German Blue Rams - Laying Eggs!

[pammy172]

Some may remember about a month ago we bought what we thought was a pair of german blue rams - ie male and a female. Turned out to be two males. After a number of permutations and losing one male we now have a pair in the main tank and a male in the smaller 47 litre tank. Three days ago we bought two females and put them in the small tank to quarantine in the hope we could put them all in the main tank together. Male and a female have obviously got on very well chasing the other female away. We have just gone in to see them and imagine our surprise - the bogwood is covered with eggs and he is fertilizing them. This was not part of the plan and is a total surprise for which we are totally unprepared . So what do we do . We can put the other female into the big tank. In the smaller tank we also have three black venuzuelan cory's - will they eat the eggs? I think we'd quite like to try and raise the fry - but what do we need to do

We can set up a separate tank and put the rams in there and move the bogwood over - but would that just upset them all? There's not a snowflake's chance of us catching the corys and moving them - they are very skittish, help?

 

[jlOisAhoTti]

Well it's best to isolate the eggs in a tank filled with methylene blue. Methylene blue because it kills all the bacteria and fungus that might try to hurt the eggs. In order to do that I would suggest filling up the smaller tank with methylene blue and get a cup, dunk it into the tank with the eggs, put the eggs into the cup without having them touch the air, then transfer them over to the smaller tank. I have never been very successful with Blue ram babies but I am not much of a fish person, more of an invertebrate person. So I wish you the best of luck and keep us informed

 

[fishtankkid]

I have no experience with rams but in my opinion you should try and seperate the cories because they always eat my eggs

 

[pammy172]

Quick update - now double shock as the pair in the big tank have also produced eggs and are now guarding them!!! This is so freaky.

Vid of the original pair!




I think we'll see how things are looking tomorrow. We can't set up two lots of nursery care facilities. So we might see which look the more viable and take it from there. lol

Thanks for the tips up to now chaps.
x

 

[Inchworm]

Hi pammy172

Thanks for sharing your lovely video!

I'm going to move your thread over to the New World Cichlid section because I think it will be more likely to be seen by experienced Ram keepers.

BTW, the official name of your black corys is C. schultzei (black). They might eat the eggs, and will try to eat the young if they are on the bottom. It would be best to move them if you can.

 

[pammy172]

Thanks Inchworm.

Quick update. This morning the eggs in the small tank (which just has the rams and the Black corys) are gone Presume the corys got to them. But - the ones in the big tank are still there! Dad doing a great job of protecting them. So now we have to see what we do about getting them out of there and into the nursery tank. But not an easy task.

I take it the parents don't need to be with them? Are the eggs stuck to the slate they were laid on or just resting there? And do the eggs turn white when they are live? They are still the same sandy colour this morning as they were when laid .

Our plan is:

1 - set up hospital tank with small internal filter using water from the big tank. But will the bactera die off without a food source?
2 - not to use any substrate
3 - put some plant in
4 - leave in a quiet room
5 - no light(on tank)
6 - wait with fingers' crossed!

If they hatch:
1 - what do we feed?
2 - do we need to use the filter at this stage or just an airstone and add a fiter when the eggs hatch and start feeding?

Or another thought - we have a breeding/isolation net - could we just pick the eggs up and drop them into that leaving it in the big tank Presume the fry wouldn't get through the gauze? Would this let them eat the micro-organisms in the big tank until they're ready to eat other food and then transfer to the hospital tank - oh my brain hurts!!! lol

Any help very gratefully received

 

[jlOisAhoTti]

I didn't turn on the sponge filter until they hatched. I fed them liquid fry food, infosoria and when they get a little bigger, baby brine shrimp. They are glued to the slate, just don't move it too fast. The eggs turn white when they are fertilized and they do not need their parents to survive as long as you keep methylene blue in the tank to prevent fungus.

 

[CichlidGuy]

Like jlOisahotti said feed liquid fry food, infosoria for 2-3 days and you can then feed Baby brine shrimp after that to get them going. i would use a Sponge filter that has matured in the parent tank considering bubbles dont do damage to fry . Normally a really white egg is not fertilized and will mold up. since you are the parent id remove the white eggs."


NOTE when they hatch wait untill they are swimming to feed
They will swim after about 2-3days of being wigglers.

Fry stages are
Eggs.
Wigglers.
Fry.
Juvenile.
Adult.

 

[pammy172]

Thanks for that - but we missed the boat Will get ourselves geared up though to do this properly. How long before they are ready to spawn again?

 

[jlOisAhoTti]

I'd give them a month. Rams reproduce like crazy!

 

[CichlidGuy]

Thanks for that - but we missed the boat Will get ourselves geared up though to do this properly. How long before they are ready to spawn again?

Well it could be less then 15 days if you feed correctly and keep the temp around 82-84deg F.

Mine lay every 9 days on New life spectrum Cichlids formula fed every day until Full*. also Frozen Brine shrimp/Bloodworm's every 2 days. It takes a week or 2 for them to adjust to the hight quality foods but after they are all set they spawn like a clock.
also with the pellets they are the 1mm size and i feed them by hand, i don't drop like 20 in their at once.


This works if you remove the eggs after 10 or so hours since laid so you can be assured they are fertilized and the shells have hardened.
then this stimulates the pair to get back into spawning mode.

If you do everything right you can get 3 spawns a month. i got 4 in a month once. They spawned every 7 days but i felt that was a bit hard on the female lol.
Now i am letting them raise the fry themselves until they are of size to go into a grow out tank or they get kicked out lol.