Sting Rays

Question
Ron, I want to start a stingray tank...  I have no idea where to begin.  I had a 50 gallon saltwater for years, but since my babies I haven't had anything.  Now they are grown, and I want to get back to my hobby.  I want all all stingray tank, don't know if I can have various species together, if there is freshwater AND saltwater rays.  I will be buying a tank too, as big as I can afford.  I was hoping to find a 300 gallon or so.  Do the rays only eat LIVE food?  What about when I vacation.  Is it going to be very hard for someone else to feed them?  Do the hide during the days, and only come out when the tank is dark?  Can I keep the lights on always?  Are they dirty?  I have so many questions..  Can you help me?  PLEASE!?

Answer
Hi Kate,
 Stingrays are very interesting but you have to be VERY careful when dealing with them -- the sting can kill you or at the very least, hurt a tremendous amount.  They can whip that stinger around much more quickly than you can move out of the way.

  The freshwater rays are beautiful,  e.g., Motoro rays are simply gorgeous.  I have three of them a few years ago for a few months while I was doing an exhibit for a local zoo.  They really should be fed live food -- they LOVE earthworms. Keep in mind that a foot long ray can eat a dozen worms a day and that really adds up in terms of expense.  

 They were very easy to feed.  We found that after a while the rays would come up to the surface and eat the worms out of our hands, sort of like slurping down spaghetti!  

  Rays do form dominance hierarchies and they show this by sitting on each other, called "topping".  It doesn't hurt the less dominant ray; it just tells him "hey, I'm the boss of you".  

  The key to rays is bottom area. They sit on the bottom all the time so a tall tank is useless to them.  

  Light won't make any difference to them.  

  Back to my first point: I wouldn't even consider having any stingrays if you have children in the house.  There is no way to remove the venom from a ray, i.e., if you cut off the stinger, they grow another.  Remember the Crocodile Hunter was killed by a stingray so be careful!

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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