# Stingrays



## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

Anyone here ever kept freshwater stingrays before? They're not legal in all states, but I'm willing to move to get one... The Motoro ray seems to be the best choice for a first ray, since it's generally the cheapest and hardiest. Anyone know how they get along with other bottom dwellers like bichir and ropefish? I've heard they do well with clown loaches, so I wouldn't think there would be problems with other bottom dwellers.

Thoughts?


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

You will need a large tank. it wont bother fish too big to eat, i'd be more worried about the polypterids, since they bite slow moving fish, not sure if a stingray is. the bichir and ropefish both come from africa while the stingray is from S america, so they may need different water hardness or softness, im not sure. Also stingray come from S.A and probably like warmer water, and be sure to cover your heat or something, stingrays will burn themselves on it. and they dont mix well with plecos.


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## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

Well, this plan is for my 125 gal, so that should be large enough for the smaller species of stingrays... And my african fish have acclimated to the soft water, low PH conditions in my tank, and they seem to be thriving. My Polypterus has more than trippled in size in the past year. My PH is 6.5, but I don't know the exact hardness. It is on the soft side, though. All in all, the tank conditions are good for a stingray, according to the research I've done online. I just wonder about how it would get along with the other fish. I've never seen my Polypterus or Ropefish try to bite any of the other fish in my tank, but I don't have any slow moving fish aside from my plecos. I do plan on getting rid of the large plecos, though... Anybody looking for a 12-14 pleco? I have on common and one albino that size. I'd love to collect some fancy plecos, though... Do you think smaller species of pleco would do better with stingrays than the larger plecos?

Thanks!


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## Arash (Jan 17, 2005)

Well, at Petland they have a very large (3-400 galons) hex tank, and they have a couple of stingrays living with Discus, and the other bottomfeeders their with is various species of cories which can easily fit in their mouths, but they dont seem to bother them. I don't know much about stingrays exept the fact that they are very picky about their water conditions and that they will die if it's not perfect, other than that, I'm just telling you what I saw, I'm not sure about what type of stingray they were, but I know there were 6-7 of them and they seemed fine with other fish. The tank has a gravel bottom, however they have made some parts of the tank sand, and the rays seem to like those areas more than the gravel.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

I think the stingray would be compatible with the fish, except maybe the plecos. all i know is that the stingrays body is ideal for plecos to give a hicky. my pleco will sometimes latch onto my tt eel, just because its side its side is perfect for it, but the eel can get him off in a sec. maybe get the stingray and see how it goes? idk, ive never personally owned a stingray of any kind.


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## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

After doing some more research, it sounds like some people have had problems with plecos hurting the rays, but some are fine. Looks like an individual fish temperment issue to me. I'll probably get the stingray first, and then try one fancy pleco at a time. If they cause problems, I'll just move the fancy plecos to my 29 gal instead.

-Flynn


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