Ram breeding conditions

[Apisto Joe]

Just aquired a pair of blue rams from a local pet store. Have them setup in a 20g high tank, well planted and good driftwood caves. I turned the heat up a bit but they are still in hard and slightly alkaline water. any info on what is absolutely necessary for change would be great.
thanks
apistojoe

 

[Konigwolf]

OK I'll admit I dont have much experience with hardness factors, but what PH are we talking about? I've had rams happily breed in 7.4, but as long as they are a hardy line, like cacatuoides they would probably breed at a little higher than that. There are others around here that are better experienced in how to lower ph/hardness so I'll let them deal with that. Also I hope you realise that rams are open spawners (rock as opposed to substrate) so while all the caves are good, you need to make sure there's a few rocks or similar for them as well. HTH

Andrew

Edit in - Hi just noticed the post count, welcome to the forums

 

[nightowl1350]

One of my female rams lays eggs in a plant. It is one of the silk ones and the leaves are about 2" wide. They had rocks and other things to lay on, but she uses the plant every time Another female picked the tank bottom (bare bottom) in a corner for her place to lay eggs. You will soon see where they prefer I've raised one spawn with no problems in 7 or 7.1 ph, but the last few spawns have died off Don't know why, but they are tricky to raise sometimes. Microworms are a great first food for them.

Good luck with them.

 

[Apisto Joe]

thanks for the info!

 

[mematrix]

re to post

Hi Apisto Joe. I would first cut your water with RO water 50/50 I have found that alkalinity is not a real majior matter with rams. But hardness is they like 50ppm gh or lower. I will give you an exampel my rams witch have given me at least 19+ spawns plus their offspring have also. they all breed in my water which is 8.4ph 25-50 ppm gh(Very soft) 300-500 ppm kh(very alkaline) nitrites/nitrates 0-10ppm depending on when I do water changes. To break it down I have very alkaline soft water this is the way it comes out of the ground. Now rams are notorius spawn eaters mine were so I artifically raised my spawns not all 19. Good luck.

Curtis

 

[Apisto ranch]

I live in a area where we have some of the hardest water in the U.S. my water from the tap is
PH-8.0 to 8.2
GH-250ppm to 275ppm
KH - 300ppm

My german blue rams have been in this water for over 6months now and have breed twice. I lost my female around 2 months ago do to a Bolivein ram beatting up on her. So I've been without a female for a month. I found 2 females 3 weeks ago and they are already trying to breed with my male.
I havn't changes a thing on the water other then the PH of it. I have 2 DIY co2 units on the { 75 gal } As it has around 100 plants in the tank so by adding the co2 systems to the tank the PH is now down to 5.8 to 6.0. Other then the PH being differnt the GH and the KH of the water is still the same around 300ppm.