Blue Spot Singray

[AquAttila]

I have an opportunity of purchasing a blue spot stingray, but before I purchase I wanted to see if anyone had success with keeping stingrays. I have a 210 gal. FOWLR tank - no aggressive fish, pair of crosshatch trigger, tusk and angels. Is the tank a bit small for a singray? I do have sand on bottom, but will probably need to take some liverock and move to sump to give it more room. Any suggestions, recommendations welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Tankkeepers]

I don't remember for sure but I think I read somewhere they need a circular tank to swim in I may be wrong hopfully someone else that knows more about sting rays can help you

 

[Tankkeepers]

Ps if you do end up with one of love to see pics

 

[PicassoClown04]

Rays don’t need a circular tank, I think it’s better for them but you don’t absolutely need it. They are a difficult species, what’s the footprint of your tank? I believe LA suggests 300 gallons for them but if you have a shorter 210 that may work

 

[AquAttila]

ok, will send pics. As for the circular tank, it's interesting as I never heard that about stingrays but did hear that about sharks... I also read that singrays are good in shark tanks, so maybe that is the correlation. This is now in a friends tank and standard 300 gal tank. I did read that these singrays are peaceful but require min 300 gal (from liveaquaria). It is on the small size and at some point I will be replacing tank with larger which is why I was considering buying this - plus it seems to be doing good and eating.

 

[AquAttila]

My tank dimensions are 48" D, 72" W and 25" H. Here are some pics of the tank - it is due for maintenance (cleaning) so don't judge me. lol

I also should mention that all my fish go into QT for 8 weeks. I am not planning to do this with this fish as they are sensitive to copper. That was another concern and if they are known to carry diseases.

I do have fairly decent flow - gyre on both ends of tank. Not sure if flow is important to rays but figure I mention.

 

[Thomashtom]

Blue spot rays are extremely hard to keep successfully !!! They are tough to get to eat and your water needs to be pristine!! Angels are also known to pic at them especially around their eyes! Expert hobbyists with species only systems have a tough time keeping them for any significant length of time. Including me! Lol

 

[AquAttila]

Thanks. Honestly, I am not concerned about water conditions - I have invested a lot in equipment and keep up with water changes, have Kh Guardian, chiller - so no swings in temp as well.

It's interesting that you mention about angels picking at it. I was more concerned about triggers but my tank has a nice harmony with no aggression - although once in a while the clown tang can be a prick. lol... that is expected though.

I saw the ray eat - so that was a huge plus. Looks healthy and like I said - it's from a friend so not from a LFS.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

stingrays are my favorite animal -- like a giant ocean portabella mushroom -- and swimming with them was the highlight of my college spring break cruise for sure!!! That being said, your tank looks like it has too much rock IMO. I have been researching a lot about them (won't have a tank for one for 10+ years but..) and accidents stumbled across the Corvette Stingray car thread (lol).

Most tanks I see with Rays have very little of any rock. I would say the tanks that have rock only cover about 10-15% of the tank bottom. They need areas to roam when they aren't buried and they will scratch themselves on the rock (or sand if it isn't very fine).

In my honest opinion, I wouldn't get it with that tank/set up.

This tank set up though (if you have the extra like $500k to spend lol)

 

[Flame2hawk]

I love blue spot rays which is the reason would advocate keeping them in the ocean as their Survival rate in home aquariums Is dismally low. Chances are greatly improved if you basically have a very large either round or square tank with maximum open area and soft sand. Little tolerance for even low traces of nitrates for extended period. Unfortunately there might be a couple success stories out there but none that have been able to keep them successfully for anywhere close to their life expectancy which is 10-12 years. In fact I know none
that have been able to reach 5 years. If someone has been able to, would love to hear their secret to success. Sorry for the less then enthusiastic response...