Blue spotted stingray need some help!!!

[Garyf005]

I just got a small blue spotted stingray and it looks like it is having problems burrowing in sand, and all it is doing is making the tank very cloudy witch is fine if it stops after couple of days. Does anyone know if there is something that I can do, or will it just get use to the tank and stop?

Thanks,

[leebca]

I believe there should be a law against providing these lifeforms to the hobby. Most die fast or suffer a slow stressful death. People can't take care of them properly. They need a very large area. If its tank is less than 500 gallons, with an open bottom (no rocks or decorations) then it could work out.

The type and quality of the substrate is important to these creatures. They glide across it and if it isn't the right quality, they injure themselves. Feeding is usually not a problem, but they end up not acclimating to captive life.

When non-hobbyists argue that marine life should be left in the sea so they can live their usual life, I would agree with them on this one.

If you'd like to provide more information about tank size, actual space for the Ray to swim (that is, how many square feet are open and not covered by rock or decorations), an accurate description of the substrate and particle size, the depth of the substrate, etc., we might be able to provide a better idea of what might be happening.

[Garyf005]

Wow Lee thanks for the help... and yet your on the Reef forum, so ether you have a tank your self or you just do this to push your agendas on people. Why don't you give up all your money and become a vegetarian monk....

Again thanks for the help.....

[Parrothead]

What kind of substrate do you have????

[Garyf005]

Oh it's fine now, I think he was just sifting sand, because after about an hour he was able to get under the sand. And I don't have much live rock and its mostly sand and some crushed coral.

Thanks

[gregr]

I gotta jump in here and say something because this [a fish store employee selling, or an individual buying, a creature that really can't be kept by the average hobbyist, and maybe not even by someone with lots of experience] is so incredibly common.
It's way too common and it's bad for the hobby and bad for the unfortunate creatures that are destined to perish.
Gary- Lee wrote what he did because it's the truth. Check out his profile and you'll see that he's helped countless hobbyists. It might help you understand that this sort of thing is a source of great frustration for people that have been in the hobby for a while. People get creatures that they're not prepared to care for, or unethical fish store employees talk them into buying stuff their tanks can't support... old story.

[leebca]

This is who I am Gary: Bio - Lee (a.k.a. leebca)

If over 40 years' experience in the marine hobby, my education in marine fish husbandry, and continuing education in ornamental fish husbandry doesn't give my opinion a fair weight, and this being a Forum I moderate, please feel free to post elsewhere for advice/help.

On this particular marine life form, my advice now is return it to where you got it and get a credit, or provide (as I posted before you now claim you need no help) more information.

[Ninong]

Gary, they sometimes bury under the sand. It's important with this species to provide a tank large enough for them to swim around freely and it should have lots of open sand bed. You should arrange the live rock so that it can swim around the rock structure. It probably needs a minimum of 15-18" of open sand bed surface all around the live rock structure. A soft sand bed would be better than crushed coral.

I don't know how large the aquarium should be because I don't know of anyone who has kept one of these long-term in a home aquarium. I do know of one guy who set up his reef aquarium with a blue-spotted stingray in mind but I don't think he was about to keep it alive more than a year or two. His 1700-gal tank was 15.5 ft long and 5 ft wide. The ray shows up in earlier photos but it does not show up in his Reef Central Tank-of-the-Month photos about two years later.

I agree with others that this species is probably one best left to the professionals at public aquariums. You can find more information here.

The blue-spotted ray is venomous. Small specimens are popular among marine aquarists, though they do not survive well in aquariums. Although they are very wide-ranging and common, this species is subject to population decreases because of capture for the marine aquarium fish trade and by widespread destruction of reef habitats.

[TheMarineGuy]

its good he stopped...but as far as being able too keep any type of stingray this would be my advice....your tank should be anywhere from two and a half feet wide too 4 feet wide and at least 10 too 15 feet long....a professor i know has a foot and a half tall,12 feet long and 3 an a half feet wide aquarium...he has 2 different types of rays including 2 blue spotted as well...but he ONLY buys these becauce he will study them for a while and their anticks in the aquarium only after that does he take a flight too the coast of florida too release these animals into the wild which is the BEST place for these creatures...i love sharks myself an would love a bamboo cat shark and i have the resources too house him properly but only someone who understands the different between a "TINY" 200 to 300 gallon tank and the thousands of miles of open ocean that these animals can enjoy their life too the fullest...that is the moment you actually care for these animals when you realize that....many many MANY people will tell you this.....so give it a min too process through your brain and if you still think like that take him too your local college they would be more equipt too house and keep this animal.....no advice just FACTS......