My Stingray Tank Is Very Close To Having Stingrays

[fish-r-fancy]

Okay as some of you may know I have been setting up a stingray tank for about 6 months, so much has come up and my dad has a very busy work schedule so we haven't had much time to work on the tank. Anyway the tank is a 180 gallon bow front. We bought it used from a lfs that no longer needed it. So everything was good until we brought it home and the tank fell from the truck, cracking the trim of the tank. Now some DIY work was needed. Here are some before pics of the tank:

What we did to fix the tank was that we used some kind of glue (forgot the name) to glue the frame together from where it cracked. Then we gave the trim and stand a sand finish and added new handles to the stand. We also painted the light fixture. Here are all of the supplies that I currently have:

-180 gallon bow front tank
-stand
-light fixture with 2 lights
-2 glass covers
-2 fluval 405's that have been running on another tank for about 4 months with spraybar returns
-an aquaclear 300 (70) that hasn't been running on another tank yet
-2 rena cal 300 wat heaters
-stick on outside of glass thermometer
-3 2 foot bubble curtains with suction cups
-1 large real piece of bogwood
-1 med. sized fake piece of bogwood
-11 aponogeton plant bulbs
-2 lilly pad plant bulbs
-freshwater master test kit
-cleaning magnet
-alage scraper
-python
-a black background
-the slip on things for the back of the tank
-180 pounds of pool filter sand

Things that I plan on getting:
-2 heater guards

My planned stocking (ordering from tfdfish.com):
-3 P. reticulated stingrays , 1 male and 2 females 3-4 inches (I plan to breed them when they get older)
-1 fire eel or snowflake eel
-1 african butterfly
-1 silver arowna
-1 tiger shovelnose
-1 baby whale
-silver dollars? Does anybody have any other fish that they would recommend for this setup?


The ph from my tap water is 7.2, I'm hoping that the bogwood will bring it down to 6.0-6.75, but if not I will buy a product to do so. I will leave the tanks temp. between 80F and 82F. I will test my water weekly and perform 25-59% water changes each week.

I will start the rays off on black worms for the first 2 weeks that I have them, then I will feed them tubivex worms, then earthworms,redworms, bloodworms ,goldfish,guppies,minnows,ghost shrimp,supermarket shrimp, dead crickets, meal worms, brine shrimp and does anybody know of anything else that is some what cheap that I could feed? After pictures will come later today!

 

[fish-r-fancy]

UPDATE: Last night I went out and got the pool filter sand , a black background and the things that go on the back of teh tank to prevent the cats from getting in. We put the sand in the tank, the glass covers on the tank and the light on the tank. Today we will add water and the baclground, pictures are coming soon.

 

[kewskills]

good luck with this project, i bet you crapped yourself when you dropped the tank

 

[Miss Wiggle]

discus is going to be a bad idea, too delicate to be in with boisterous fish and need immaculate water


25-59% water changes, why not 60% lol ???

 

[fish-r-fancy]

good luck with this project, i bet you crapped yourself when you dropped the tank

Thanks, it actually wasn't me that dropped the tank, it was my dad but now the tank looks a lot better with the sand finish, so I'm kind of happy that we were able to paint it because we wouldn't have if the tank hadn't fell.

discus is going to be a bad idea, too delicate to be in with boisterous fish and need immaculate water


25-59% water changes, why not 60% lol ???

Thank you. I wont have discus then, I've just seen them in tanks with stingrays before and they didn't seem to be bothered, but if it's better not to than I wont get discus. Oh abd on the water changes thing that was a typo I meant 25-50% lol.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's not the rays that bother me it's the TSN and arowana, can't see them mixing with discus at all

 

[fish-r-fancy]

it's not the rays that bother me it's the TSN and arowana, can't see them mixing with discus at all

Ok thank you for the advice, I have decided against discus because I don't want to spend money on something only for it to get eaten. Thank you.

 

[ox5477]

Just a note on the decorations of the tank. As you notice with most members who have stingrays, their tanks are quite "minimalist" I believe this is the correct way to go. It protects the rays from cutting their flesh on a rock or piece of wood plus gives them much more room to roam and manuveer. I mean look at the fact that the ray is going to spend prob atleast 95% of its life hovering over the bottom with an occasional trip up the side of the glass to maybe grab some food. So the more bottom space you have not filled with decorations is more room for them. I don't remember who said it (either paul, tikarmann, cane, etc) but the whole pint of having a fish tank is to display the fish, not the decorations you buy from the store so make the tank centerpieces your fish!

EDIT: spelling and grammar

 

[andywg]

Unless the dimensions on that tank are massively different from how they appear, or you have another larger tank ready for the fish, those occupants are no good for that tank.

The 180 gallon tank recommendation for small rays is based on 6x2x2 tanks, not a tall bow front like yours.

The TSN get to at least 30" and 3-4 feet is not out of the questions, so that is also not an option in that tank.

A silver aro can easily surpass 2 feet, so will eventually have to be moved from that tank as well.

I think you really have to reconsider the stocking of this tank as you have picked a number of fish that just aren't going to be happy long term in there.

 

[Esfa]

If you mean the snowflake moray eel, they are brackish. Stick with the spiny eel.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

To answer some questons, the tank is a 6x2x2 and I don't mean the snowflake moray eel. And the only decorations that I will use is the bogwood and nothing else.

 

[MojoDex]

i agree with andywg

tsn get bloody huge way to big for that tank and a full grown one your looking at a 10x4x4 IMO to house it properly

what did u mean by snowflake eel exactly?

as for breeding rays they will need another massive tank to breed im afraid a 6x2x2 just wont cut it for breeding rays and again i dont think a 6x2x2 is big enough for 3 rays of any kind sorry to say

 

[MojoDex]

just noticed the african butterlfy fish you have listed as well sorry to say but a stingray or arowana will quite easily eat a fish that tops out at 4 inches im afraid

 

[geo7x]

To answer some questons, the tank is a 6x2x2 and I don't mean the snowflake moray eel. And the only decorations that I will use is the bogwood and nothing else.

im sorry and correct me if im wrong, but from the photos the tank doesnt look as wide as it is tall, exept maybe in the very middle where the bowfront is sticking out the most, but even thats no good as apart from the very middle the fish arent going to have sufficient turning space.
Also you have alot of rocks and ornaments in there, and alot of them look quite rough and sharp, there is no way rays or any other bottom feeders that you want to have will be able to maneouvre themselves around all that without getting bad scratches, especially on rays discs.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Ok the tank is actually as wide at the ends as it is tall, and I just realized that since a standard 180 gallon tank is 6x2x2 then my tank is slightly larger because it is 2 feet at the ends of the tank and about 2 feet 4 inches in the middle, where the tank is widest. The decorations shown in that picture are NOT going into this tank for decorations, including the gravel, I'm using white pool filter sand. The only decorations will be 2 pieces of bogwood, one shown in the pictures and aponogeton bulbs and lilly pads. And I will not be getting discus,tiger shovelnose or a butterfly fish anymore. Also I will upgrade the tank to a larger one at Christmas time.