EBR x GBR paired/breeding/eggs

[Laosy Fish]

Lil ole update

EEL---

Im thimking the same with the males. I managed to get another female and the fwmale i had in between the two males has paired with another male. YAY!!! took them a few days bit when i finally put the fwmale and male togethwr the male rocked the female for a couple days ad finally let up. They are now swimming together and he wont leave her side. But im thinking the female moght be infertile since she has shown no signs of courting. Im hoping thw other female i got is fertile.

The fry are getting bigger and now eating flakes. This would be week 2 i think. Im now down to just 10 fry. All the eggs that hatched didnt make it passed a day of free swim. Seems like they are spawnong more but the hatching of eggs is decreasing. Ive now let each pair spawn atleast 3 times with no luck on good parenting so ive resorted to artifical raising. Not muh success either. Seems like the males are getting more and more infertile. One thin i notice is they wont spawn in a community tank but do need tank mates to spawn.

So out of eoughly 2k in eggs i omly have 10 that have made it! Lol i call tem super nemo!


Odie

 

[electric eel]

hi odie

i have never bred any rams in any other setups but pairwise,species only tanks(nothing else but the pair) don't be too quick to blame the fertility of the fish though.you might have some issue with your water.i have bred hard to hatch and raise strains of angels(half black,double dark,half black blueblushing and koi) and almost all of them would not hatch in my tapwater.i just had a koi pair that i let try 4 times-no luck.pulled a slate of eggs(maybe 400 eggs) put them in ro water adjusted to about 25ppm and sucked 4 dead eggs out of the jug.the rest all hatched(pretty unusual to only have 4 deadeggs) it would have been very easy for me to assume it was a fertility issue with one or both of the parents if i had'nt had enough experience to know better.are you feeding your fry appropriate sized food?most ram fry can't take utah bbs till the end of the third or fourth day(you need to try microworms,vinegar eels,infusoria,greenwater or even powdered spirulina hydrated and gently squirted right to the fry with an eyedropper(be careful and use this sparingly-any uneaten goes rancid quickly)i would recomend you feed them at least 3 times a day.4 or 5 small feedings would be even better.as they get bigger you cut back on the frequency of feeding. if you can get ram fry to about 2 weeks old they are very hardy(in my experience) but getting them past day 3,4,5 can be tricky.this is usually when they start dying off.also try the earthworms on your breeders(more important for the female.i hand feed with a toothpick often to make sure the females get their share or the males will get the majority) as i've said on here before Charlie Grimes has a saying "nothing puts eggs in fishes bellies like worms" they really do work.once you figure this ram thing out you'll have more then you can git rid of-trust me.good luck! forgot you should know when female is ready.her stomach will swell with eggs and you should be able to see her papilai hanging out(if you can see good enough-i've started having trouble the last couple years without some good strong reading glasses)

 

[Laosy Fish]

Eel...

Not sure if its the water as ive checked and everything seems normal and is the same in all the tanks... I honestly think its tye female as i have yet ti see her get big bellied. I did see a female at the LFS with a big belly and her tube is out. The problem is shes $50 and has a very bad bent tail. Dont think ill pick her up.

I picked up 2 platinum angels, paired and breeding size, along with 2 vail koi angels from a known breeder. He couldnt get them to breed and decided to ler them go. Funny thing is after 2 days both pairs spawned on 2 seperate corkscrew leaves. Same community tank as the rams. So i guess i am starting a breeding project on the platinum angels. Lol

All in all i dont think its the water i think its the female ebr not wanting to spawn. I let them sit in the tank that has been very succesfull with spawnig with no luck. I added them to the 75g community tank and they are still paired and havd dug a pit in the front of the tank where there is less water flow. Thry are gaurding the pit like they have spawned. I think they went through the spawnong proccess and think they have eggs but i think they just shot out blanks. But its good to see them being good parents on an empty pit. Or maybe it will happen kist not yet. I must say its cool to see the 1 inh female beat and chase my 3" geo red head around. Lol

Since i have posted i have lost 3 female GBR after their 6 or 7th spawn. Seems like the spawning is stressing the females out. Males arefine but females just seem to die a day after spawning. Any suggestions here or inputs if you guys have experienced the same thing...


Thanks,
Odie

 

[Laosy Fish]

Ome other thing...

Im feeding them hakari first foods for the first week and now have moved to bbs and crushed flakes. Free swimming is not the problem its the first couple days after the spawn between the egg stage and wriggle stage is where they are dying off. Once they are free swimming, i have no problems...

Odie

 

[electric eel]

my only other thought is that maybe if you add something to the water to darken it a bit.the eggs have always hatched better for me if i have a new piece of driftwood in there and the water is fairly dark.i have also tried making a strong tea with oak and beech leaves with ro water and adding some of that to the tank.indian almond leaves are also effective but it takes a couple of days for them to start leeching stuff into the water.