Strikingthematch Stingray!

Well the time has come. Several months ago I picked up a 280 gallon tank and started setting it up. (can find the build here!) LINK

Well since finishing the stand, adding sand, and water it has sat empty, that is until now!
A little over a week ago I found a monster CL ad. A guy was getting out of the fish hobby it seems and selling off his whole setup. I didn't pay it much attention because it was a 150 gallon tank with two FX5 filters and I have no need for the whole setup at this time. What really caught my eye was the fish he wanted to sell. one stingray, one arowana, and one catfish.

I got in touch with him and made a deal for the fish, and one FX5. I won't say what I paid but it was a pretty good deal I believe. I only really wanted one of his filters because I had intended on doing another sump setup like I used for my discus tank but never got around to it. So in order to supplement this I used one FX5 that I had kept running on another tank and his filter. The integration to the tank has been flawless and I didn't even experience a mini cycle.
The current tank I have setup is very plain but it has what I need in it. I will make it look more appealing as time goes on. At this point I am much more worried about proper care of the fish then eye candy (the fish are that for me right now)

Setup:
280gallon 72x30x30 all acrylic tank
2 FX5 filters
2 DIY spray bars for better circulation.
2 Eheim Jager 300watt heaters (not shown in pictures)
2 air stones.

As you may remember from the original setup I had sand in the tank. After a week in the tank the stingray was showing signs of irritation. It was a mixture of play and pool filter sand. My guess would be the courser pool filter sand caused it but I have no real way of knowing. For the time being the tank will remain bare bottom. It does not look as good but is easy to maintain and the belly of the ray has already healed. Typically you would want a substrate for a ray because they like to hide in it but I have seen no adverse effects from a bare bottom and seeing as her skin as already healed I would say it was a good idea. I plan to add a substrate at a later time that is both ray safe and appealing but bare will work for now!

This is my first time dealing with a ray and arowana but so far it has been a blast. The ray is no doubt the most intriguing fish I have ever owned. She readily comes to the front of the tank and will follow your finger as if trying to figure you out. Just watching her glide across the bottom the tank is thrilling. The arowana has such a mean look but would run at the first inclination of trouble haha. The catfish is well a catfish but watching it eat is funny to say the least. It likes to attack everything like it is the end of the world even when it's a tiny worm.

Inhabitants
Thus far I have only the fish I got in the deal.
1 10" Female Motoro stingray
1 12" Silver Arowana
1 7" B. Juruense catfish.

Now for the pictures! Enjoy!

The tank





The ray














The Arowana







The Juruense cat

beautiful ray

wow that is to cool!

Now I'm coming over to look at your tanks let me know when is a good time for you.

Also animal jungle sells this really nice sand its super fine and does not washed out at all <3 , my favorite and the other awesome part is i have never had a problem with it and getting into my filters it seems rather heavy and sinks fast and like i said its pretty fine.

NO WAY! That is too freaking awesome for words!!!!!

Thanks everyone! I will have to check out that sand JD. It seems like so many people use sand in their tanks for them but no one ever says exactly what kind or where they got it haha. Some people use smooth pebble gravel instead but I like stand because to me it is easier to clean. O well still looks fine for now!

lol ill try to find a bag and photo it : )

There you go , they have it in a few different sizes but I get the really fine stuff and it works great. You may need to gently wash it out but i normally don't and within 20 minutes the water is crystal.

Awesome fish!Love the stingray!

Gorgeous! I'm looking forward to seeing the tank for myself!

Thanks haha not much of a tank to look at now but you can stare at the fish all day

That is dope!! I wanna come see it too!

That's what the BIG tanks are for! Great set-up for the larger fish and I'm sure in time you will get the decor the way you want it. The fish seem to love it the way it is!

One question - how do you know ray is a female?

D'Claro wrote:

That's what the BIG tanks are for! Great set-up for the larger fish and I'm sure in time you will get the decor the way you want it. The fish seem to love it the way it is!

One question - how do you know ray is a female?

Thanks of course you are all welcome to check it out haha.

You can't see it from the photos posted here but female rays lack the "claspers" males have. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwstingrays.htm about 3/4 the way down that page are two images that show the bottom pelvic area and you will see what I mean then haha.

Nice Jurenese! Like the Ray too! I've always had a soft spot for Rays... Need to try and get a real Tig in their! That would be top notch, sir!


P.S... I use "Play Sand" in all of my tanks. It's $3.00 for a 50 lb bag at Lowe's or Home Depot. Yes, it's perfectly safe I've been using it for years and years and have used it in my Ray tank as well. You can also buy Crayola colored sand, i.e. Black, Gray, etc... You can buy it at Toys R' Us, 7$ bucks or so for a 25lb bag... Yes, it is perfectly safe as well, and contains NO CRAYON material it's just colored sand. Looks great in tanks for those people who like black sand.

Thanks! I really wish I could get a real tig but this guy is great as well haha. It is amazing how long the caudal fin whip is.

Thanks for the pointers, like I said it had a mixture of play sand and pool filter sand. I believe the pool filter sand caused the problems because the ray stirred up the top layer of play sand. I didn't intend to get a stingray when I setup the tank so I had to adjust for it afterwards.

I saw the crayola sand and I was thinking about using some of that but have not made my choice yet haha.

Did I ever tell yens that Rays are my babies? LOL By far my favoritest fishy in the sea.

You'll definately want to get sand in there for her. Lighthouse brand PFS is an excellent choice. It's white and fine grained. One other thing I like to do is to get small river rock (pea gravel) and sprinkle a little here and there. Just a small amount.

Another big thing to look if you haven't already. Get heater cages for your heaters. It's a must have in any ray tank.

I'm sure you are well prepared for the frequent large water changes as well. Should be pretty familiar territory for ya with your Discs.

Man...I gotta get my tank done! This should be a good motivator for me. LOL

Thanks James.

Yeah I plan of getting some sand in there. She is doing great without any as of now but I really don't like the bare bottom look and would like for her to feel more secure. At the time I was much more worried about her underside irritation then anything close to looks.

I intend to make some heater guards very soon. I just got my jagers in this Monday so now I can start making stuff like that haha.

As of now my plan is to do two 60 gallon (about 25% of actual water volume) a week. With the current load in the tank I think it will be alright. If I see anything wrong I will bump that up.
By my calculations and using 240 gallons as actual water volume that means I will have done a 43% water change each week and 89% a month. What I may do is turn one of my 25% into a 50% to give an extra boost in the numbers. I would like to do what I do for my discus which is close to 50% daily but I think it would drive me nuts haha.
Very used to doing them and have become exceedingly efficient at doing large water changes haha. I waste more time waiting for the tank to drain then anything else. Thankfully the display room is within garden hose distance from the fish room so I have an extra pipe setup and a fitting on the end of the garden hose that I use to pump water from my holding tank into the larger displays lol. No buckets for me!

strikingthematch wrote:

What I may do is turn one of my 25% into a 50% to give an extra boost in the numbers.

This would be a good starting point.

Get some sand in there....maybe look at getting a group of about (4) Clown Loaches. Will be a nice tank. :o)

I was also wondering, I have seen some people suggest to stay away from sand containing too much crystalline silica (commonly found is something like paver sand) and that quartz based sand is preferable.

I was looking at that crayola sand as suggested and it states that is is 99.8% quartz based. The down side is that they have a very limited color selection. Blue being the only real choice for me...

I have seen different forums suggest the lighthouse brand as well but I have not seen it for sale around here. I have to check out a spa and pool store I suppose and see if they have any.

Do you think the clown loaches would get along with the catfish? I know that they don't like other cat fish but the clowns would at least be moving around more.

I keep telling striking he needs to get me a Red Arowana now.

strikingthematch wrote:

I have seen different forums suggest the lighthouse brand as well but I have not seen it for sale around here. I have to check out a spa and pool store I suppose and see if they have any.

Do you think the clown loaches would get along with the catfish? I know that they don't like other cat fish but the clowns would at least be moving around more.

We have one pool store up here that sells it. I have about 1/2 bag left but I doubt that it will cover your floor.

The cats and clowns should be just fine together. Just have to grown out the clowns a bit first of course.

zeashness wrote:

I keep telling striking he needs to get me a Red Arowana now.

There's an export ban on Red Arowana's... You won't be getting one soon unless you move to Canada.

James0816 wrote:

strikingthematch wrote:

I have seen different forums suggest the lighthouse brand as well but I have not seen it for sale around here. I have to check out a spa and pool store I suppose and see if they have any.

Do you think the clown loaches would get along with the catfish? I know that they don't like other cat fish but the clowns would at least be moving around more.

We have one pool store up here that sells it. I have about 1/2 bag left but I doubt that it will cover your floor.

The cats and clowns should be just fine together. Just have to grown out the clowns a bit first of course.

Haha yeah going to need a few bags.

Wonder if I could find some good size clowns haha. The cat is only around 7 inches but I would still worry that as it grows it would outpace the loaches.