German Blue Ram Breeding Journel

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 1, 2011

Hi everyone! Fish forum newbie here! I have been in fish keeping for a long time but never joined a forum before

my friend recommended you guys to start of with! But anyway more important matters at hand!
On Sunday last I went to my local aquatics shop looking for some Peacock Gudgeons (Goby).
During all my time of fish keeping I have always stick to the simple life, started out with guppys and platys, then cory and mollys then shoaling tetras and rasboras. Then I discovered loaches and gouramis. And well since that's all I have ever kept really. I have always thoroughly admired anyone who has had the courage to venture out and own Cichlids and killifish/gobies. I had always thought that owning them would be a dream for experts only. But I finally plucked up the courage to start thinking about which I wanted to try and own.
So, I have always been and will always be the type of person who will repeatedly research a fish before remotely considering getting the fish in question. After several weeks of research on cichlids angel gobies I decide gobies were my best bet to start off with. Although like everyone probably, the second I started looking at cichlid profiles I FELL IN LOVE! I thought that gobies would be an easier fish to begin with, so i went to get some!

But as always it didn't turn out the right way. When I got to the store the manager told me they had.gone bankrupt and they were selling all stock on the cheap. I got so excited with all the fish around but.unfortunatly they didn't have any Peacock Gobies. There was a little tank in the corner however that immediately caugt my eye. German blue rams and boy were they utterly gorgeous. I had to get a pair, they were doing 2 for 12. I could resist. There were 6 in the tank, 2 of which looked like males and quite pale. The other 4 had paired off at seperate sides of the tank and had both started digging a pit and they all looked amazing. I asked the guy for a pair and he hooked out the female from pair 1 and male from pair 2! He said they were the prettiest but I asked for both from pair 1 so he netted the other male and put the other one back.

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 1, 2011

So I had my pair

I also got 6 different live plants (all background ones)from them 10 for them all, I had been planning.on replacing my silk plants with live ones anyway in that tank.
So I headed home to drip acclimatise the rams into there 25gallon tank.
My only worry was that the tank had already got some 'dither' fish in. 8 Rummy nose tetra and 6 Kuhli loaches. And my ph probably wasn't quite low enough for them at about 7.5 I hoped the plants and wood I bought previously would help with that when I put them in.

I drip acclimatised them for about 7 hours in a small bucket and at first I was so scared. They looked more than awful and the male especially kept tilting onto his side. I honestly thought my ph had started to kill them. However to my surprise as I put them into the main tank within an hour they looked amazing again. They swam all around 'investigating' even around the top levels with the rummys at times. I had my fingers crossed as to whther they would make it through the night. Every day since they have been getting more and more active and increasingly colourful. Since I got them the female has ballooned out, at first I thought it was dropsy! But then I noticed that hour by hour her breeding tube has been getting more and more prominent and her pink belly stronger and stronger in colour.

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 1, 2011

On Tuesday morning my female started getting quite agitated with the male. Not aggressive just jumpy. Both of them constantly fin flicking and body wiggling next to eachother

She started swimming over to my decor each piece in turn and picking bits off them, after a few hours of this she started wriggling across the surfaces quickly several times in a row. The male stayed near by at all times but never came too close, whenever use swam away there
were never any eggs below her. I figured that she was maybe practising and deciding whether that particular cave or rock was suitable. It was so sweet to watch.

Since I have had them I have fed them on frozen bloodworm on Monday, Live daphina on Tuesday and Live brineshrimp Yesterday morning. All day yesterday the female was getting quite frantic her breeding tube was becoming more prominent by the minute it seemed and whenever she settled with he male on a rock kuhlis or rummys would come right next to her as if they knew food was on the way!

So as a temporary measure I grabbed aload of my old plastic and silk plants, cleaned them and placed them in certain areas around the tank. I had placed a large pebble in the tank a few weeks ago and I moved this to the front left corner of the tank and placed plastic ferns around it. I then placed some of my smaller silk plants around the side of a cave on the front right corner (somewhere she repeatedly practised on). I then put some more pebbles around the place. After about an hour both of them were in the little shaded section I made at the front left after spending a long time exploring the new areas. They started frantically picking at the pebble it looked like in fast forward! They did this for about 4 hours non stop. Of course I just had to go and miss the start of the breed though! I had sat watching them on and off all day so I gave in and went downstairs and figured that 'A watched pot never boils' saying might apply

and they spawned! I came back upstairs an hour later and she had layed about 100 eggs and was still laying more

the male was doing his job too

They carried on for about another hour and then got to guarding.

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 1, 2011

I must say I am still in shock. It was so beautiful to watch and I can't believe the eggs would be so small!
Parents are doing really well so far guarding the eggs round the clock from all other fish. No squabbles between the two of them so far but my kuhlis are far too interested in what's going on. my rummys have got the message and are staying way away but the Kuhlis keep trying to get at the eggs and my Rams are nipping them every time they do, without luck.
On the brigt side both the male and females colours are stunningly beautiful and they are still flirting with eachother!
But I am worried that the kuhlis are stressing them out too much and I don't wont thw loaches to get hurt either. What should I do?

I only have one spare tank for breeding and at the moment it is full with some Cardinals atm that are in quarantine at the moment with a bad case of fin rot.

The only other tank I have is a 5 gallon long. It's 40x20x10cm (LxHxW)
Should I remove the pebble with the eggs on and put it in my spare nano tank or should i remove the eggs and the parents and put them all together in the mini tank?

Help urgently!!

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 1, 2011

Anyone? Please its urgent.

Better is Betta · Dec 1, 2011

fellowfishfanatic523 said:
Anyone? Please its urgent.

Congratulations on your pair of rams breeding for you :clap:

I've had my eye on those cute fish wondering whether to get some but I'm not a real cichlid fan. I hope someone on the forum can come to your rescue.......my only advice that I often apply is, If in doubt, take it out. I would hate to see your rams go to all that trouble, even successfully hatching to fry stage, only to be eaten by your other fish. Whats more important at the moment.....

It is a bit of a dilemma for you as you will probably need to do a lot of shuffling to try and keep everyone (fish) happy.

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 1, 2011

Hi thanks for replying. Since i posted there have been a few developments.

In the end I decided to use good ol' fish keeper initiative (what would we do without it eh?!)
Both the male and female had been guarding the eggs all day but about an hour ago the male started nibbling on the eggs. I thought I would have to remove him but to my surprise the female set him straight. Had a right go!

he isn't injured at all but banished LOL

l
But on her own against the kuhlis isn't so good. She hasnt fanned the eggs atall yet or even 'cleaned' them, too busy nipping the Loaches.
After 10 minutes watching her alone in the 'nest' I realised that she was far too stressed. I have removed her from the tank and the stone with the eggs on and put them in the small tank I have spare.
It was awkward to do. Harder than I thought. As soon as I tried to get anywhere near she would attack my glove!

It was abit of a rush. Couldn't decide what to do remove her first or the stone. So I netted her and lay the net across the tank with her in the water (its a big net) and then quickly submerge a 2litew jug next to the pebble and gently place it inside the jug. Then lift the jug out of the water and submerge in the other tank before taking the pebble out and putting the eggs into the tank. Then I put the female in with them. I then replicated the nest again in there with the same plants but this time I have a gentle flow airstone next to the eggs aswell.

So far so good she is on the nest and even fanning the eggs now! So sweet

I will keep you posted. Now that i have no more questions i was wondering whether to put some of this in the Journals and photos section with some pictures?
Just have to find my camera adapter

Let me know what you think X x x

Better is Betta · Dec 1, 2011

fellowfishfanatic523 said:
Hi thanks for replying. Since i posted there have been a few developments.

In the end I decided to use good ol' fish keeper initiative (what would we do without it eh?!)
Both the male and female had been guarding the eggs all day but about an hour ago the male started nibbling on the eggs. I thought I would have to remove him but to my surprise the female set him straight. Had a right go! he isn't injured at all but banished LOL l
But on her own against the kuhlis isn't so good. She hasnt fanned the eggs atall yet or even 'cleaned' them, too busy nipping the Loaches.
After 10 minutes watching her alone in the 'nest' I realised that she was far too stressed. I have removed her from the tank and the stone with the eggs on and put them in the small tank I have spare.
It was awkward to do. Harder than I thought. As soon as I tried to get anywhere near she would attack my glove! It was abit of a rush. Couldn't decide what to do remove her first or the stone. So I netted her and lay the net across the tank with her in the water (its a big net) and then quickly submerge a 2litew jug next to the pebble and gently place it inside the jug. Then lift the jug out of the water and submerge in the other tank before taking the pebble out and putting the eggs into the tank. Then I put the female in with them. I then replicated the nest again in there with the same plants but this time I have a gentle flow airstone next to the eggs aswell.

So far so good she is on the nest and even fanning the eggs now! So sweet
I will keep you posted. Now that i have no more questions i was wondering whether to put some of this in the Journals and photos section with some pictures?
Just have to find my camera adapter
Let me know what you think X x x

Glad you solved the problem and the mother and her eggs are fine. I did read somewhere that the rams have a bad habit of eating the eggs. Wasn't sure if it was the male or female.....definately the male then. Can't wait to see the pics.....hurry up and get that camera :lol:

fellowfishfanatic523 · Dec 2, 2011

Hello again

Some news for you!
I had to remove the female from the nursery tank. When i checked on them this morning she was at the opposite side of the tank, very uninterested in them. When she did finally go over to the eggs she started to eat them so i removed her quick.
In the end she only got a few.
Since removing the female I have been monitoring them closely. In the last 6 hours the eggs have started to get more and more round and they are ALL still orange! No sign of white unfertilised eggs or fungus! Looks like the airstone is doing its job. Still doing very small water changes twice a day with water from the main tank, the temperature is still at a steady 28-30oC

So far everything looks great!
The parents are doing good too in the main tank. Though ever since the breeding the male seems to have had a massive ego boost

he is swimming about the very front of the tank flashing fins and strutting his stuff

hehe seems to want to prove he is boss.
Both the male and female still have gorgeous colouring.

Going to upload some pics now but how do you add them directly onto a post?

Thanks x

Better is Betta · Dec 2, 2011

fellowfishfanatic523 said:
Hello again

Some news for you!
I had to remove the female from the nursery tank. When i checked on them this morning she was at the opposite side of the tank, very uninterested in them. When she did finally go over to the eggs she started to eat them so i removed her quick.
In the end she only got a few.
Since removing the female I have been monitoring them closely. In the last 6 hours the eggs have started to get more and more round and they are ALL still orange! No sign of white unfertilised eggs or fungus! Looks like the airstone is doing its job. Still doing very small water changes twice a day with water from the main tank, the temperature is still at a steady 28-30oC

So far everything looks great!
The parents are doing good too in the main tank. Though ever since the breeding the male seems to have had a massive ego boost he is swimming about the very front of the tank flashing fins and strutting his stuff hehe seems to want to prove he is boss.
Both the male and female still have gorgeous colouring.

Going to upload some pics now but how do you add them directly onto a post?

Thanks x

People use photobucket....hopefully someone on the forum could explain how to post pics. I'm not a computer expert so it is hard for me to explain the technics. I have a different system...my son showed me, can't explain how it works sorry.