Fresh Water Sting Rays

By KatieRox
 
Latin Name: Potamotrygon motoro.
Origin: South America, Amazon, Orinico, La Plata, and Xingu River
Temperature: 80-85°F (26.5-30°C)
Ease Of Keeping: Extremely Difficult
Aggressivness: Easy Going but Tempermental
Lighting: Dim to Moderate
Adult Size: 15"-18" (37-45cm)
Minimum Tank Size: 90 Gallons (the larger the better)
Feeding: Shrimp, Scallops, Small Fish, Earth worms, Squid and, Beef Heart
Spawning Method: Develops Eggs Internally
 
Care:
All Fresh Water stingrays are extremely delicate, making them difficult to raise. The rays are bottom dwellers with highly delicate undersides which can create a problem as to what tank bottom medium you may want to use although most owners tend to use play sand or light sand as long as it is not course or sharp. This is because if the ray is cut or scraped on its underside this damage is likely to become infected which potentially leads to death. Another thing to take into consideration before purchasing your rays is tank size. Gallons aren't exactly how most owners measure tank size. A ray tank really needs to only be 12 inches deep, what you have to take into consideration is the surface area of the bottom of the tank. Being bottom dwellers the rays bury them selves along the bottom, this means they need plenty of room to swim around and skim the bottom surface.
 
A few things a potential ray owner should know are that pH and other tank parameters are not important but that the important thing is water consistency, there is no set pH fresh water rays prefer just that they prefer consistency and don't handle change well. This also goes for water temperature, in my research I have found many suggested temperatures the bottom line is just that rays need a consistent water type and drastic changes could be potentially dangerous. This rule does not apply to feeding of fresh water rays, in fact it is almost the opposite, similar to humans and other fish, rays enjoy a variety of foods and are not usually picky eaters.