Stingray Curling Question

SDReefer · May 15, 2018

Hello everyone, I've had my Cortez ray for about a week and everything's going well. She's active and eating, and has adjusted well to life in my greenhouse. I just wanted to ask a few questions to those who have more experience keeping rays or other elasmobranchs:

Is it normal for the ray's disk to curl a little bit when it's sitting on the bottom? There is a lot of flow across the bottom and I just want to make sure that it's not the "death curl" that freshwater ray keepers sometimes experience.
When do I start having to worry about goiter, and are there any foods that are rich in iodine? I know that elasmobranchs as a whole are susceptible to goiter and the best way to prevent that is by feeding foods rich in iodine. Is there a food that is already rich in iodine, or do I have to supplement this? Would I use iodine supplements for humans or a specific fish supplement?
What non-frozen foods have rays been known to eat? I already have her eating freeze-dried shrimp, but I'd like to know if there are any other foods that rays eat. Perhaps Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets? I'm going on vacation in a few months and I'd like to make sure that there it can eat a variety of foods when I'm away.
Are rays prone to be jumpers? I love it when the ray swims along the top side of the tank, but I'm getting worried that it might get spooked and accidentally jump out. I plan on adding a net around the edge just to make sure, but I'd like to know if any one has experience with this.
Anything else you think I should do? Any input would be appreciated.

Parameters:

Salinity - 24 ppm
pH - 8.0
Temperature - Between 77.5 and 81 degrees, depending on time of day
Nitrate - <5 ppm
Alk - 11.3 dkh
Calcium - 520 ppm
Magnesium - 1350 ppm
For more information about my setup, please visit my build thread.

Pictures:

chipmunkofdoom2 · May 15, 2018

I work in the Living Seashore exhibit at the National Aquarium. Our main 3,700 gallon touchpool has Atlantic stingrays and skates. While these aren't reef-dwelling or warm water skates, I'll share what I know.

1. I don't have experience with freshwater rays. In our touchpool, the flow is relatively low, so there is no visible curling of the disks. This could be just due to high flow. Could you potentially reduce the flow in the tank?

2. I don't have any experience with goiters. It seems that a varied diet rich in vitamins helps.

3. We basically only feed frozen foods at the Aquarium (well, the foods have been thawed, but they came to us frozen). The rays and skates eat mackerel, smelt and shrimp.

4. The rays at the Aquarium do sometimes swim up out of the water a bit. I don't think we've ever had one jump completely out. It's worth noting that their exhibit is pretty big and they have a lot of room to swim if they get spooked. In a smaller enclosure, a top might be worthwhile.

5. Aside from a sand or mud bottom, keep in mind that these animals are pretty large and can produce a lot of waste. It likely won't be an ammonia problem, but you may have nitrate or phosphate issues over time. If there are no corals or invertebrates in the system this likely won't be an issue.

Enjoy owning her, I really enjoy working with rays

SDReefer · May 15, 2018

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
I work in the Living Seashore exhibit at the National Aquarium. Our main 3,700 gallon touchpool has Atlantic stingrays and skates. While these aren't reef-dwelling or warm water skates, I'll share what I know.

1. I don't have experience with freshwater rays. In our touchpool, the flow is relatively low, so there is no visible curling of the disks. This could be just due to high flow. Could you potentially reduce the flow in the tank?

2. I don't have any experience with goiters. It seems that a varied diet rich in vitamins helps.

3. We basically only feed frozen foods at the Aquarium (well, the foods have been thawed, but they came to us frozen). The rays and skates eat mackerel, smelt and shrimp.

4. The rays at the Aquarium do sometimes swim up out of the water a bit. I don't think we've ever had one jump completely out. It's worth noting that their exhibit is pretty big and they have a lot of room to swim if they get spooked. In a smaller enclosure, a top might be worthwhile.

5. Aside from a sand or mud bottom, keep in mind that these animals are pretty large and can produce a lot of waste. It likely won't be an ammonia problem, but you may have nitrate or phosphate issues over time. If there are no corals or invertebrates in the system this likely won't be an issue.

Enjoy owning her, I really enjoy working with rays

Thank you for the information! I'm really glad that you saw this thread! I will try to disperse flow by putting some rocks in front of the output, so we'll see if that helps.

Feet4Fish · Oct 5, 2018

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
I work in the Living Seashore exhibit at the National Aquarium. Our main 3,700 gallon touchpool has Atlantic stingrays and skates. While these aren't reef-dwelling or warm water skates, I'll share what I know.

1. I don't have experience with freshwater rays. In our touchpool, the flow is relatively low, so there is no visible curling of the disks. This could be just due to high flow. Could you potentially reduce the flow in the tank?

2. I don't have any experience with goiters. It seems that a varied diet rich in vitamins helps.

3. We basically only feed frozen foods at the Aquarium (well, the foods have been thawed, but they came to us frozen). The rays and skates eat mackerel, smelt and shrimp.

4. The rays at the Aquarium do sometimes swim up out of the water a bit. I don't think we've ever had one jump completely out. It's worth noting that their exhibit is pretty big and they have a lot of room to swim if they get spooked. In a smaller enclosure, a top might be worthwhile.

5. Aside from a sand or mud bottom, keep in mind that these animals are pretty large and can produce a lot of waste. It likely won't be an ammonia problem, but you may have nitrate or phosphate issues over time. If there are no corals or invertebrates in the system this likely won't be an issue.

Enjoy owning her, I really enjoy working with rays

You are such a valuable resource. I have always wondered what is any invertebrate clean up crew can coexist with a bottom dwelling ray?

alprazo · Oct 8, 2018

The curling can be from malnourishment/ protein deficiency. You need to feed you ray until it is full. I 100% agree with the earlier post. Mackerel and saltwater gulf shrimp are excellent for rays. I also recommend cracked fresh oysters, mussels, and clams.