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Does anyone have any experiences with these crazy little creatures? We are looking into getting them

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

Stingrays are very different fish. They tend to spend most of their time sitting at the bottom during the day. You need sand for them to bury themselves in. However, even though they are inactive during the day, at night they go out on the hunt.

A 75 gallon is a MINIMUM! Better would be 125 or larger. They don't withstand nitrites or nitrates very well, so frequent water changes are a must. Having a sandy bottom and a fish that burys itself in the sand, live plants are, for the most part, out of the question.

Live/frozen foods are the best diets for rays. Frozen shrimp and fish are great, and even live earthworms make a good treat. Live ghost shrimp can be put in to give him something to do, but can't make up a staple diet. Even if your ray takes to preapaired foods, they don't make a good diet for rays.

Look around online for some more info on them. They get a little bigger than their name suggests (I think about 10 inch round body), but still small compaired.

HTH
Racso

I wouldn't put one in a 75 gallon. If you count by disk they fit, but if you count by tail a 75 gallon will be too small in the long run. 125 gallon at least, but bigger is better. On top of that, not all stingrays just sit on the bottom lazily. Though this can occur, there are also stingrays that are very active and swimming about; they're not even necessarily confined to the bottom stratum.

Clean water is a necessity. Some stingray keepers change their water twice a week, and not little water changes either. Water should be changed at least weekly, if I'm not mistaken.

Because of the difficulty of care (stingrays are definitely at the top, even moreso than discus), you definitely have to work pretty hard. But for stingrays, it's worth it.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

From what I've researched tea cups are bad beginner rays. A motoro ray would be much better, but they also get much larger. A 220 is minumum for a Motoro. Motoros can be more forgiving than tea cups and are usually in better shape when they come in.

First off, all stingrays are more of an expert fish. Not sure what it is, but different ones do better in different areas of the US than others do. Around here, the tea cups are all over the place, and do very well. And most all the others are about a 50/50 shot if they live more than a month. Price wise, the motoros are 3-4 times as much around here, than the tea cups. As well most all the stingrays other than the tea cups, are 3-4 times as much as the tea cups.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Be careful, "tea cup" is as vague a name as they come. Even motoro pups can be labeled tea-cups. This is because tea cup is is reference to size not species.

interesting. well i was told that "tea cup rays" would be ok in a 72.. we have a bowfront which has plenty of room for a fish to turn around in..we talked to a guy who owns a shop and specializes in exotic fish....he said we would be ok, considering we are only thinking one ray..

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

Someone who specializes in exotic fish probably wouldnt be able to sell alot of stingrays if they give the bare truth...

what?

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

In other words, somebody who sells cars for a living would not do very well in business if he told everybody that shouldn't have a car not to buy one.
This is the same case. I'm sure the freshwater stingray business is far from booming. Therefore, the owner would want to sell as many as he could, even if it meant selling fish to people who couldn't care for them.

Depressingly true statement that.Not just true of fish either, reptiles seem to have it even worse,and having worked in animal rescue for years its my experience that most shops and even some educational colleges offer some severely bad advice, often advocating animal housing and keeping protocols that should never be repeated or encouraged. One the reptile front almost no herp should be given less than 3 foot vivaria as its almost impossible to provide a thermal gradient in less than that, the same is pretty much true of water quality in small fish bowls and aquaria. Its all business, no keen aquarist of herper should ever confuse what people will sell you as being the correct course of action. Teacup stingrays will often be nothing more than misidentified species of other rays.And some species reach a diameter of 18 inches up to 3 feet. ALMOST NO RAY IS SUITABLE FOR LESS THAN A 50 GALLON, AND MOST WILL NEED WAY BIGGER THAN THAT. Add to that the water quality required, the susceptibilty to infections that are difficult to treat and high quantity of waste and you have a recipe for disaster in the hands of all but the most qualified and well off aquarists. Most aquarists should consider rays no more keepable than small sharks and large catfish. Most freshwater rays will reach adult size in around three years, so most people will find thinking that they can get by in small aquaria a very, very, bad idea.

interesting..

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)