Hello everyone, I've had my Cortez ray for about a week and everything's going well. She's active and eating, and has adjusted well to life in my greenhouse. I just wanted to ask a few questions to those who have more experience keeping rays or other elasmobranchs:
- Is it normal for the ray's disk to curl a little bit when it's sitting on the bottom? There is a lot of flow across the bottom and I just want to make sure that it's not the "death curl" that freshwater ray keepers sometimes experience.
- When do I start having to worry about goiter, and are there any foods that are rich in iodine? I know that elasmobranchs as a whole are susceptible to goiter and the best way to prevent that is by feeding foods rich in iodine. Is there a food that is already rich in iodine, or do I have to supplement this? Would I use iodine supplements for humans or a specific fish supplement?
- What non-frozen foods have rays been known to eat? I already have her eating freeze-dried shrimp, but I'd like to know if there are any other foods that rays eat. Perhaps Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets? I'm going on vacation in a few months and I'd like to make sure that there it can eat a variety of foods when I'm away.
- Are rays prone to be jumpers? I love it when the ray swims along the top side of the tank, but I'm getting worried that it might get spooked and accidentally jump out. I plan on adding a net around the edge just to make sure, but I'd like to know if any one has experience with this.
- Anything else you think I should do? Any input would be appreciated.
- Salinity - 24 ppm
- pH - 8.0
- Temperature - Between 77.5 and 81 degrees, depending on time of day
- Nitrate - <5 ppm
- Alk - 11.3 dkh
- Calcium - 520 ppm
- Magnesium - 1350 ppm
- For more information about my setup, please visit my build thread.