what do you feed your rays?

[Adz1]

i am wondering what every one feeds there rays?
and more importantly how you got them to eat the foods.
i am having a hard time getting my ray to eat anything other than LBWs (live black worms).
i've tried mixing in thinly cut shrimp with the worms for a week with no luck.
also tried crushed massivore pellets and i know he ate them but only because they were mixed with the LBWs.
i think he may be eating blod worms with crushed massivore but he dosn't get as worked up over the food and or look nice and fat like after he has eaten LBWs.

so i would like to know what other ray keepers feed their rays and how you got them to eat these foods for the first time.

[beN]

hey adrian..

i give mine chunks of frozen bloodworm. I hand feed him though. Maybe try that???
He sorta sucks on Prawn spits it out, then sucks it back in..& of course he loves LBW..but i try to stay away from that as it is expensive.

[skynoch]

What size is your ray? After lbw I usually switch them over to canadian nigtcrawlers (dew worms). The important thing is to cut them in peices of 3 to start as the blood and wiggiling gets them going. Once they have put some weight on with them it's time to switch them over to over foods. If your feeding red worms your rays may not eat them.

[stingraylord]

I have a pair of Motoro that eat NLS and the other 11 rays eat...Scallops,Shrimp,Clams,Dew worms,Smelts,Squid,tilapia and I have one big female Motoro cross from Skynoch that eats (10mm)Mega fish formula from NLS, on top of all the frozen! Thats probably why its growing like a weed! LOL.

I fed some blood worms when they were small but haven't done that for a while. It all depends if they are WC or CB and how they were being fed when you bought them!

[snow]

My two large rays eat MS mostly and sinking pellets. I bought the two large ones and they were already eating that. One two smaller ones I have eats only basa fillets and calamari. The other eat MS and pellets. I starved both small rays and in only 5 days they were off the worms. Don't let them starve though for more than a week as stingrays need lots of food or they will get sick. If nothing after a week feed there normal food a few more days and then try again.

[AWW]

try bloodworms, probably the best you can go with. mine wont take shrimp yet, she only eats live black worms and bloodworms. If you are going to feed her bloodworms, try hand feeding because then you can get the fozen bloodworms down there in a large clump. If you just but the cube in the tank it will defrost and spread all the worms apart

[kookus]

I feed mine fresh water smelt. You can get it at superstore. I think its best as the package only labels that as ingredients. MP has some sort of sulfide in the ingredients. I also feed Massivor as well.

The trick is to feed and take out what's left over quickly. Chopped smelt and if they don't eat right away take out. Eventually they seem to know that its food and if they don't eat it it goes away. Also keep to a strict schedule. Morning after work and right before bed time. They will know its " time"

Hope it helps. See my post in the gallery I have a feeding vid added.

[Adz1]

What size is your ray? After lbw I usually switch them over to canadian nigtcrawlers (dew worms). The important thing is to cut them in peices of 3 to start as the blood and wiggiling gets them going. Once they have put some weight on with them it's time to switch them over to over foods. If your feeding red worms your rays may not eat them.

ray is about 6" in diameter.
i tried the night crawlers today and the ray seemed affraid of them.
would get up close and then curl his disk up and scoot across the tank away from them.

[Death's Sting]

stingrays are carnivorous so they require high amounts of protein, upwards of 45% AT THE LEAST!! stingrays are constantly moving around burning energy, unlike some other carnivorous fish. this results in a major burn in energy, a good way to loose weight!! and not what u want!! also protein is the building block of life, it allows the ray to build new tissue and keeps the ray strong!!


for example, Massivore has a Guaranteed analysis of 47% protein, where as frozen blood worms have under 10%. Massivore also contains a ton of nutrients. which out ways that of blood worms any day of the week. if ur having a hard time believing me just read the ingredients, they pack sooo much vitamins and minerals into it.. it also out weighs Live because of the potential for parasite or bacteria transfer common with live foods.

i fed massivore 5-6 days a week, sometimes ill feed the following:

- Prawn (frozen and raw)

- tilapia (frozen and raw)

- squid (frozen and raw)

- smelt (frozen and raw)

- herring (frozen and raw)

- krill (frozen and raw)

- silver sides (frozen and raw)

- mysis shrimp ( that was my rays first food) (frozen and raw)

i have even gotten my ray to eat:

- algae wafers

- regular wafer

- shrimp pellets

- flake food

- other pellets, i.e Hikari Cichlid gold and NLS Cichlid formula

i also recommend if the ray is small to feed it 2-3 times a day, and feed it as much as it will eat!! make sure to clean up the left overs. also, make sure u have enough filtration!

the ray will probably not eat pellets and other prepared food right away. u will have to train it to recognize it as food. a method that has been very successful for me in the past; is to marinate the pellet or whatever in the ray's favorite food. the scent of the favorite food will attract the ray's attention and help it recognize that it is indeed food! also, be patient this may not work the very first time or the tenth time.

make sure not to over feed. clean up any mess u make, from the food left over. i would first fatten the ray up on it favorite food then try this method. if u have weeks of failure then i would starve the ray until it excepts the pellet. REMEMBER!! do not starve a ray if it is malnourished or sick!!

Variety is Important too!! just pick a staple that fits the needs of the fish! i picked Massivore as a staple for my ray, u do NOT have to do the same.... i do recommend it though

[skynoch]

Great post by Death's sting. I didn't realize your ray was a retic so instead of dew worms I would use european nightcrawlers or sometimes called trout worms as they are about half the size of a dew worm. You may need to stick with lbw a little longer while trying to switch as rectics have smaller mouths than other speicies of rays of the same size. Massivore will be a no go with rectics but you can try carnivore broken in half. Shrimp may also work but use raw shrimp and mince them up using scissors to cut them up as a knife is hard to use to get the shrimp small enough for a rectic. Talapia is a good choice also cut or almost minced as it is not as stringy as shrimp and may be easier for a rectic.