logan10
New Member
I’m a student studying marine biology and in our lab we are performing respirometry on stingrays to measure oxygen consumption and metabolic rates at increased temperatures. This is being done on neonatal rays (eventually) and juveniles (currently). My issue is, I’ve just got 2 juvenile Atlantic stingrays (160mm disk width) last Thursday and they don’t want to eat anything I offer them. The tank they are in is 70G with an exterior ~15G bio filter tub, and the tank is split down the middle so each ray is separated but in the same setup.
Now before anyone comes at me for having them in too small of a tank I KNOW. If you would like to donate funds towards our lab to purchase larger tanks please let me know, otherwise this is the largest we have, and there’s nothing that can be done about that. There’s too much negativity in some of these forums and I genuinely need help not criticism.
That being said. I have tried feeding live mussel, live small crabs, night crawlers, mysis shrimp, blood worms, krill, and frozen shrimp, yet they haven’t touched a thing. They are very active, don’t have a depression in their forehead or a protruding pelvic girdle, as I’ve seen some people have noted in emaciated rays. I’ve performed a 25% water change since Thursday and will do another tonight when my saltwater mix is ready. Nitrates and nitrites are at 0, pH at 8.2, and salinity at 25ppm. It appears as though my water parameters are relatively pristine, but they still don’t want to eat, and I’m beginning to get worried.
I’ve seen people say live ghost or grass shrimp and blackworms should be my next step, is this true? And would it be better if they were together in the same side of the tank so they could be social, or would that cramp them even more. I’ve looked into force or tube feeding but that is my absolute last option because I can’t risk injuring them or stressing them out too much. Any actual advice or suggestions are helpful, thank you.
Now before anyone comes at me for having them in too small of a tank I KNOW. If you would like to donate funds towards our lab to purchase larger tanks please let me know, otherwise this is the largest we have, and there’s nothing that can be done about that. There’s too much negativity in some of these forums and I genuinely need help not criticism.
That being said. I have tried feeding live mussel, live small crabs, night crawlers, mysis shrimp, blood worms, krill, and frozen shrimp, yet they haven’t touched a thing. They are very active, don’t have a depression in their forehead or a protruding pelvic girdle, as I’ve seen some people have noted in emaciated rays. I’ve performed a 25% water change since Thursday and will do another tonight when my saltwater mix is ready. Nitrates and nitrites are at 0, pH at 8.2, and salinity at 25ppm. It appears as though my water parameters are relatively pristine, but they still don’t want to eat, and I’m beginning to get worried.
I’ve seen people say live ghost or grass shrimp and blackworms should be my next step, is this true? And would it be better if they were together in the same side of the tank so they could be social, or would that cramp them even more. I’ve looked into force or tube feeding but that is my absolute last option because I can’t risk injuring them or stressing them out too much. Any actual advice or suggestions are helpful, thank you.
