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Cayars New Tank

M

mladencovic

Carlo said:
This turned out to be harder then I thought because big powerheads need to be lower in the water to not cause a vortex but then the power cords are in the tank which is a no-no with triggers since they like to taste/bite things. Smaller pumps can be setup pretty much at the water surface so the triggers can't get to the power cords but then the circulation isn't the same and you need more pumps to keep the rock clean.
Click to expand...

Carlo,

I believe that I have seen CORDLESS powerhed in Merv's tank (6 moths or so ago). The coolest thing I have seen in a long time. And it looked powerfull enough. AND you don't need any suction cups and mounts or anything to make it very firmly stay in place. Check with him about it.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Vortechs would be a good choice then. Pump in the tank, power cords outside!
 
C

Carlo

I haven't seen Merv's tank yet but would bet they are Vortech pumps as Phyl mentioned. I almost hate to use more expensive pumps on an aggressive tank then on the reef tanks but I guess that's stupid thinking. The Vortech pump would actually be an ideal powerhead to use for this tank.

(just thinking out load but a small Vortech would be a great pump for a kalk stir pump too)

It's funny, I of course know about these pumps even though I've never used one but I never even gave a thought to using them on this tank. Man I love this forum!

Ed, I thought about that angel but want to see how the current fish make out a little longer term in the 120. Even though I've got a lot of water backing up the tank to keep the chemistry in check I don't want to overcrowd the tank TOO MUCH. :) As it stand right now once QT is over there is:
Clown Trigger
Hawaiian Black Trigger
Queeen Trigger
Bursa Trigger
Picasso (Huma Huma) Trigger
Paddlefin Wrasse
Chrysurus (Goldtail) Angel

I'd also worry (maybe with no need) about the 2 angels together. I have contemplated adding a Juvenile Imperator which I really like the colors of, but I don't care for the adult coloration as much. Same with the Koran Angelfish which gets to about the same size which is a pretty big 15".

Carlo
 
C

Carlo

I actually just use a closed loop with a cheap pump on a 32 gallon brute trashcan for 1 minute each day at about the time the lights come up. I have the system setup to not dose kalk for 3 hours after this period to let it settle.

I have a lot of evap and had to upgrade from my 5 gallon kalk bucket to something larger so I'd have enough water to last the night period. Then in the morning it gets filled up again and stirred for a minute. I've got it set at a level that gives me about 25 gallons of kalk ready for dosing.

Carlo
 
C

Carlo

Picked up another dozen "fish" today to fill my QT Tanks. :)

Here's the "prize" of the group.
582_23_06_07_8_43_35.jpg
Blue Spotted Stingray - It's about a foot long and the disc is about 6" round.

I also picked up a slightly smaller Cortez Stingray but the 2 bags got a hole in them and he didn't make the trip home. :(

Had to break out the big tanks for QT on this guy.

Carlo

PS Anybody else on the board have any rays?
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I'd love to keep rays, but don't really have the system for one. Between their need for a large swimming floor and a covered top, we couldn't responsibly keep one.

What kind of tank do you have that you're going to be keeping him in? Sure is a beauty!
 
C

Carlo

I've always loved rays myself but they have taken on new meaning for my family this year. Right before my mother got sick, hospitalized and passed on this year I talked her in to going to Adventure Aquarium. My dad had just gotten her one of those electric scooter/wheel chair thingies so she could get some of her life back and be able to get out some. Her first and only use of it was at the aquarium. Anyway to make a long story short, she absolutely loved the shark/ray petting tank. There was one ray who seemed to go out of it's way to keep coming over to her and allow her to pet it. I never expected my Mom to touch one! Needless to say she had a great time. When she was in the hospital on the ventilator she wrote on paper (couldn't talk) that when she got out of the hospital she wanted to go back to the aquarium again and visit her little friend.

So yesterday, my son, daughter, dad and I went to The Hidden Reef. My daughter comes over and says I have to check this out. My dad and son are standing in front of this tank with the two rays in it. My dad looked a little choked up and says "remember your mom" in a somewhat shaky voice (of course I had the same thought). The rest is history.

To answer your question, right now it has a 125 tank all to it's own. We "dedicated" the tank to Mom yesterday. :) The only thing in the tank is sand. There is no live rock or anything else. They are pretty delicate animals and many die in aquariums from injury on rocks and sharp things. While they are technically reef safe, the reef isn't really safe for them (how about that one, kind of backwards).

This 125 was going to be a prop tank but the ray has taken it over. Oh well I guess this gives me an excuse to get another tank. At present the tank is cut-off from the system. I'll run it this way for a minimum 21 days as a "QT" tank so I can make sure it's healthy. The QT tank I was going to put him in just seemed to small for him. It's a scaleless fish so the chances of bringing in parasites is remote but possible. After 21 days if everything looks good I'll install another UV system on the return of this tank going into the basement, drain, clean, refill the tank and again make it part of the whole system so it gets the central processing and use of liverock from the rest of the system. I'll rely on water changes & hang on filters to get through the 21 day QT period for now.

It's possible I may pick up a 180-210 tank during this QT period. If so I may move it over to that tank and use the 125 for the prop tank again. The 125 does seem about right space wise for it but more is always better.

Carlo
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
That is one touching story Calro. I must say its one of your books I actually read. (jk) Can't wait to come over and see this thing.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
That is a touching story. Especially the part about your dad getting choked up.

Is the tank covered? They're known jumpers (I think Trop loses more than they sell to jumping). I think more than height, they need floor space so increasing the water volume won't mean much to him unless you can go longer/wider (a square 120 would be better for him than a long 125, for example).

Great that you're able to dedicate a whole tank to him. That's really cool. As I said, I'd love to have one, but couldn't do it justice.

We swam with stingrays in Jamaica last year. They're like little kittens. They're such wonderful animals.
 
C

Carlo

No, the tank is not covered but I could pretty easily put a cover on it. I never gave a thought to it being a jumper. I don't recall Adventure Aquarium ever having any type of top/lids on any of the stingray tanks, even the 75g QT tanks they used for them. Granted that doesn't make it right, but I just didn't even think of it. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to do so. It's not like I have to worry about blocking light or anything.

I totally agree on the "floor space" versus "gallons" needed for them. I'll be keeping an eye out for another tank because I would like to get the 125 back for prop use and get him (and soon friends) a bigger tank.

I do know one thing. I need courser sand for the tank he's in as the fine grade of sand in there looks like a sand storm every time he does a low flying pass!

Carlo

PS Ed, you're too funny. :)
 
M

mladencovic

Sorry to hear about your loss, I guess this was not a happy year for you. If you had a bigger basement, you could place one of those plastic kiddie pools or sand boxes in it. This is a beautiful fish that is a one of the "symbols" of PADI, and interestingly enough I have encountered it when I was getting the certification off the Cozumel. What do you plan to feed it with?
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I think with enough "head space" you wouldn't need a cover, but most of our tanks don't have enough head space to prevent the jumping.

Sounds like you need a custom made tank. Something 4' wide by 2' high by 8' long would be perfect.
 
M

mladencovic

malulu said:
i saw this thread last year... may be you can post and ask advise about sting ray...
he tried to stay as anonymously in the beginning, but later on came out and reveal himself...
a quite interesting thread to read. (if you never saw this thread, be-warn! you will got suck in for a solid few hours...)
;)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=689929&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
Click to expand...

I did spent a few solid hours reading this thread :) (actually, after two hours managed to read only half of it :eek: ) While, it is exceptionally beautiful tank, I have to agree with some posts on that thread, and that is that tank is not rally for this particular stingray. This stingray simply does not live on the reef - period. Two feet wide "walkspace", even though it is more then 25' long is not where these animals live in the wild, not to mention that they easily get 2' wide. Also, on a few pics that were posted there, portions of the bittom of the tank seemed to be bare, which led me to believe that he is not using DSB. Again, I might be simply wrong, and I hope I am, but these rays NEED deep sand. Since Carlo is already discussing the granularity of his sand ;D , I am sure he will make better environment for his fish.
 
C

Carlo

I read that whole thread also and while it is surely a nice tank and setup I don't think the ray belongs in a reef tank period regardless of how big it is. There is just to much rock and sharp edges for it to get hurt on.

From everything I've read they need 2 times their disc width and about 10 times their disc length. The length is more important then width from what I've read and it makes sense when you think about their ability to "roll up" their "wings" making their body only half as wide. Regardless this still seems on the small side but I guess all aquariums seem small compared to their natural habitats.

I think water quality, aquascaping (in this case none) and suitable subtrate are even more important to the average fish as long as adequate food is being introduced then space. Face it, few fish need the same "area" when they are having food prepaired and given to them.

Between the sand in the tank and the 240 pounds I've still got in bags I could give it a good 8" of sand if needed. I'm at about 4" right now which is probably not enough for it long term. Once I figure out the right amount of course to fine sand to keep the sand storm down I can add more to get the right depth for it. From what I've seen it do so far it only seems to go about 2" down. Just enough to bury itself and keep it's eyes above the sand.

I've done some lighter reading on the rays but later tonight I plan on doing more in depth reading to see what else I can do for it to make life better for it and to make sure I've got it's nutrition covered. The size of the tank won't matter much if I can't keep him alive!

I myself would like to see the ray in a tank that's at least twice the size it currently has (floor space). How doable this is I'm not sure. Maybe I'll try my hand at making a tank for it later this summer. I think it would be pretty cool to make a tank similar in nature to the zeroedge tanks. Of course it would need to be taller then the typical ZE tank but that would be a pretty cool type of tank for it. I might even be able to do an in house saltwater pond in what is currently an empty dining room right next to my fish room (debating 2nd fish room). :)

Carlo
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
ZE tank would put him over the edge (literally!). Probably not the best ... but the indoor pond (if big enough) would be great. I'm not sure what that species eat but I've fed them squid on a number of occasions. Billy built his frag tank and it seemed very doable. It would get you a nice sized floor space with reasonable cost.

They had that same ray at the Fish Factory today as well.
 
M

mladencovic

One thing that you might want to look into, is the voltage in the tank. The primary sense used by these rays for hunting (if I remember correctly) are their electrical sensors. Since you will be feeding it, it won't need this whole sensory system for "hunting", but you still don't want it to start getting "headaches" because some piece of equipment is not properly grounded.
 
C

Carlo

Phyl said:
ZE tank would put him over the edge (literally!). Probably not the best ... but the indoor pond (if big enough) would be great. I'm not sure what that species eat but I've fed them squid on a number of occasions. Billy built his frag tank and it seemed very doable. It would get you a nice sized floor space with reasonable cost.

They had that same ray at the Fish Factory today as well.
Click to expand...

Very true, in my head I was thinking of making the walls say 4 to 6" taller then the water level with perforated holes for the water to flow through. The more I think about it, it would not be a good idea and probably wouldn't look to good either. It was a "thought in passing".

The indoor pond type setup would probably be the best for it. It would surely be cheaper then a large tank and the ray would have considerable more room to swim around. I think if I was to raise the pond up 2 to 3 feet off the floor and tile around it to match the flooring it would have a nice look to it and would fit in nicely.

Carlo
 
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