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From: westling@cvl.UUCP (Mark Westling)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: Freshwater rays
Message-ID: <545@cvl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Jun-85 22:05:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: cvl.545
Posted: Thu Jun 13 22:05:20 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Jun-85 20:34:35 EDT
References: <1416@vax3.fluke.UUCP>
Reply-To: westling@cvl.UUCP (Mark Westling)
Distribution: na
Organization: Computer Vision Lab, U. of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 39

Ask the pet shop people how they are feeding the ray.  If they use
freeze-dried tubifex, they probably just squeeze it to remove the air and
then let it sink.  It might be cheaper to try a variety of chopped lean
beef, shrimp, and earthworms.  A friend who works at a pet shop told me
their rays would eat just about anything in small chunks that reached the
bottom, including dead feeder guppies.  He also stressed that the tank
should have silica sand instead of gravel, otherwise the ray could be
bruised when it tries to bury itself.

Java fern would be a good plant to try.  You tie it or wedge it to a piece
of weighted driftwood so it's near the bottom but not rooted in the sand.
Hygrophila is another tough plant; if you bury three inches of the stalk it
should be stable long enough to develop roots.  And if all else fails, you
can use small ceramic flowerpots sitting on top of the sand to hold
swordplants or anything else.  I've seen this done, and it doesn't look all
that bad (well, you get used to it).

I once read that some fish release a growth-inhibiting hormone into the
water, so the greater the number of fish, the more concentrated the hormone
and the smaller the individual fish.  I don't think this would apply to rays
since they belong to a primitive class, and I can't imagine a body of water
overpopulated by rays (what a scary thought).

Some public aquariums will take an overgrown pet off your hands, and some
aquarium shops will allow you to exchange a fish for other fish or merchandise
if they think they can resell it.  I would seriously ask around, because it
won't take much for a 1-ft.  ray to outgrow a 55 gallon tank.

Also find out what to do if you're stung.  In the movie "Bye Bye Brazil,"
there is a scene in which a man is stung by a freshwater ray, and his friend
tells him that the best ointment is urine and ... well, you get the idea.

Good luck!
-- 
-- Mark Westling

ARPA: westling@cvl         CSNET: westling@cvl
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