Breeding German Rams?

[Ryan_206]

Hey Guys, I Have Two German Blue Rams In A 20 Gallon Long Tank. The Tank Is Planted And Has Driftwood To Keep Ph Levels Down. My Goal Is To Breed Them, I Put A Female In About A Week Ago And Put A Male In Today. The Instantly Started Chasing Eachother Around The Tank. Then After About An Hour They Were Both Behind The Driftwood Moving Sand Around With Their Tales, I Read This Is An Early Stage Of Spawning. Am I Right?
Thank You In Advance

 

[Mike Wise]

It seems like they are on their way to breeding. Getting them to lay eggs is the easy part. Getting the eggs/fry to the freeswimming stage is the hard part.

 

[Bev N]

Getting them to lay eggs is the easy part. Getting the eggs/fry to the freeswimming stage is the hard part.

I'm finding this to be quite true. I have a pair that has spawned for the third time. The first time it was picture perfect. They tended the eggs and one morning there was a whole cloud of free swimming ram fry. Two days later they were all gone.

The second spawn they got them to the wiggler stage and the following morning the fry were gone.

I'm now looking at another clutch of at least 50 eggs. What would you suggest I do at this point to save the fry this time?

Thanks,
Bev

PS....I'm really enjoying the books...thanks again!

 

[ste12000]

I would leave them with the eggs for another couple of try's, i know its hard watching them dissapear but to see the parents with the fry is well worth it. I have bred and raised hundreds of rams and know the problems all to well, I have noted that they will begin spawning anytime after two and a half months old, the first batches at this young are usually infertile, when i get a fertile batch (usually when the parents are 3-4 months old) they tend to eat the spawns. I have had success removing the male and leaving the female to guard the brood, i have also artificialy raised hundreds of fry away from the parents. My usual method is to provide a upturned peice of broken coconut shell as a spawning site that is easily moved to a bare tank when eggs are layed. I then use a airstone to keep oxygenated water pumping over the eggs. There are a few of my pics here..

http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=6628

 

[Bev N]

Breeding Rams

I tried leaving them in again and this morning they were all gone again. Next time I think I'll move the male and see if the female will get them to free swimming. At that point I can remove the fry and put him back. This trial and error thing sure gets frustrating but it's definately a learning experience.

Thanks for the help

 

[Apistomaster]

I just pull the first spawn of any dwarf Cichlid I spawn and artificially hatch them. I do this because it isn't unusual to lose one of the breeders and I like knowing I have some growing up as replacements. Once I have done that, then I wait and hope to watch the pair raise their spawns. It is the most satisfying part of raising these fish.
Another reason for artificially raising a spawn, and this really applies to Rams, is that their fry can be difficult to raise past the larval stage. The difficulty is in keeping them surrounded with appropriate first foods and maintaining clean water. The experience you gain is valuable. While Rams can and do sometimes raise their broods without problems, it is more likely that this will remain an issue so learning how to raise them artificially comes in handy sooner or later. With Rams, their short life spans don't allow for waiting too long to begin raising some replacements.

 

[Bev N]

Breeding German Rams

I pulled both the parents this time and left the driftwood with the wigglers on it in the tank. As of Friday I have I'm guess 100 swimmers. Some are all over the tank but the majority are in one group on the bottom till I put food in...then they swim around that. I have plants in the tank as well as the driftwood so there should be some tiny things for them to feed on. I have a powered micro food that I'm giving and have started adding a little bbs to the mix. I'm looking to get microworms and some other live foods but for now this seems to be working.

I'd love to see the rams raise their fry like some of my apistos and angels but so far no luck with that one. I may try again but at this point I'm hoping to get a few additional pairs.

Thanks for all the help...after losing 4 spawns I hope to be lucky and keep this one. Now to get the macmasteri female to stop eating her eggs!

Thanks again,
Bev

 

[gingerbeer]

The female ram is generally the egg eater - so I yank the female shortly after breeding.

I find getting freeswimming is easy - the hardest thing is the first food as BBS is too small - and mine don't like microworms - I think as they go to the bottom and the rams tend to be about in the upper half of the tank rather than the bottom once you remove there parents.

How do people go with vinigar eels for baby rams?

Steve

 

[Bev N]

Breeding German Rams

I just wanted to say thanks for the adivce I've gotten. To date I have two clutches of Ram fry swimming together. I let the parents get them to wigglers and then pull them. I have gotten microworms to feed the tiny ones. It's actually amazing how fast these grow. I didn't realize how big the first ones had gotten till the newest ones went freeswimming today and joined up with their older siblings.

Thanks again,
Bev