German Blue Rams

[ppipanman]

i was wondering if anyone can help me i am having a terrible problem keeping my ram fry alive! i have 2 pairs of breeding blue rams and am on batch number 7 with no fry surviving longer than 2 weeks. the 75 to 150 eggs are hatched in a 10 gal nursery tank with methyl blue to prevent egg fungus. the 10 gal tank has 3 live plants, 2 established sponge filters and no gravel. there is some nice bright green algea on the back wall of the tank. i do water changes every other day about 50% with water from the breeding tank(which is perfect). i tried doing smaller changes but the amo and nitrite spiked. i keep the tank at around 76F-78F i fear the fish are going hungry. i have tried haikari first bites, brine shrimp, and now have tried infusoria but not able to make any. does anybody have any hints for me to be able to raise these rams? any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Truck]

take some hikari micro pellets, pop them in a pestle and mortar, and grind away until a fine powder is produced

 

[ppipanman]

1/4/08 well my rams just laid eggs again every 12 days just like clock work. they just laid on christmas eve im going to leave them in the 55 with the parents for 1 day then move them to the hatching 10 gal with methyl blue where i have 5 surviving 12 day old fry. i was so excited. i actually got to watch them lay and fertilize the eggs this time. the female always lays in the same spot on the same decoration. so its really nice to move them. when they hatch i wash the decor and return it to the 55 for another 12 day wait. Is it common for these fish to breed so fast?

 

[Jim Curtis]

Are you moving the fry to a 10 gallon or the parents? If its the fry you are moving then I think you are doing things backwards imo.

My GBR's breed all the time, the eggs or fry if they make it that long usually become discus food.

 

[Gilli]

I agree with Jim. When the parents egg tubes start to show I would transfer the parents to the tank you are going to use for the fry rather than move the eggs or fry. Remove the parents then dose with methyl blue to prevent egg fungus. This way you are not changing their water quality so you should stand a beter chance as rams are very sensitive to water change and beng so tiny you have to be careful.

For feeding you can buy live moss balls cheaply on ebay which contain a lot of infusori, you can also try micro worms which you can also get on Ebay.

 

[ppipanman]

thanks for the info! the 10 gallon is replaced 50% everyother day with water from the big tank so water quality is very consistant and i usually dont see the fish breed i just walk into a tank with eggs. also ive always got the eggs to hatch and start to grow i just can't get the to survive longer than a couple weeks. i will look into the live moss balls and micro worms though thanks again i will keep you all updated on the fish.

 

[ppipanman]

well the ram eggs hatched and only got about 5 fry but the older fry are doing great and getting big! i have 7 left they are just over 2 weeks old. this is the first time any of the fry have been responsive to where i am. if i get close to the tank they move quickly away from the glass. very exciting to know they can see me LOL. i got to see them eat the BBS for the first time. now they are big enough to eat them.

 

[Gilli]

Congrats and well done! My pair of GBR have laid lots of times but no hatchings yet. Just as well really as I wouldnt want to give any
away!

 

[ppipanman]

apparently i missed a bunch of fry. sneaky little buggers LOL there are now aprox. 30 free swimming fry searching for food so fun to watch. i've noticed that most of the fry swim and the top of the water or right in the miniscus where the water meets the glass. any clue why? is it good/bad? how do i fix if bad?

 

[ppipanman]

no word on the surface swimmers??? they have moved down off the surface for the most part now after a week or two

 

[ppipanman]

well it's been a while since i've posted an update on the babies. they are now about two and a half months old i have 6 one inch fry and sadly only one half inch fry left. good news however the one inch fry are eating bloodworms bbs and flake foods now. also there is already a dominant male establishing his territory the 6 larger fry and thier little brother (or sister) are all still in the 10 gallon and get along fine any opinions on when or if to move them to my 55 gal? it has 4 GBR 14 neons and a 3 inch pleco they are going to be sold i just want to grow them a bit more thanks for the help all

 

[Gilli]

Well done! Some pics would be nice!

Ive just lost my male GBR - really upset as ive had him over a year. Still have the female and went out to find her a new mate. The only shop I could find selling them had babies so I bought a baby male who is about an inch long and as cute as a button!

 

[ppipanman]

;-( My 6 big babies are gone. had to take them to my LFS i just didn't have the room for them. they started getting too aggressive. still have the two babies though