The Aquarium Needs of the Motoro Stingray

Aquarium

• You need a large aquarium to accommodate these rays. At bare minimum, a tank for these rays should be larger than 45 gallons. Keep in mind that long, wide tanks work better than tall ones, since they have more floorspace for the ray. Since rays like to hang out on the bottom of the tank and bury themselves, you should use a soft, sandy substrate for the ray's comfort. While it might not seem obvious, you'll also need a sturdy lid. Despite this species' benthic lifestyle, they may get excited during feeding and breach the water. It can be quite an ordeal trying to scoop up a large, agitated, expensive, venomous fish to get it back into the aquarium.

Water Chemistry

• The motoro stingray needs water that mimics its tropical Amazon River home. First, you need to keep your motoro ray in warm water -- between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This stingray prefers acidic water, but can survive slightly alkaline conditions. Keep the water's pH between 6.0 to 7.5 to accommodate this. Most importantly, you need to keep the water pristine. The water cannot have detectable levels of ammonia or nitrite, and the nitrate should be as low as possible.

Diet

• Small juvenile rays tend to adapt slightly better to captivity than adult rays. Juveniles love to eat bloodworms, brine shrimp and krill. You can get these foods live or frozen at many pet shops. Adults need larger foods. Sometimes, when adults are having trouble adapting to an aquarium, they'll refuse to eat. Live earthworms are a great food for tempting them back to dinner. All motoro stingrays love meaty foods. You can feed your ray grocery-store seafood, like squid, mussel and fish meat. However, never feed your stingray mammal or bird meat, since these foods tend to have too much fat for a ray.

Tank Mates

• It takes some consideration to find an acceptable tank mate for a motoro stingray. In their home waters, they are top predators and will eat smaller fish. Despite this, they are peaceful enough to get bullied by larger fish. Discus fish and peaceful pleco species can work as tank mates, since they are large enough to avoid predation, come from similar water chemistry and won't pick on your ray. As far as other freshwater stingrays go, avoid keeping more than one species in the same tank, since they can readily produce undesirable hybrids. However, a motoro stingray will usually do just fine with other members of its species, provided you have an aquarium large enough. Remember, you need 45 gallons of aquarium capacity -- per ray.