Royal Motoro Stingray – Potamotrygon Motoro

Common name: Royal Motoro Stingray, Ocellate River Stingray

Scientific name: Potamotrygon Motoro

Average Adult Fish Size:  12 inches  /  30 cm

Place of Origin: Amazon, South America

Typical Tank setup: Often kept in a bare tank, sometimes without substrate due to this being moved around a lot and getting forced in to the filter inlets by the Royal Motoro Stingray.

Recommended Minimum Aquarium Capacity: 200 gallon / 800 litre

Compatibility: Species tank preferred although other monster fish such as Arowana can often be kept with these types of freshwater stingray. You must be very careful when adding predatorial fish in with Stingray though and can often be down to the temperament of individual fish as to whether this will work or not.

Temperature: 75 – 78 Deg F / 24 – 26 Deg C

Water chemistry: pH 5.0 – 6.0

Feeding: Shrimps, small fish, shellfish and worms.

Sexing:  A Royal Motoro Stingray’s sex can be determined fairly easily based on the presence or absence of claspers, two “penises” connected to the inside of the pelvic fins of male rays. They are usually about the size of your pinky finger on mature specimens and are rolled up into hollow tubes. On juvenile rays, they look like tiny nubs and are a bit harder to identify, but it is still possible to tell males and females apart at this stage. You just need to look a bit closer.

Breeding: Royal Motoro Sting Rays are hard but not impossible to breed. they give birth to live young called pupps. Freshwater rays have internal fertilization. They fry can be sensitive and excellent water quality is a necessity. They are easy to sex as the females lack the modified pelvic fins for genetic transference that are found among males. They are mature at about 25 cm / 10″

Additional Information: Sensitive at the acclimatisation period and to unclean water. They have a spine at the tip of the tail which are poisonous, the spine are used for defense.A sting from it can be a painful experience but in most cases it doesn’t lead to more serious injuries.