Bluespotted ribbontail ray care

Viking_Reefing · Sep 27, 2021

Hi there!

I’m planning the addition of a T. Lymma when I get everything transferred over to my new 200x80x65 tank and I've tried researching them but there’s very little solid information to be found on these guys.
If some of you have any first hand experience of keeping these guys I would love to hear it!

Before anyone jumps on this: Yes, I’m fully aware of the fact that this is a challenging species to keep.
I have about 20 years of reefing under my belt and I’ve kept/keeping several “difficult” species such achilles, moorish idols, CBB, regals, multibars etc without any problems.
I also have a lot of experience with large predatory fish including freshwater stingrays so I think (hope) I’m up to the challenge.

-Are there any main pitfalls to watch out for?

-I remember de-worming the wild cough FW stingray was often a must. Same thing here and if so, how would you go about it?

-I plan to keep it in a reef tank with a lot of open spaces. From what I’ve been able to find on a German forum it will mostly annihilate most inverts in/on the sand bed but fish should generally be safe. Correct?

Any additional information is of course extremely appreciated!

All the best

WheatToast · Sep 27, 2021

This book has amazing information:

@Jay Hemdal as well and this series: https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...thusiasts-part-1-modern-husbandry-space-3467/

Jay Hemdal · Sep 27, 2021

MichaelE said:
Hi there!

I’m planning the addition of a T. Lymma when I get everything transferred over to my new 200x80x65 tank and I've tried researching them but there’s very little solid information to be found on these guys.
If some of you have any first hand experience of keeping these guys I would love to hear it!

Before anyone jumps on this: Yes, I’m fully aware of the fact that this is a challenging species to keep.
I have about 20 years of reefing under my belt and I’ve kept/keeping several “difficult” species such achilles, moorish idols, CBB, regals, multibars etc without any problems.
I also have a lot of experience with large predatory fish including freshwater stingrays so I think (hope) I’m up to the challenge.

-Are there any main pitfalls to watch out for?

-I remember de-worming the wild cough FW stingray was often a must. Same thing here and if so, how would you go about it?

-I plan to keep it in a reef tank with a lot of open spaces. From what I’ve been able to find on a German forum it will mostly annihilate most inverts in/on the sand bed but fish should generally be safe. Correct?

Any additional information is of course extremely appreciated!

All the best

They just don't ship well. I suspect it is a function of space in the shipping box being at such a premium, that they are placed in too small of a bag. If they packed them one to a box, it would be better, but then the cost goes too high. If you can locate one on divers den, or from a pre-quarantine dealer, that will eliminate much of the early shipping mortality problems. Once you get them past the first 3 or 4 weeks, they do pretty good. Watch out for angels and butterflies going after their eyes and/or tails. Cleaner wrasse are awful with them as well. They prefer fine sand to bury in of course. The blue diamond ray is hardier.

Jay

Viking_Reefing · Sep 27, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
They just don't ship well. I suspect it is a function of space in the shipping box being at such a premium, that they are placed in too small of a bag. If they packed them one to a box, it would be better, but then the cost goes too high. If you can locate one on divers den, or from a pre-quarantine dealer, that will eliminate much of the early shipping mortality problems. Once you get them past the first 3 or 4 weeks, they do pretty good. Watch out for angels and butterflies going after their eyes and/or tails. Cleaner wrasse are awful with them as well. They prefer fine sand to bury in of course. The blue diamond ray is hardier.

Jay

Thanks Jay! I live in Sweden so divers den won’t really be an option

Fortunately there’s a retailer here that brings one in a couple of times a year and they generally are in fairly decent condition and are eating.
Good point with the cleaner wrasse. Is it that they pester them to no end?

Viking_Reefing · Sep 27, 2021

WheatToast said:
This book has amazing information:

@Jay Hemdal as well and this series: https://web.archive.org/web/2019032...thusiasts-part-1-modern-husbandry-space-3467/

Thank you! I’ll see if I can source that book here in Sweden. I actually think I owned a copy of it at one point.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 27, 2021

MichaelE said:
Thanks Jay! I live in Sweden so divers den won’t really be an option
Fortunately there’s a retailer here that brings one in a couple of times a year and they generally are in fairly decent condition and are eating.
Good point with the cleaner wrasse. Is it that they pester them to no end?

Yes - I've had terrible problems keeping cleaner wrasse with rays...they go after their eyes and bite them.

Jay