My First Rescue Fish

[Vethian]

So, I met up with a friend and went to his other friend's house.  First time meeting the guy.  Anyways, he has a fish tank that is looking pretty bad. I wish I took pics.  looks like it was painted with algae. I started talking about it and apparently his ex-wife left it and he didnt really care for it. In it, a pair or blue german rams.  They looked happy.  The daughter was feeding the fish, but no water changes in a while.  A light was burned out.  Air stone still working.
 
He claims that they are the last to survive the neglect.  As we spoke, he said that if they didnt die soon, he would flush them because they had to move.  AAHHHHHHHH!  I told him that I would take them.  I spent a few hours acclimating and  I transferred them into my tank and they are doing very well so far!  Also, they appear to be young still.  Or, am I thinking they should be larger then they are.  If I had to guess...they are about 2" in length.
 

 

[Akasha72]

erm ... that female is ready to lay eggs. See how her belly is nice and pink and it looks like she's got a breeding tube down too in those pictures ... lucky you!!
 
They are gorgeous and I hope they do well for you .... and you get lots of baby GBR's

 

[BiggTexx]

2" is about right for adult Rams, they can get up to just shy of 3" in the wild. It will be interesting to see if they color up after some care, they looked severely stressed, which is not surprising after the nightmare you described rescuing them from.

 

[Vethian]

every once in a while, i see nice coloring.  *crossing fingers* if they do have little ones, how will that work?  I seem to remember that the male will guard the eggs until there is fry...but should I move the eggs?

 

[BiggTexx]

duplicate - stupid lag!

 

[Akasha72]

the female will lay eggs - probably on a flat stone or piece of wood - and the male will pass over the eggs to fertilize them. They will then guard them (could be vicious about it or they could be chilled, it's all a bit hit and miss with different cichlid types) the eggs should hatch on about day 3 or 4 and then you'll see wriggling tails while the fry absorb their yolk sacks. Once that's done they'll gradually become free swimming. The parents should try to keep them close but if they are young as you suggest then they'll probably make a mess of parenting for the first few goes. That said, some get it right first time. It's good to watch - just leave them to it and keep us posted cos we all love baby pics

 

[Vethian]

oooh...i will have to sponge my intake valve on my filter.