Does anyone here own a stingray?

[Crisi1987]

I have a 55 gallon tank set up with everything, and i ordered 2 freshwater stingrays today. i should get them tomorrow or the next day. has anyone owned one or have any experience with them?

 

[naturestee]

Not me, but a friend of mine.

Step 1: Cancel your order!

Step 2: Don't get stingrays until you have a much larger tank!

Have you been to Hoffer's Tropic Life on Good Hope Road? They have a display tank with two freshwater stingrays. I think their tank is 100 gallons or so? They have two different small species and that's probably the minimum tank size I'd want them in. But they're sensitive fish and in a small (for them) tank like a 55 gallon their sheer size could cause swings in the water chemistry that could weaken or even kill them. Also, they require live food but are sensitive to parasites that some of the live food carry.

 

[Crisi1987]

yes ive been there, just yesterday i was there. i actually talked to the people who breed the stingrays, their called t-cup stingrays and they stay really small, the person i talked to recommended a 50-100 gallon tank, ive hadthe 55 gallon tankfor a while, but i can always upgrade it to a bigger one, which more than likely i will because i saw a really nice 90 gallon tank. thanks for replying. the person i talked to said they eat shrimp and black worms, sometimes earthworms and blood worms. i can find earthworms and bloodworms here but it even says on the containers that they may have parasites, and i wouldnt want to take the chance of them dying or getting sick from them. do you know of any stores that sell blackworms? i looked at hoffers but all they had were bloodworms, same with every store ive been to around me. i saw their display tank, i think they only have one now. i compared that ones size to the one im getting, their's is over double in size. ill be getting a bigger tank anyways, but to me hoffers' are too expensive. but really thanks for replying, i kind of thought no one would answer cause i know a lot of people around here didnt even know you could own a stingray as a pet.

 

[naturestee]

Blackworms are actually the most likely to carry parasites. I'm not entirely sure what else they eat. Although did you ask about live food at Hoffer's? Last I knew, they also sold brine shrimp, black worms, white worms, and maybe a few other things. I know there's some kind of fish club that meets there regularly. My friend belongs to it. Some of the people there helped set him up with several different live food cultures and most of them are pretty easy.

 

[Crisi1987]

really, ill have to go there tomorrow and ask. thanks for your help

 

[rabbit_whisperer]

:shock:you can accually own a stingray?

 

[naturestee]

rabbit_whisperer wrote:

:shock:you can accually own a stingray?

Small freshwater species, yes. The ones on display at the pet store I mentioned (which is half zoo, I swear!) were full grown and about a foot across. It sounds like Crisi's will be smaller. They need huge tanks and live food though, which few people are willing or able to do.

 

[rabbit_whisperer]

wow

never would of thought,(The most I've ever heard of a bull shark in a lake)

he he

 

[Crisi1987]

im willing to give them live food, i went to hoffers today but i had to leave right away because i had to go to work, i had to buy pH 6.5 for them. hoffers is like a zoo, they bring in a tiger, kangaroos and large alligators for pictures once in a while. i think hoffers is a really good pet store, better than a lot around here anyways. at least their concerned about who they sell animals to. but im really excited because im getting the stingrays tomorrow. im going to a specialty fish store to buy brine shrimp and dif. kinds of worms for them. i was told that they can eat guppies and feeder fish too, so maybe ill try that. hoffers just got mudd puppies, i dont know if anyone knows what they are, but i think their cute, ive never seen them sold anywhere before.

 

[rabbit_whisperer]

oooh a kangaroo,where is it located,the store?? (Looooooooooove kangaroo's)

 

[Crisi1987]

its on 76th street in milwaukee, wisconsin

 

[rabbit_whisperer]

Is there really kangaroo's?onder:

 

[Crisi1987]

yea, not actually in the store, but i said before they bring them in once in a while on weekends so kids can have their pictures taken with them. im sorry if you thought i meant they have them in there all the time.

also... my 2 stingrays were delivered this morning, their really cute and tiny, their only about 5 inches long. i named the girl wizzer and the boy oscar. they ate right away when i put them in the tank, i read thats a good sign for them and means their healthy.

 

[SweetPeasMommie]

We were going to get a few sting rays. We had a 75 gal and a 55 gal. We almost got sand and all. But we went against it.

You got to take pics of them

 

[Crisi1987]

this is the best picture i could take so far, from the pH chemicals the water is a little cloudy so ill have to fix that up. this is the girl stingray with my plecostamus name who is named cujo. the boy stingray oscar is on the other side of the cage covered in sand, he seemed scared so i didnt want to flash a camera in his face.

 

[SweetPeasMommie]

Oh look at them. I miss my 18 inch pleco named Brutis. We rehomed him along with the rest of our tanks.

 

[Crisi1987]

when i got cujo, at the pet shop the guy who got him didnt use a net or anything he grabbed him with his hand and threw him in the bag, i thought it was mean the way he did it, cujo was freaking out until i got into the car, then i realized i cut a hole in the bag from all the moving so i had to get home fast to get him in the tank.

 

[SweetPeasMommie]

Why would he do that. They have bones in the fins and that is how a hole apears. He could have gotten hurt.

 

[Crisi1987]

i really think he was just trying to show off, acting like he was cool for doing that or something. they had nets that were big enough to catch him safely in, and i asked why he grabbed him instead, he just said it was easier. it didnt look easier considering cujo was trying his best to get away from him and kept banging his face into the tank wall. but cujo is fine now, he seems more relaxed in his tank, at least now he doesnt have a shark in with him, he has some bite marks in his tail fin, i think their from that shark.

 

[heavenlyshelties]

There is a little pet store over here by me that has a tall circular tree like cage that is about 15 feet wide and they have a kangroo in it. They are keeping it, I feel it's way to small and it's not fair the kangaroo. He's got plenty of play things and people stop by and look at him all the time but... well it's just wrong to me.

I never knew they could do things like that till I saw him. Before him they had a lemur for many years.