A Few Ray Questions

[demonmagus]

Hi, are Potamotrygon orbignyi one of the smaller species? would they be small enough for a 6ft by 2ft by 2ft tank?

also, is a 5ft by 30 inches (deep) by 24 inches tank to small for motoros? Just wondering because it is much cheaper than a 6ft version.

thanks for answering!

 

[cane76]

i read that orbignyi max out at about 16" so i would of thought a pair would fine in a 6x2x2.

 

[CAC]

TBH, i wouldnt of though that they'd be ok in a 6x2x2....Theyre tails would be abit long to go in....
In a 5 foot, 30" wide would be great for scobinas, but theyre not one of the hardier species....
If you got the 5foot tank, then i would imagine that the motoros could stay in there for a couple of years, and then if you sold them on, you might have gained enough experiance to go for some smaller species...

Orbignyi arent the smallest species, id say scobinas are, closely followed by hystrix. Scobinas get to 12" and hysrix can get 16", with most at 14"ish. But with the tail, they need quite abit more room to accomodate it. I was going to get a 48x32x18" and house some motoros for a year or two, then get some harder to keep, and more expensive scobinas, but the tank was far too heavy for my floor

See if CFC has any ideas?

Mikey

 

[CFC]

orbys do indeed have very long tails so while they have a relatively small disc size they still require a wider tank to turn around in comfortably, a 30" wide tank would be much better. I personally wouldnt feel comfortable keeping any adult ray in a tank with a width under 30" but if i had to then P.scobina would be the only species id try it with.

A 5x2.5x2 tank would be good for motoros for a good few years before they outgrew it, but eventually you are going to need a much bigger foot print, females can get to as much as 24" across (maybe bigger).