didn’t know anything about them. So can anyone tell me about them or even give me a web site to look at? Thanks in advance
 
they are really hand fed only. Many get extremely big and require a sandy bottom I believe. Not the easiest thing to keep. They require a big open tank also.
 
They are not only hand fed, and most don't recommend it.

Your tanks are too small for even the smallest species, sorry. The biggest requirement with them is water quality.
 
very clean water, very large tank, very docile tankmates, a lot of food, and still a chance of them dying. not worth the trouble in my opinion...especially with a leopoldi selling in the thousands.
 
Then don't start with a leopoldi (which is actually very hardy for a stingray).

Most likely what you saw was a Potamotrygon reticulatus.

With most of these rays once they are eating all you have to do is keep up the water changes. They will usually not just drop dead for no reason once they have settled in. Best thing is they can be moved on to New Life Spectrum.
 
Is there actually a true "teacup" species? I've heard a lot of conflicting info about that. They rays they have at the DC zoo are amazing, but something with a 16-18" disk like that would need such a huge enclosure.
 
Teacup refers to small individuals (still only 4-6" in diameter). These are usually P. reticulatus at only $60. Sometimes one or two other species end up as teacup, but in general it is P. reticulatus.

I am going to the National Zoo today, I love their ray pool. There are 3-4 P. leopoldi (including one baby from last year). Plus another baby leopoldi in the 75 in that little nook before you go upstairs. There are other species in there too, including motoro. I am not sure what the other species is/are. Obviously you won't be getting any of those species, some in that tank are about 3' in diameter.
 
Ok, thanks. I've seen "teacup rays" sold as rays that will only get 6-8" max size...I had my doubts about that, which were apparently well-founded.
 
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