we haven't had an update on this thread in a long time. How are the rays doing? get any new little
hybrids from them?
No babies, yet! Roxy, the female, is still a bit young and Ray isnt the most persistent male. Marble motoros are some of the fastest rays to mature, it only takes them 2-3 years. I've had ray for going on 3 years and we suspect that he is about 3 at the moment so he's defenitely ready. We've had Roxy for almost 2 years (in the next month) and she was only a few months old when we got her. She also doesnt have that adult ray body type. Its hard to explain but most big rays of the "chunkier varieties" (leopoldi, bd, motoros, pearls, marbles, bosemani, etc.) get very stocky and thick when they are adults. As pups they all have a skinnier leaner look over all. My old leo, Rachel had that body type and Ray defenitely had it. Roxy, however, isnt quite there yet. Withinn the next year I suspect she'll be able to bear pups. Her growth isnt slowing down and shes starting to become wider than ray. Her appetite has only gotten bigger and shes eating more and more daily. She still acts like a pup and is by far the more social ray between the pair. At this patern she should have a little growth spurt soon and then she should be ready. Ray has only atempted to breed with her a handfull of times, that I've seen so the odds of her having pups now is very unlikely. Looking back at this thread, its crazy how long its been since the last update. Early 2016 I added sand and rocks to the tank to make it look more like the amazon. The pothos roots have gotten long and unruly. The little fish (3-12") that have lived with them in the past year and my big silver aro have enjoyed hiding in the roots. About two months ago i cut them back to give the growing arowana more swimming room and they all look much happier and the tank looks huge again. The current stock is the two rays (male marble motoro and female hybrid, both at least a foot long not including tail), a 2' or so silver aro, 3 hoplarchus psittacum (6-10"), 3 huge wild caught angels (10" tall), 2 festivums (maybe 5"), 2 pearsi cichlids (around 4"), 1 leporinus steyermarki (6" and very active), 1 barramundi (6", quickly becoming my favorite non stingray), an ornate pim (4-5"), and a wild caugh oscar who is currently chilling in the quarantine tank because of some fungal issues (5"). Its almost impossible to tell sizes through the glass and its really not worth the trouble of chasing my prised fish around a 300 gallon tank and measuring them out of the water just to make sure I'm not exaggerating one way or another. The tank is surrounded my windows so any pics I take now would just be my reflection.