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Potamotrygon Mantilla foto: Frank Zijlmans
These fish are rare. In the Aqualog books they are called Potamotrygon sp "Marble". I myself think that Bleu Mantilla is a better name for this beautiful animal. Maybe not good visible on this picture, but the pattern between the yellow dots is a beautiful color of bleu.
Potamotrygon Mantilla foto: Frank Zijlmans
The biggest specimen I ever saw ( I only saw 3 of this kind of rays) is 14" , that doesn't mean they don 't get any bigger. On the other hand I know this animal for 1 1/2 year know and hasn't grown much. ( 1/2 " maximum). Maybe 14"is the full adult size? Who knows? If their is somebody who is reading this and can tell me more on this kind of rays let me know please.
Potamotrygon Hystrix foto: Frank Zijlmans
This ray is a very good beginners ray. It is cheap and fairly easy. This does not mean, that it needs less attention then other rays. They come in different varieties dark patterns, fine and a more rough patterns, I saw one with a kind of pink color. In the most LFS when you see rays this is the one. It is cheap and does not grow very big. Disk size is going to be 14"/ 16".
Potamotrygon spec "Peru" foto: Andreas Ochs
When I first uploaded this page this ray was called Potamotrygon Orbignyi with the following text. ( This also is a cheaper kind of ray but still is rare in the LFS ( at least in Europe don't know in the rest of the world). This is strange it is a beautiful animal and stays relatively small. Disk size 14"/16". The biggest specimen that I ever saw was only 12" disk size. )
The next day I received a E-mail from the owner of the ray Andreas Ochs from Germany. He did some research, on were the ray was coming from and came to the following conclusion. This ray is coming from Peru and is called now Potamotrygon spec "Peru".They come in 2 varieties. One with black dots and one with black lines (like the one in the picture). He also found out from a exporter in Peru that these fish can reach a disk size from 24" till 32" . So we can speak of a big ray. And they ain 't cheap they cost around 300 / 350 dollar if you can get them they are very rare.
Potamotrygon Scobina foto: Frank Zijlmans
This is in my eyes the best ray for people who have not a very big tank. As far as I know ( and we know for that matter) this is the smallest ray their is. They don 't grow bigger then 12". They have beautiful colors, a light yellow surface with fine brown lines and dots. I love these kind of rays I always have a pair swimming around. Which I sell to new ray owners and starters in ray tanks. Andreas Ochs a German ray breeder ( and webmaster of Potamotrygon.de ) has breaded with these rays.