# Please help me with my Potamotrygon reticulatus, "Teacup Stingray"



## Desirae85 (Jul 7, 2009)

hello, I am not a newbie to the freshwater world BUT I am a newbie here and to stingrays , I have several 100's of gallons of water in my house , lets just say that , anyways I decided after doing alot of reading that a stingray would be a challenge but let me say I HAD NO IDEA. I got the ray and did Everyhting as directed , left light off for 48 hours checked water religously threw out the day at different times, and everything looks fine and compares well to everything that I have read so far. But....MY juvenile Ray has not eaten (that I have seen) I have her in there with like 4 roseys and 6 ghost shrimp, very small and very mouth size for her, I keep finding roseys with tails eaten off but no fish come up actually "missing." And I believe only one ghost shrimp is missing but , she will not eat anything like a little piece of a fiesty work or anything in front of me. If anyone can email me about what you think i should do for her or whatever I would really appreciate it, Ive tried everything. Does anyone think she is eating the tails? or are the other fish and shrimp eating it ? Im unsure and getting scared, I love her so much and feel helpless because the store i got her from says she will eat give it time but its been 3 days and im scared for her. If you have any "tips" or "tricks" or anything please email me . [email protected] - Thank You so much 
Also Note taken , I did watch them feed her several times at the store and watched her for several weeeks before buying her , she looks completely healthy. will provide picture for the size of her , hopefully you can see.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Are you feeding the exact same thing you saw her eat at the store?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

3 days is not a long time for a fish not to eat... your ray could go 2-3 weeks without food..let it get acclimated and stop feeding for a couple of days..then try feeding it.see if it will eat a piece of raw shrimp.....something less of a challenge than a goldfish.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Any clearer pictures? From what's shown (hard to tell) it doesn't "look" thin at all.
What exactly were they feeding it? 
If it starts to appear boney, you could possibly try blackworms, IF you can get them in your area. Smaller rays tend to "starve" faster than most other fish. Sadly, most are only fed this when brought in... and it becomes sort of an addiction for them. Also remember to gutload ghost shrimp if fed.
And she could be eating the tails. I would feed mine rosey reds, but if it was anything larger than a typical full grown ghost shrimp, it would only "chew on it" and spit the rest out. I would usually have to feed it frozen ones, typically handfed.
Frozen silversides, rosey reds, leaf worms, small chunks of earthworms, frozen chunks of shrimp, krill, etc. Better try try with "dead" foods, and only use live if it's needed, or as a treat.


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## Desirae85 (Jul 7, 2009)

*Hello again all ..*

Hello, 
First id like that thank everyone who has replied to try to help me . Secondly , yes i put 6 ghost shrimp in the tank(which is what i seen them feed her) and there are 5 left after three days...Later I tried 6 very small roseys, 3 days later 5 roseys left. Will she only eat one ghost shrimp for every week ? Im so unsure about this because everytime i went to the Pet store she ate EVERYTIME. And when i got her home, i put a night crawler inside the tank and she went right for it instantly and tried to eat it but then spit it out. i THINK THAT WAS B/C IT WAS A LITTLE BIG FOR HER. So I cut it up and then it wasnt moving and she didnt touch it, It was after that she never seems interested in food at all. I have tried BLOODWORMS-ROSEYS-GHOST SHRIMP-FROZEN BRINE-NIGHTCRAWLERS. Should her GH be 10 exactly? Also her tail end looks frayed, like its shedding, is this normal ? .......trying to enclose better pics but i keep getting an error message. will try to resize and see if that works GR- sorry , was in a hurry and scared for her. IM GOING TO TRY AGAIN ..... Thanks again


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

what temp are you keeping it at?..... most rays like temps in the mid 70's..
it doesn't look too bad in the pics... i am not seeing any signs of disease or injury... but you might want to try some melafix in the tank..
rays like a sandy bottom.. but i think one of the biggest mistakes people make is putting them in with a white sand... in the rivers of south america there are no white substrates...
i would suggest a dark sand like maybe some coarse builders sand...


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## Desirae85 (Jul 7, 2009)

*hello again*

The temp is 72 , and the sand in there was the sand they told me to get from the Coral Shop , i get most of my fish/equip. there . Maybe they were wrong with the white sand, but do you think that would make her not want to eat?! Also same color sand she was in when i baught her. EH, Scary ...but on a better note, I came home and there were no blood worms in the tank left from earlier b4 i went to work, so im thinking she might be eating but im still unsure, them pesky roseys are still in there also. Anyways , im going to try a water change tonight 25% and then leave her be for all day tomarrow w/o food and come home about 10 pm and see if she will eat anything for me , while im watching, lol 
last but not least 
Should her GH level be 10 ?
What are *perfect levels for her? 


thanks again guys ...


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i would raise the temp to 76-78..see how it responds..wouldn't worry too much about GH and such.... unfortunately we cannot ever create "perfect" conditions.. only mother nature can...


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## Desirae85 (Jul 7, 2009)

*hello....*

thanks again , Im going to try to leave the ghost shrimp in there and see if she eats them b/c i cannot tell if she is eating anything else or the roseys are. thanks again everyone...


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## Desirae85 (Jul 7, 2009)

and she died......eh..i feel terrible. First my father now MY new baby stingray . RIP ZELDA eh...i hate life


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i am sorry to hear about your ray des...and i apologize for not being to help you more ... but as i told you ; i have not kept rays and have very limited knowledge of them.....
things happen in life..some good ; some bad..we just have to take one with the other and roll on to the next chapter...


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