What would I need to Keep a Freshwater Stingray?

[FishKid]

south american stingrays, are more like what hes asking about, i never saw them get that big, they can go with discus, so they need the same water quality... sandy substrate, mild water movement.....

[Biomanjcs72]

IF that is so, then I know very little about them (the south americans, that is). What I see in LFS's around here is the atlantics, condemned to death. Just make sure you know what your getting I guess.

[FishKid]

they sell for like $50, are from SA, i dont think they get large, a 55 should do...

[chromis]

3 words: wet web media ( www.wetwebmedia.com ) has a great article on freshwater stingrays. Need alot bigger than a 55, more like a 100. I saw a great display at the Washington DC Aquarium over spring break, must have been like 1000 gallons.
Andrew

[rodbev]

I am curious if it would be possible to keep a freshwater
stingray in an aquarium? What size aquarium? Could it live in a community tank?

[Biomanjcs72]

Usually, what that the "Fresh water stingrays" are is Atlantic Stingrays that have been acclimated to fresh, they spend much of their juvenile life in estuaries that have varying salinity. They eat almost exclusively inverts and scavenge for the rest, so they'd be fine in a community tank from that perspective, but here's the kicker, I've seen atlantic stingrays with 3-4' "wingspans" so to speak, so unless you have a really big F/W system, he'll outgrow it. Also, as they get larger, they have to have higher salinity, otherwise their little kidneys crap out at a young age and you have a dead ray. HTH [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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JCS
Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.

[Biomanjcs72]

Definately at least like a 100gal. In a 55 your talking about 4 sq. feet for an animal that lives almost exclusively on the bottom, even small, he's still going to be like 6-8" in body diameter, so you want him just to be able to swim to one side, turn around and swim back. Kind of like keeping an oscar in a 10GAL. [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]