Bud's Potamotrygon Motoro Pups

July 7, 1999

The birth of 2 pups. Check out these adorable Potamotrygon Motoros. Parents were purchased Jan. 98' which were about 7" diameter at the time. At time of birth, female is appx. 13" in diameter, male about the same. Copulation? I'm guessing Dec.98' to Jan 99'. Male extremely aggressive and constantly bit and chased female at hours end. I know some of you are curious about my water parameters, I am too. Beleive it or not, these rays are raised from straight tap waters of So. California. Yes, extremely hard water with an avg. pH of 8.2; however, I do lots of water changes. Water changes appx. 2x a week (Wednesdays & Sundays) of appx. 40-50%. I do not use any sorts of dechlorinator nor black water extracts. When I do fill the tank up, I drag the hose in from my backyard and let it trickle which takes appx. 2-3 hrs to fill up. This may come to as a shock to almost all of you but I've been doing this for the past 2 years. Hey, so far so good. If it aint broke, why fix it. But that does not mean what works for me works for you either. I apologize in advance since some of the pictures are slightly blurry due to insufficient lighting and plus the fact that the algae on the acrylic makes it hard to focus.

Was I aware that my female ray was pregnant?

Yes, I was. At careful observation, its hump on the back which was at the base of the tail slowly started to develop or enlarge at a slow rate. For awhile there I thought the female ray was just eating a lot(as usual). But then for the last 2 months (May-Jun98), I noticed lots of wavy movement on her hump which my other rays did not have.

It does not take long for this pup to learn how to bury itself. It's instincts automatically goes to work.

Claspers already visible which indicates a male stingray

Claspers already visible which indicates a male stingray. This young male is already equipped with the proper equipment, the sTtiNgEr ----->