Breeding My Rams

[gibboinfuerte]

I recently noticed that one of my pairs of rams was displaying courtship behaviour in my 400l community tank so I set up an 80l breeding tank and put them in there. After only 2 days in the new set up, I saw a batch of eggs on a cracked flower pot. Well chuffed! I wanted to let the parents care for the eggs and eventually the fry (the alternative method seems like alot of stress) so left them both in there and they were doing a great job of guarding and fanning the eggs for two whole days(the male was doing almost everything) , then this morning I woke up and they were all gone. Now, the male is chasing the female around the tank and she looks a bit distressed. I am assuming that the female ate the eggs.
I was not expecting success on my initial attempt to breed these beautiful fish, but have to admit that I was very disappointed when I saw the eggs were gone this morning after two days. I would like to try again but have some questions for any ram experts out there.
1) Is it OK to leave the pair together in the breeding set up? It is well planted and the water paramters are good.
2) How long does it take before they can spawn again?
3) If they lay again, should I remove the female?
Any other tips on post-egg-laying care would be most appreciated also. I realise that many breeders take care of the eggs themselves and remove both parents but I am a novice and also live in the Canaries and don´t think I can get hold of methylene blue etc. over here.

 

[KittyKat]

Eventually, they should figure out not to eat the eggs. It is sometimes the case that when a cichlid was not raised by its parents (for example, in a commercial set-up), it will not have an instinct to raise its own young. Check for snails as those will eat eggs as well.

They should be able to spawn again in under two weeks.

I would advise against removing either fish or the same thing is likely to happen when the young would try to spawn. I do find that it helps some (very few) fish to have a dim night light. Also you don't have any proof that it was the female.

Canaries.. where abouts? My friend at work is from there and goes home sometimes, so she may be able to take something from here for you.

 

[gibboinfuerte]

Any idea why the male is now acting so aggressively towards the female? Is this normal post-spawning behaviour? I was thinking about putting the male back in the community tank for a bit to give the female a "breather" from the harassment. Oh, and I live in Fuerteventura.

 

[KittyKat]

It is not unusual for one or the other fish to be quite aggressive after a failed spawning attempt. You may want to separate them for the moment so they do not harm each other. They should settle down again within a few days.

Hmm, she's from Gran Canaria, so it might not work out, unless she posts it or something.. will see what she says closer to when she goes next.

 

[karin]

I think Kat means that is IS usual for cichlid pairs to be aggressive with one another. My rams have their good and bad days. Love and Aggression are very close with cichlids.

Unless their is harm, I would just expect this kind of behavior.

 

[KittyKat]

Typo corrected, thanks for picking it up karin

 

[gibboinfuerte]

So will they just keep on spawning every two weeks or so (assuming I keep the water quality the same)? The male has chilled a bit now and is not bugging her as much as before- in fact, he´s shimmying quite a bit.

 

[roadmaster]

I have managed to keep Ramirezi, if this is what is being discussed as opposed to bolivian ram in moderately hard water with pH 7.2 but could not get successful spawn, until placing the pair's in nearly 50/50 R/O tapwater mix.= 5Dh pH 6.5 and 84 degrees F
In tapwater alone ,they frequently ate the eggs. Perhaps they could sense that condition's were not suitable for raising fry?

 

[gibboinfuerte]

Maybe, I have my water at pH 6.0 and 84 degrees, gH 8. Should be pretty much spot on from what I have read. I also read that ramirezi are notorious egg-eaters so was not overly surprised, just a tad disappointed to have gotten so close to the fry stage and then lose them.