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On this section of my site I want to show you some species, which you rarely see in private aquariums ( I never saw one in a private tank).
Paratrygon Aiereba P57 foto: Michael Böttner
This ray is a member of the small eyed ray group, this group is called Paratrygon. The members of this group are difficult eaters and show, what I have seen, a completely different behavior then Potamotrygon rays. Their is less variety of species and they all get really big, 48"is no exception. Among this group are the Manzana ray( P57 ), the Ceja ray ( P56 ), the China ray 9 P58 ) and the Coly ray ( P59 ). The only one that I know of who is keeping this species ( I saw a picture on his site ) is David Webber from New York. People who have experience with this species and have a nice picture of the other named species, and have experienced keeping this species, please tell me all their is and I like to have a picture to.
Plesiotrygon Iwamae foto: Frank Zijlmans
The antenna ray is a rare ray, in captivity I only saw this animal ones on a big show in Germany. Their is only little information on this species. If they are kept it is mostly the ray with the white tail end ( like in the picture ). The Black Tailed Antenna ray is very rare. The ray on the picture is the "normal" Plesiotrygon Iwamea , with a more dark pattern . The ray on the picture has a damaged tail, normally the tail is much longer, 4 till 5 times their disk size. On this species go a lot of stories, they should get only 8", their also should be a almost black one which grows very large. And there should be a species which grows till 12"- 14" but is so sensitive for transport that they never make it. If somebody can tell me more about this species let me know please.
Plesiotrygon Iwamae foto: Frank Zijlmans
What I know is that they are very difficult eaters, and mostly eat live shrimp. They are very active and like to swim in open water of the tank which is a beautiful sight. Richard Ross writes in one of the Aqualog books that the animal dies, when the black part of his tail ( in this case the white part ) is separated from the patterned part of his tail.
Plesiotrygon Iwamae foto: Frank Zijlmans Up
These animals are mostly kept ( people told me) in Japan and other Asian countries. I agree this is not what I told in the above text, this shows how much their is known from this species. I whish to thank Andreas Ochs for at least a part of this information.
21-03-2006 A friend of mine recently bought a pair of these wonderful animals. They love to swim in the tank which is typical for this species. Their body shape is suited for this free swimming.On the very long tale you can see something I would describe as a small fin along a good portion of the tale. This is something I have not seen on any other freshwater species. Eating also is still a problem they only like life food in small portions. On the picture in the middle you can see this species has very small eyes, specially when you compare them with the Potamotrygon species.
Plesiotrygon Iwamae foto: Frank Zijlmans
Himantura Oxyrhynchus foto: Frank Zijlmans
These animals are fairly new in the ray market, it is a freshwater stingray from Asia this species comes from Vietnam. I have photographed these animals at Michael Stiemer the biggest ray importer ( and many other different fish ) of the Netherlands. Their is only little information about these animals. They should only get 16 " but I have seen pictures on the internet of animals much bigger then that. So if there are people who read this, and own these beautiful animals, please give me more information and pictures please.
Himantura Oxyrhynchus foto: Frank Zijlmans
Very specific for these Asian rays are the more pointed front site of the disk ( looks like a nose ) and a very long tail, as long as the Antenna rays. These animals have a "panther" like pattern on the middle of the disk and the first section of the tail . They are very difficult feeders and mostly eat life food. I know of one person who had one this animal died unfortunately after 3 weeks. So information please.