Oddball fish

[davelin315]

I have been keeping sharks and rays on and off for the past 25 years but recently with my efforts with NoVAquarium I have focused on them as touch and program animals. Mostly I have been using the brown banded bamboo sharks for these programs given their easy husbandry and their easy going nature but came across a gem that I could not pass up recently. Figured I would show it off (along with my school of silver sailfin and lyretail mollies as feeders) a bit here. This Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray (Taeniura lymma) has perhaps a 6" disc and is eating mainly squid and ghost shrimp. I was super excited that it arrived in great condition and ate upon arrival (even ate a vitamin with the piece of shrimp) and has been doing well for the past week.

 

Also have an angler fish that usually lives with @dbartco due to lack of space for it at my house but it came back for a visit so I took some video.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wFxHyM6vXzvt17mh8

 

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[WheresTheReef]

It’s very cool and definitely a gem. Thanks for sharing.

[YHSublime]

Cool! Thanks for sharing!


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[mogurnda]

Dang, Dave, that is so cool.  

[Origami]

Very cool!

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[thereeftank]

Awesome video!  Thanks for sharing. 

[Tommy]

Thats awesome man!  How big of a tank do you need for the blue spotted ray? I've always wanted one. 

[davelin315]

2 hours ago, Tommy said:

Thats awesome man!  How big of a tank do you need for the blue spotted ray? I've always wanted one. 

Eventually you would want one that provides a big footprint, preferably rounded and around 6’ but this one is in a smaller tub right now.  Gallons is misleading as footprint is by far more important a consideration than actual gallons of water.  Eventually I will move it over to a Rubbermaid 300 gallon stock tank but it won’t be filled all the way up to the top.

[Tommy]

Ohh ok, I always love the look of a saltwater pond.  Let me clear up some room in my heated garage to make it happen lol.  Can it be in the pond with other fish or it will eat them all up?  Thanks Dave. 

[davelin315]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Ohh ok, I always love the look of a saltwater pond.  Let me clear up some room in my heated garage to make it happen lol.  Can it be in the pond with other fish or it will eat them all up?  Thanks Dave. 

It completely depends on the other fish.  Anything aggressive is a no no (e.g. triggers, puffers, some tangs and damsels, etc) because they can nip at the ray’s fins and cause it to jump out.  Really peaceful fish are fine, though.  The flip side is that smaller fish could easily become dinner, especially fish like wrasses that sleep in the sand where it hunts.  On the other hand, they are fine with many species of sharks such as cat sharks and bamboo sharks.  If you go really big with a system you can put things like smooth hounds with them (at least that’s what I have been told, no experience there).

[Tommy]

Thanks for the info Dave!