Rimless tanks and Rays

[pandaparties]

So i am planning on getting a waterbox reef lx 270 gallon tank and wanted to get a ray for it, but i started thinking about the rimless aspect and I was hoping to get some advice from people who have kept a ray. Will it try to swim all the way up the rim and potentially fall out or make a big mess? I was going to make my order in the next couple weeks and now I am wondering if I need to rethink my tank or potentially go with a custom lip (though for price reasons this isn't my preference). Some thoughts and advice would be great!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Rimless won’t work. The ray may ride the wall and slide up and out. I designed a touch tank for rays, and knowing this could be an issue, I designed an inboard lip about 1.5” wide. The idea was the rays would ride the wall, but the lip would direct them back into the tank....well, it helped, but not 100%, and we ended up having to net the tank at night to keep the rays in.

Jay

 

[pandaparties]

Rimless won’t work. The ray may ride the wall and slide up and out. I designed a touch tank for rays, and knowing this could be an issue, I designed an inboard lip about 1.5” wide. The idea was the rays would ride the wall, but the lip would direct them back into the tank....well, it helped, but not 100%, and we ended up having to net the tank at night to keep the rays in.

Jay

Thanks for the info, exactly what I was afraid of and likely need to think of a custom build now which stinks (also good to know about the lip as thats exactly what i was thinking. How bigs your tank and what species you keeping? Also any good suggestions for tank mates?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

We have yellow rays, cownose rays, and in the past have had bluespot and Atlantic rays in there. It holds about 2500 gallons. The big thing with rays is you want to avoid fish that will pick at their skin and eyes - cleaner wrasse and some angelfish can be problems....

Jay