Electric blue rams

[electric eel]

hi boydvd,i got my electric blues about 5 hours ago.2 males and 1 female.my buddy wants me to put the spare male with one of my longfinned females but i really am not a fan of longfins(but they are beautiful)the outcrossed rams i have now are'nt nearly as pretty as the line i had but they are still really colorful but in a different way.the one male and female i have from my old line are winding down and only spawn sporadically(i paired each with another line of rams)i spent 6 months trying to get fry from a freakily spectacular gold male from thailand but although the 3 different females i paired him with all laid eggs they never hatched i think he was sterile so maybe you are better off not wasting your money as i think some of the rumors maybe true.i was suprised how much better these electric blues look in my tank then they did in the store.i've temporarily housed them in a couple tanks (pair in one-oddball male in the other)i have set up to grow out fry.the water is my hard tapwater(they had them in hardwater in the store) but there is algea on the sides and the water is warmer maybe they feel safer with the algae darkening things up a bit.i've got some rainwater in a 55 gallon tank running thru a filter with peat in it.gonna rehouse them in breeding setups tomorrow.can't wait to see what they look like when i get them in soft acid water and crank the temp up to 85F.if you saw the mess i have you'd know it was an addiction.seems like i try to do too much and in the process don't get anything done.its so easy to end up with so many angelfish fry that you don't know what to do with them all.i teased my wife one time and threatened to fill up the spare bathtub.she was'nt very amused as she really was'nt sure if i was teasing or serious.
cheers and good luck with your rams boydvd
craig

 

[boydvd]

alk about addictions... i went to the shop and bought two more. hoping they are female, but likley to be male. they are a alot smaller than the ones i got from another shop. and just to feed this addiction some more I picked up a female agassizii!! My partner will divorce if i get another tank or move any more tanks out of the fish room!

hoping out of the possible 4 electric Blues i have that one will be real and fertile to start some breeding.

 

[Apistomaster]

I would not ever keep and breed balloon or long fin Rams but because the new EBR are expensive and I know how to breed and raise Rams, I would jump on a couple pairs to breed while they still are expensive. Barring any breeding problems with the strain it will only take couple of years before they sell for the same prices a GBR and Gold Rams.

 

[boydvd]

i agree, i don't like the ballons (looks cruel) and the long fins are so so.

I hope i get a proper male to spawn with my GBR. and hope 2 generations down they will come out electric!

 

[Anubias Design]

females and pics

Hey All,
I got these in before I left for the IBC convention/vacation. I'll get more in after I get back next week. There did appear to be both males and fremales in the shipment. I also got some pretty good pics but they're on my desktop at home. I'll post them when I get back. I did send a pic and write-up on this new color variant to TFH for the Import Report column. They're a much better-looking fish in person than they are in any of the pics I've seen.
Mark

 

[electric eel]

how do you access the photo's,Mark.i went to your web page but could'nt get the pictures (of the electric blues)to come up(guess i should have read your post better).could you possibly bring me a pair or 2 to the aca.i'd really like to have a bigger genepool to work with then just these 3 fish i was able to get ahold of.

 

[electric eel]

the electric blues spawned today.unfortunately she spawned with the smaller less attractive one and on the base of the sponge filter(i'd say 90% of my ram spawns have been on the little half pieces of angelfish breeding slates i use and 10% on driftwood)i had planned to pull them and hatch them artificially but i decided to give them one go at getting them freeswimming on their own(since they spawned on the filter base).good size spawn for a young pair i'm guessing close to 100 eggs.i thought they were pairing up 3 or 4 days ago(and the female looked pretty gravid yesterday) but left the odd male in to strengthen the pair bond and they are working together to keep him on the other side of the tank gonna pull him tomorrow.hopefully by friday evening i'll have wigglers.they do have the yellow cap boydvd must not have been showing from the stress of being in hardwater at the shop.starting to color up nice too.

 

[boydvd]

Hi E-eel

that interesting my blue femle spawned last week with the smaller though very attractive male. The larger male has a gorgeous purple sheen to his electric blue. they spawned on the black gravel unders a big pile of javea moss. they must have felt safe there.

anyhoo, because i was treating them for worms and parasites, i think this caused their eggs to go mouldy. hope the male is not sterile. I removed all other apistos from the tank now and have another blue female with the electric pruple blue male. hope thier next spawns hatch.

 

[electric eel]

does'nt look like its going to work this time boydvd.noticed a few eggs gone missing when i got home from work.still got my fingers crossed.the smaller male is pretty just not the one i would have chosen.if i had more of them i would have force paired the nicest 2.they usually will spawn but some times its like an unhappy marriage and you have to keep a close eye on them.be careful what you treat them with some meds can make them sterile.i've read that acriflavine can make adult fish sterile but does'nt affect fry the same way maybe because their reproductive systems are'nt developed yet?

 

[boydvd]

ok now the other electric with a blue female have spawned on the other side of the tank. alas this was on the gravel also so will see how the eggs spare. these look healthier and less fungussy.

i might have to put more rocks for them to lay eggs on.

fingers crossed

 

[Mike Wise]

Or do what I do: use a 35 year old metal frame tank with a slate bottom!:biggrin:

 

[electric eel]

try some little pieces of slate.they don't spawn as readily on the rough irregular pieces that i have purchased in petstores but they will invariably spawn on the really smooth half pieces of angelfish breeding slates.i'm gonna swap out the red slate piece i have in with my electric blues for some pieces of angelfish breeding slate.i have every intention of artificially hatching their next batch even if they do spawn on the filter base.they won't because i'll wrap some pieces of plastic plants around the filter base to discourage them from spawning on it.i've done this in the past to discourage angelfish from spawning on the lift tube for the sponge filter.its hard to break them once they get in the habit so its better to break them early.i have used the tiny little red clay pots also but i'm leary of them because they all come from china here and there's no telling what they could be contaminated with.mine ate all there eggs before they started wiggling but they are very young.i've got 40 or 50 longfins and regular fins in a growout tank.yesterday it became evident that i'm going to have to seperate them.one pair spawned on the sponge filter and another on the side of the tank.its getting ugly with maybe 10 pairs trying to form(in my hard water)if i sort them by sex Mike will the aggression stop.that was my plan.all but a few pairs will be going to the aca at the end of the month.also boydvd i've had a whole lot better luck if i put the pair in a dedicated tank.if they feel threatened they will often eat the fry or eggs.i guess its a natural instinct to grab that nourishment for themselves if they think another fish will get it(at least this is what i read)

 

[gingerbeer]

Use terracotta pot saucers - if you can use them saucer side up (so to speak) it also allows you to take the eggs without them being exposed to the air.

 

[electric eel]

i've hatched easily a hundred spawns of angels artificially gingerbeer and very briefly exposing them to air will not affect hatching.i use gallon jugs so it has to be something that will fit in a jug.the eggs are'nt sensitive to water chemistry either(except for some stains of angels and rams as well won't hatch if the water is too hard).the main thing is that the temp is really close to the same as the parents tank(i was told this by steve rybiki).i always try to keep the temp. within plus or minus 1 degree farenheit.the myth about angelfish eggs having to be kept in the same direction as they were laid is also just that-a myth.i've hatched them with the slate upside down from how they were laid and also laid sideways in 2 and a half gallon tanks.i wanted to see if the old myth was true and it is not.at least in my experience.

 

[harnsheng]

boydvd; i can envision a tank full of them would look amazing. i prefer lots of smaller fish so these could be a discus replacement for me, so to speak.

well, how bout this photo?

anyway, guys, i thought all sold were males? is there females available? i would love to see if anyone have photo of males and females. Thanks!

 

[boydvd]

wow yes they do look fantastically amazing!

 

[yama]

blue rams

I love the common ram.So when I saw this new color phase or mutation@my local fish shoppe; I was like WOW! But i quickly cam down to earth when I saw wat this store was asking retail for them. Out of control 60.00 each I kno thts not reasonable retail on a dwarf fish!

 

[electric eel]

wow!thats impressive.i only saw the eight in the tank when i got mine and they looked lost in the ten they were in.thats really impressive!

 

[Apistomaster]

I love the common ram.So when I saw this new color phase or mutation@my local fish shoppe; I was like WOW! But i quickly cam down to earth when I saw wat this store was asking retail for them. Out of control 60.00 each I kno thts not reasonable retail on a dwarf fish!

Prices are always high when an outstanding color variety is first introduced but for those who do buy some pairs there will be a window of opportunity to breed them and recoup your investment plus a profit.

I imagine in another 2-3 years their prices will come down to being closer to what nice German Blue Rams go for now. Rams aren't too difficult to breed and raise unless this new strain proves to be weaker for some reason than Blue or Gold Rams are. They look like they are not likely to have any such problem from the photos I've seen but we will know soon enough if there are anything unique about them when it comes to breeding. I think finding females is likely to be the main initial problems. Sometimes sellers hold back on selling females to help keep the prices as high as possible for as long as they can but that problem will go away fairly soon.

 

[viejo]

I'm pretty sure that the males are probably 'shooting blanks' or the breeders would not be releasing both sexes ( I know, I'm a pessimist/realist). Breeding electric females to normal males hopefully would work but it would take a couple of generations to see electric blue offspring - Kinda like electric blue Jack Dempseys. As for myself, I still like natural color forms (whatever that is ).