German Blue Ram Egg Help!

[Jhamm317]

I'm very new to fish breeding but not new to owning fish. I went through hell and back to obtain a good pair of German blue Rams and 3 days in, I have eggs! Heavily guarded by the male, the eggs look healthy and the male is behaving properly with no egg eating. Should I do a water change? Should I leave the light on to ensure none of the 4 neon Tetras, other pair of blue Rams (which reside in their territory at the oposite end of the tank), or gold gourami eat the newly laid eggs? I'm very paranoid because of what I went through to get this pair. I need some help ASAP!!!

Thanks,
Justin
Also forgot to mention I added a 1 inch otocinculus today

 

[Akasha72]

Hi, I would hold off on the water change if you can ... another few days shouldn't harm. Regarding the light - I know some breeders leave them on, some leave off entirely others just carry on as normal. There doesn't seem to be a right or wrong regarding the lights. If your male is guarding them then he should still guard them whether lights are on or off. 
The only problem I can see with messing around with lighting is the possible impact on any live plants you may have. Too much light and you'll get algae, too little and the plants will suffer. I would carry on with a normal routine and see what happens. It sounds like you have a good pair and even if these eggs don't make it there will be another batch along in a few short weeks. The good thing about cichlids is the more they spawn the better parents they should become - it's a bit like a learning curve for them. Some of them get it right the first time, some take a little longer to learn what they are supposed to do. 
 
If you manage to get the eggs to free swimming stage that will be the more crucial stage. Once the fry can swim they will escape from mum and dad no matter how much they try to keep them with them ... this is the point at which your neons and your gourami will take the opportunity to sweep in and eat a few. Over a period of a few days you'll probably start to see the fry number deminishing. If you want to raise some there are options - you could divide the tank so mum, dad and fry are kept seperate from your other stock or you could go in with a net (or a turkey baster, it's what I used) and remove a few fry and raise them seperately. The other option is to remove mum and dad after this spawn is done and keep them in a seperate tank on their own - but not all of us have the space for another tank!
 
In all honesty, if this is the first spawn I would use this as the baseline to see what happens. There are too many variables to be able to tell you exactly how this will pan out - only time will tell whether they can raise some fry without intervention.
 
 
I can't go without mentioning the otocinclus you've just got. I just wanted to ask if you were aware that oto's need to be kept in a group. The larger the group the better but 5 or 6 seems to be a good number. Oto's can be quite a delicate species and so he really needs some friends to make him feel more secure 
 
Hope all that is helpful

 

[fluttermoth]

I'd just like to back up Akasha's advice, it's spot on. Leave this spawning alone, and see what happens.
 
In all honesty, if you're going to be serious about breeding this pair, you'd be better off setting up a separate tank for them (or removing the other fish to another tank, if possible).
 
I hope this doesn't sound harsh, but why on earth you would add any kind of suckermouth catfish to a tank with fish you're trying to be breed is baffling to me 

 He certainly does need company in the long term; Akasha's quite right there too.
 
P.S; rams are new world cichlids; from the Amazon basin.

 

[Akasha72]

have a read here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/437454-laetacara-curvicep-cichlids/ not the same species but still a dwarf cichlid and the process is the same. There are others threads I'm sure regarding breeding them but that's my account of my dwarf cichlids and their breeding antics. There might be something useful amongst it

 
Also, thanks fluttermoth

 

[Jhamm317]

Most of the eggs had been eaten this morning which was expected. Thanks for the help and advice, hopefully I'll see some more eggs within the next month. Practicing my patients


Thanks again!

 

[Akasha72]

no problem. They should lay again pretty soon so don't despair  

 

[Byron]

As others have noted, saving a spawn in a community tank is almost impossible; sometimes it works, up to some stage anyway.
 
All catfish are nocturnal, so they will almost always find and eat the eggs, or the shoal of fry should they hatch, during darkness.  Leaving the light on is not an option, as I'll come back to.  As someone suggested, to guarantee success, remove the parents to a tank on their own, before they again spawn.  You could move the eggs (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi will usually lay eggs on a hard surface, though they may use a depression) and artificially tend them, but it is interesting to observe the fish doing all this, and much easier.  Just make sure the tank you move them into is not just cycled but established and use water from the present tank for the first fill so the fish are not subjected to differing parameters.
 
Water changes were mentioned...these should be carried out normally.  Depending upon the size of the tank, you can do these with minimal annoyance to the fish by just inserting the hose in the water at one of the front corners and siphoning out the water, then add the fresh conditioned water the same way.  Other work inside the tank can wait.
 
Now to the light...never leave the tank light on 24/7.  Aside from the detriment this does to plants and guaranteed algae problems, this is severely stressful on the fish.  I have known of cases where the fish came down with ich solely due to the light.  There must be a period of total darkness.  This is part of the circadian rhythm that all fish and animals have (plants do too in a sense) and throwing it out of whack like this is just asking for highly stressed fish which significantly reduces their immunity and energy, leading to all sorts of problems.
 
Byron.

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

Byron, may I add to the comments about lighting?
 
In a room that gets natural sunlight, the fish do not need lights for the circadian rhythm. Plants would still benefit from direct lighting, though.

 

[Byron]

Byron, may I add to the comments about lighting?
 
In a room that gets natural sunlight, the fish do not need lights for the circadian rhythm. Plants would still benefit from direct lighting, though.

 
Agree.  Though I'm not sure I am seeing the connection to what the OP asked...but all fish need a period of light and dark during each 24 hours.  The period of darkness is what we were considering here, as someone suggested leaving tank lights on permanently.  There must be a "night" of darkness, and the "day" can be natural light with or without tank lighting.
 
Correct me if I missed something.
 
Byron.

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

I wasn't criticizing your response, just adding to it. I was suggesting that in a well lit room, it may not even be necessary to turn the lights on at all, which might be desirable with fry in the tank.

 

[Byron]

I wasn't criticizing your response, just adding to it. I was suggesting that in a well lit room, it may not even be necessary to turn the lights on at all, which might be desirable with fry in the tank.

 
Got it.  Thanks.  B.