FW Stingray questions

[Junkzoo]

I'm asking for my cousin, who for whatever reasons, has to have Fresh water stingrays(they are at the LFS , waiting for him , and waiting to see them eat b4 he takes them home,,,
here's the stats:

125 glass tank

That big ol new Fluval running on it (xl6 or whatever it's called)
Bio balls/carbon/and the foam prefilter aroun d the whole basket assembly.

Sand bottom(tho it's not as fine as i told him to get) looks to me to be of a quartz or non arag type makeup,I told him what to get, and was surprised when he told the tank did not cloud up much when he put in the washed sand. I told him that he might be in for problems, if the "sand" is sharp /hard enuf to cut-irritate the skin of the rays,,,,I tried to talk him outa getting stingrays from square one, and in the back of my mind, i figger my words might be ringing true in the near future.He's had good luck with his other FW tanks,,,africans etc. but he's not that "advanced/experienced" to try Rays, IMO,,,but all i can do is assist from behind the scenes,,,

What i'm really asking is, he's running "city" water, and needs to drop the PH some(talked him into getting a RO today,,,that would help overall) from the ph of the city water. He's been using a "ph down" liquid stuff now,and it's coming down a lil bit,,,just wondering, when he gets the ph to where he wants it, is there something to stabilize the ph in the tank , for the long term? until he gets a RO, i told him top water should be pre conditioned b4 going in the tank,and/or monitoring of the tank'sPH is something he will be needing to do long term.
Anyone have any hints to get the ph down ,and to stabilize it for the long run?
It's been soooo long since i messed with FW , i kinda forgot a lot of things that are FW only.
I'm thinking of telling him to use a softener pillow in the Fluval,,,,that a good idea?

Anything related to answering ph lowering questions will help a lot for me/him,,,
and also , anyone have experience w/ FW stingrays? if so, please throw any info you have here, so i can pass it along to my cuz,,

PS:All i know of the stingrays he's getting (two of them) are that they are "spotted", if that helps,,,


Thanks in advance
!

[Twitterbait]

Nice. I have had quite a few different FW rays. they are cool but do require some special feeding (bloodworms and live blackworms). remember the big reason the water is so acidic is because it is filled with rotting plants. for long term he can get some buffer or do what i did.

go and get a large piece of the dark FW driftwood and put it in. it will turn the water a nice browinsh shade and drop the ph for him. do you have a pic of the sand he is using? you want to make sure it will work. LMK if you need any other advice.

[Junkzoo]

Thanks Ryan
Yup, my cousin was telling me about what the LFS told him to use to soften the water etc,,,peat based additive,,He said he did not want to "brown up" the tank, and i told him that was part of the deal if he wanted to go that route. I explained to him the brown was from decaying leaves/tress/vegetation etc, in the wild,,and that is what people go with, when the have South American type fish/ fish naturally from rivers/streams that have that kinda stuff in the water there,,it's just part of replicating the nature surrounding s of the critters that are kept in our glass boxes,,,I'll bring up the driftwood idea, mebbe he wil go for it (i remember what it did ti my FW tanks in the ol days,,,for my discus,elephant nose,and SA cichlid tanks.
I went online and printer out some stuff about FW stingrays for him,,wish i could find that issue of TFH or Aquarium Fish i had, that gave all the negatives of keeping stingrays, they were not really down on keeping rays, just stressed the "speedbumps" in keeping them.
He's getting the ph down currently, and supposedly the LFS that got the two stingrays for him are said to be eating(told him to see in person, don't believe the owner,,,as i have some doubts of what he has told my cousin on doing some things, but my cuz asks me my opinions, and told me that he believes my advice , over the owner anyway )
I'll post info as it happens, since i think he will be bringing the rays home in a week or so,,,,,
THanks!

[Junkzoo]

Originally Posted by Twitterbait

do you have a pic of the sand he is using? you want to make sure it will work. LMK if you need any other advice.

Will try to do that soon (i'm tending to his dogs at his training center business for a few days, while he's on a short vacation, and thats where the tank is setup)
Yup, when he said the tank did not cloud up much when he put the "sand" in , i was curious,,i then saw the tank, and mentioned the sand,,and how i thought it was to large in particle size to be good for rays. He reached in , and pulled out a handful,,i still told him it was not true sand, just fine gravel , and then i saw the gravel in his hand, was "shiny" in some of it.that let me to believe it was possibly made from quartz or something along those lines. Told him it could irritate the skin of the rays, if it had sharp edges etc.(got him worried about that now )Told him time will tell, and he might have to replace it, if he sees any irritation on the rays over time. The particles are not sugar sand in size, just up a lil bit in size,I'd call it fine gravel, and if you look close at it in the tank you can see a lot of "sparkle" or glossiness in it...we'll see,,,,,

[Twitterbait]

I have used the fine gravel with rays, they like it finer but the other will be ok looking at a max of 1-2mm in grain size. they want to bury themselvs. just make sure he knows that if he gets poked he need to sanitize it right away and go to the doc if it gets infected. More people die from ray stings than pirhana in S America.

[Junkzoo]

Update:
My cousin has gotten his two stingrays, they are in the tank, along with i believe 4 small/med angels,,he also picked up some ghost shrimp , with the thoughts of the rays eating them.Not sure if they had eaten yet,he's had them for prob close to a week now.They pretty much just sit there , do a lil tank glass cruising, but that's it.
Other than bloodworms and live blackworms, is there anything else i can pass along to him , to offer the rays? I just want to make sure he gives them stuff that will get them to eating,and hopefully do well for him,,,,

Thanks in advance , for any help on this mmmm
Also, any tips as to how to feed the rays? a flat something to put the food on, to keep the food "contained" in one spot, to give the rays a better chance on feeding?

BTW: Not sure if the LFS owner was telling ttruth, but he said the original two rays he got for my cuz,both died,,one right away from getting it,and the other soon after,,so he ordered these two more.(not sure if my cousin heeded my suggestion of not picking them up , until they showed signs of eating anything,,,,probably not,,,he has shown to be a not patient person , when it comes to this kinda thing)

[Twitterbait]

The blackworms are the best. he needs to drop them in front of the rays and they should go to town. the other fish should be fine. make sure to tell him to avoid any pleco's. they like to latch onto Rays and could kill them.

[Junkzoo]

Thanks
He's tried the blackworms,,,they love them,,,dunno how he is offering them to the rays,,,wondering if putting a shallow dish in the tank, in the gravel will allow them to eat, and not have the worms get into the gravel,,and possibly become uneaten,,,no sense in helping the tank to get cruddy , w/ uneaten food.
Yup to the no pleco's,,,only other fish in the tank,,are some small angels,,,

[Twitterbait]

ok, sounds good. don't worry about leftover worms in a ray tank. they will sniff them out and get them eventually. that is another reason to use the live worms because they can live in the water for a while. it is kinda funny to see one go to town on the worms spitting gravel out its gills.