Stingrays

Stingrays are a group of sea rays; they are cartilaginous fish and are related to sharks. Stingrays consist of eight different families and are most commonly found in coastal tropical and subtropical marine waters.

They are becoming threatened and are in danger of becoming extinct, making them a rare sight to behold in the wild.

While they are very intelligent and generally interact well with humans, Stingrays should be handled with care; all species can sting painfully. In most instances, they only sting when they feel scared or threatened, so if you interact with your Stingray in a friendly way, it is likely to be receptive and equally friendly. If treated properly, Stingrays can even be trained to hand feed.

However, if you or anyone else is stung by a Stingray, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible, both for pain relief and to possibly have the stinger removed from the wound. If the stinger is left in the wound, it can lead to serious infections.

To properly care for your Stingray, you must be dedicated; they need a sizeable aquarium, constant clean water and specialized diets. That being said, if you are prepared to put the work in, these gorgeous fish can make delightful pets.

Freshwater Stingrays are incredibly mesmerising additions to any aquarium, but all Stingray breeds are large and also extremely active, meaning they require a very large tank to accommodate their needs.

Stingrays also have an unusual shape, which means they can sometimes be awkward to house compared to other aquarium fish. To properly accommodate a Stingray, your tank should be at least five times as wide as the fish’s width. The minimum sized aquarium for an adult Stingray is 180 gallons.

The tank’s substrate should be fine sand. Stingrays like to swim to the bottom of the ocean bed and bury themselves in the sand, so you should leave as much of the bottom of the aquarium open as possible to allow them to do this.

If you do add any decorations to the aquarium, these should be smooth and not have any sharp edges, as Stingrays may injure themselves on these.

For an adult Stingray, you should keep it in an aquarium that can hold at least 180 gallons. For juvenile Stingrays, your aquarium should be at least 75 gallons, preferably 90 gallons.

Stingrays have soft bodies that are vulnerable to being burned by the heater in your tank. For this reason, you should ensure that any heaters you use in the tank have a guard around them, or are located within a sump pump, to stop the Stingray from burning itself. Any lighting should be subdued with a 12-hour day/night cycle.

Stingrays are not too fussy about the temperature of the water, but Orinoco and Amazon species of Stingray should be kept between 25 and 28 degrees C. River Plate species are best kept at 24 decrees C.

Stingrays are very sensitive to ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but they also produce a high amount of ammonia, making it vital that you maintain a high quality of water. The best way to keep Stingrays in suitable water conditions is to change the water frequently, keep the fish in very large aquariums and use an efficient biological filtration.

A 25% to 50% water change is recommended each week when you keep a Stingray in an aquarium.

Freshwater Stingrays are carnivores and mostly feed on other fish and crustaceans when in the wild, so you should feed them raw shrimp or white fish (tilapia). Live earthworms are also suitable to feed to Stingrays.

You can also feed freshwater Stingrays sinking pellet or tablet foods, particularly if they have been bred in captivity.

When bred in captivity, Stingrays can generally live for between five and ten years.

Stingrays are carnivores who spend most of their time on the bottom of the tank. Their eyes and gill inlets are at the top of their bodies, allowing them to stay buried under the sand as they wait for their prey. To prevent Stingrays from eating other fish in your aquarium, you should only mix them with species that are big enough to not be eaten by them.

Only choose peaceful breeds of fish that will not antagonise the Stingrays or try to steal their food. Do not mix them with plecostomus or any other suckermouth catfish; Stingrays have soft bodies and these types of fish are notorious for sucking on their bodies and causing them injury.

Appropriate tank mates for freshwater Stingrays include silver dollars, Geophagus species, arowanas and bichirs.

To ensure that your Stingray has enough room at the bottom of the aquarium, it is best that you mix them with fish that will swim at the middle and/or upper levels of the tank.

You can mix Stingrays with other species and sizes of ray, providing you have sufficient space and filtration within the same aquarium to house them properly. You should not invest in more than one Stingray if your tank does not have plenty of room, particularly at the bottom, for more than one to live comfortably.

If you have a spacious aquarium and intend to breed freshwater Stingrays, this can be done, but it takes time and dedication.