Help

[hoges]

Hi All,

Last weekend I bought what I thought was one male and one female blue ram.

Anyways I came home last night and found that the female is now hovering inside one of my terracotta pots, which the bottom is covered in little eggs (they look like grains of sand).

Now what do I do???

The eggs are a baige colour (is this good)? How long before they will hatch? Will the parents be good parents or should I seperate the fry? ummm.... At the moment they aren't in their own tank, but I plan to move them.

Thanks so much for any help/advice

[gingerbeer]

I would wait and watch. Generally the male cares for the eggs and the female is chased away form the spawn sight.

They are generally sloppy parents in terms of looking after the eggs, often seeming to ignore them completely, so if there is something else in the tank goodbye eggs.

Eggs hatch in 18-24 hours depending upon temperature. Once the eggs hatch the male will move the young to somewhere else, mine always to the sponge filter. The young are a bitch to raise.

Good luck and let us know how they go.

HTH

[hoges]

how do you mean a bitch to raise?? In that are they really difficult?

Also will the parents eat the babies?

[Link2Hell]

Hoges

Time to get a microworm culture

L2H

[gingerbeer]

Hoges,

By bitch to raise I mean my maximum number raised has been 20. About 1 week of age I have a die off of young and am buggered if I can figure it out. I have tried various foods and tricks. This has been with a few different parents.

I have tried various foods (BBS, commercial Infusoria, Vinigar eels, egg and BBS mix, masses of Java moss to provide infusoria), and tried leaving parents in, taking parents out and taking eggs out.

Note I have never tried microworm culture - is this the secret Links?????

AS far as parents eating the young, it really depends on the male. Give him a couple of try and see how he goes. My parent male is fine until the dieoff begins and then seems to get frustrated.

Currently I have a parent pair who have bred and raised about 12 young. I have selected the best two of those and they are now in the breeding tank.

I am still trying and love my Rams.

Let us know how yours go.

[anchar]

Hi gingerbeer,

Note I have never tried microworm culture - is this the secret Links?????

Possibly.....microworms are far smaller than most of those cultures/foods that you have tried. Rams have very small mouths. Also, it is important to remember that fry with tiny mouths can have them injured through incorrect early feeding. They need soft food to ensure that they do not form "peaky" mouths.

HTH.

merjo

[hoges]

I woke this morning to find a pot full of little wrigglers. It looks like most of the eggs if not all have hatched. From a quick head count/guestimation. I think there are about 70. They're currently floating in a container on the top of my main tank, but I have another tank cycling - I'll transfer them probably tomorrow night.

I'm a bit unsure what a microworm culture is, or where i can get one from.

I hope some of them are successful, they are such fabulous fish.

Anyways I'll keep you up to date. Any info on the microworms would be fab.

Cheers

Laura

[Daniel]

Hoges,

You have just bought a pair of rams, they have laid eggs instantly, and the eggs have even hatched. Do you realise how lucky you are ? Many people struggle just to keep Rams alive !

Ram fry have tiny mouths and generally require infuseria as a first food. BBS is way too big for them. But they should be able to get their mouths around VE and possibly MW a day or two after birth. I have VE and MW at my house and you are welcome to starter cultures if you wish.

Daniel

[a_devis]

I have had blue rams spawning several times in my community tank. The behavior was absolutely opposite to what is described above: both parents vigorously defended the eggs and the fry with no fear for bigger fish. They moved fry several times from one pit in the gravel to another. I did not try to rise the fry because I did not know how to move them from the community tank. I was successful breeding Bolivians. I fed them micro worms.

Unfortunately, I have only one “german” female now, but she is very good. I am looking for a male. Anyone?

Good Luck.

[hoges]

Yes I do know how lucky I am, but then again I wasn't expecting this at all, so I hope it all works out okay

I do know of someone that has approx 7 German males, I'm not sure if he's keen to sell any of his adults, but I do know that he has some juvys at around 2cms that he is currently selling - I'm pretty sure he's sexing them.

I'll find out how much he's asking, if you're interested in a young male and happy to wait a while for him to grow.

My friend is situated in Chatswood, but travels to the city for work, if thats any help

Regards

Laura

[a_devis]

I would highly appreciate that, hoges! I live not far away from Chastwood and will be happy to talk to your friend. Thanks.

[hoges]

About 6 hrs after the eggs hatched, I watched the parents catch the fry in their mouths, I assumed they were going to move them elsewhere in the tank, but they never did spit the babies out. I suppose they must have eaten them. is this normal, can anyone tell me why they would do this??

I was sooo excited but now to have this happen

[a_devis]

Hi hages!

Sorry for your loss.

I did a lot of reading about this fish. There is a lot of info on the net. Just do some Googling and you will find heaps. One of the places: http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blue%20rams.html

And the typical statement:

“Rams are often considered difficult for a beginner, but this is not necessarily always the case. A weak and stressed Ram will keel over fast when introduced into a new tank (notoriously its xanthic varieties such as the Singapore and Golden Ram). Rams, like a growing number of Kribs, are often bred for their color and not their behavior (click here for inbreeding depression effects at The Krib). As a side effect, Rams are not necessarily well know for their parenting skills since they are predominantely bred to show color. This has the unfortunate side affect of also introducing weaker fish to the trade, and as a result, some aquarists can have a difficult time breeding some strains or even keeping them alive shortly after purchase."

My experience with them was very much as described here. I am sure that the major problem is their susceptibility to white spot. A couple of weeks ago I saw hundreds of them dying in one of the LFSs all covered with white spots. I hope yours will be OK.

As for breeding – don’t worry – they will breed regularly. They may have eaten their fry because they are not experienced parents or they were under stress. Keep microworms and infuzoria handy.

Good luck.

[hoges]

Even bigger

About 12 hrs after eating her babies, mum was lying sideways on the top of the tank, breathing very very slowly, she died about an hr after I found her, Dad looked fine, but the next morning I woke up to find him dead as well.

Can anyone explain this?? How did two healthy breeding fish suddenly die??? Would it have had something to do with them eating their fry?

[Brett4Perth]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Blue Rams. This seems to be a common event with these fish, breeding condition one minute and dead the next. Lots of theories as to why it happens. much is made of water conditions but I doubt this is the whole story.

Better Luck next time

Brett

[a_devis]

I have experienced the same several times, alhtough mine lasted longer - up to three month. With the last pair as soon as I noticed them scratching I treated them for white spot. Female survived and she is very healthy now grew a lot and eats well. I heve her for about 1/2 year now. She is chacing bolivians all over the tank. I am looking for healthy male.

Cheers.