Need Suggestions on Ram Breeding
Howdy folks! New member here, was excited to find a forum exclusively dealing with dwarf cichlids!
Anyways, to start off, my brother and I bought four pairs of german blue rams several weeks ago and every single pair has spawned, our favorite/most colorful pair having spawned twice already.
Alas, we were not prepared for a breeding endeavor and have been scrambling ever since the first spawn trying to set up a decent system. We've read through whatever material we could find to help us get started but it seems several things are still going wrong.
From our very first spawn on 9/10 we have only one surviving fry left. From our second spawn we've got maybe six fry left, and the third perhaps 15-20, but their numbers are dwindling.
For one of the spawns we decided to leave the pair in the tank with the eggs, and as predicted the eggs disappeared after a day and a half.
So, to start, I'll give some parameters that we've been using and then I'd love to hear some suggestions on how we could improve the number of fry that survive.
At first, we were taking the rock/log that the rams spawned on and putting it in a jar or very small plastic tank. The first spawn was put in a jar and despite some fungus problems we had probably 50 fry hatch. I successfully kept them alive for about a week and then they were siphoned out of the jar to clean the jar and then siphoned back in...and of course the majority died the next day. So out of those 50, only one guy is still alive.
The next spawn we tried to mimic the somewhat successful first attempt at hatching and stuck the rock in a small beta tank with an airline (no airstone). We'd read an article about using hydrogen peroxide to combat fungus and so went this route, only to lose almost all the eggs to fungus. Perhaps six or seven eggs hatched despite the fungus, and as of today they are all still alive in a mason jar.
The third spawn was stuck in a five gallon tank to see if we could get different results, along with a tiny 2-5g filter that was keeping the water flowing quite well (and an air pump pumping bubbles into the outtake. No hydrogen peroxide was introduced and the eggs eventually fell off of the rock and we have about 30-40 hatch with almost no fungus visible.
The fry in the five gallon seemed to be doing better than any of the other fry so far. The tank had a sponge filter installed once the eggs hatched instead of the small filter as well as two clumps of java moss. While everything looked fine and peachy, the fry started dying today for some reason. There are still a number alive, but they aren't as active as they used to be.
Lastly, another set of eggs appeared two days ago and we put them a 1-2g tank (that housed the very first batch of fry once they hatched) with an airline (no airstone). I put some hydrogen peroxide in it but I fear it wasn't enough, as almost all the eggs succumbed to fungus this morning.
SO, after all that, I'm wondering what kind of setup you guys would suggest for breeding these rams. Our adult rams are spawning so regularly we've decided to do whatever we can to make this work.
Food wise we've been giving them microworms and a micro powder we got from a local angel breeder. Being new to the breeding scene, I am always second guessing myself as to whether I am feeding the fry right or not. So far I've been putting in several squirts of microworms from a pipette in the 5g, but there seems to be so much water and the fry are so spread out I'm wondering if they shouldn't be kept in a smaller tank. Keeping the parents with the fry is something we have not done yet, save the time the parents ate their second spawn.
Some specific questions.... Should I keep a high water/air flow on the eggs to reduce fungus, even though it seems like they will blow around in the current? Should I be medicating for fungus? Either Hydrogen Peroxide doesn't work or I've been doing too little. Should I have an airstone in the tank instead of just an airline?
What size tank would you suggest for the fry? And should there be a sponge filter or a powered filter in the tank?
Any pointers and suggestions you guys could give me would be really appreciated.
Howdy folks! New member here, was excited to find a forum exclusively dealing with dwarf cichlids!
Anyways, to start off, my brother and I bought four pairs of german blue rams several weeks ago and every single pair has spawned, our favorite/most colorful pair having spawned twice already.
Alas, we were not prepared for a breeding endeavor and have been scrambling ever since the first spawn trying to set up a decent system. We've read through whatever material we could find to help us get started but it seems several things are still going wrong.
From our very first spawn on 9/10 we have only one surviving fry left. From our second spawn we've got maybe six fry left, and the third perhaps 15-20, but their numbers are dwindling.
For one of the spawns we decided to leave the pair in the tank with the eggs, and as predicted the eggs disappeared after a day and a half.
So, to start, I'll give some parameters that we've been using and then I'd love to hear some suggestions on how we could improve the number of fry that survive.
At first, we were taking the rock/log that the rams spawned on and putting it in a jar or very small plastic tank. The first spawn was put in a jar and despite some fungus problems we had probably 50 fry hatch. I successfully kept them alive for about a week and then they were siphoned out of the jar to clean the jar and then siphoned back in...and of course the majority died the next day. So out of those 50, only one guy is still alive.
The next spawn we tried to mimic the somewhat successful first attempt at hatching and stuck the rock in a small beta tank with an airline (no airstone). We'd read an article about using hydrogen peroxide to combat fungus and so went this route, only to lose almost all the eggs to fungus. Perhaps six or seven eggs hatched despite the fungus, and as of today they are all still alive in a mason jar.
The third spawn was stuck in a five gallon tank to see if we could get different results, along with a tiny 2-5g filter that was keeping the water flowing quite well (and an air pump pumping bubbles into the outtake. No hydrogen peroxide was introduced and the eggs eventually fell off of the rock and we have about 30-40 hatch with almost no fungus visible.
The fry in the five gallon seemed to be doing better than any of the other fry so far. The tank had a sponge filter installed once the eggs hatched instead of the small filter as well as two clumps of java moss. While everything looked fine and peachy, the fry started dying today for some reason. There are still a number alive, but they aren't as active as they used to be.
Lastly, another set of eggs appeared two days ago and we put them a 1-2g tank (that housed the very first batch of fry once they hatched) with an airline (no airstone). I put some hydrogen peroxide in it but I fear it wasn't enough, as almost all the eggs succumbed to fungus this morning.
SO, after all that, I'm wondering what kind of setup you guys would suggest for breeding these rams. Our adult rams are spawning so regularly we've decided to do whatever we can to make this work.
Food wise we've been giving them microworms and a micro powder we got from a local angel breeder. Being new to the breeding scene, I am always second guessing myself as to whether I am feeding the fry right or not. So far I've been putting in several squirts of microworms from a pipette in the 5g, but there seems to be so much water and the fry are so spread out I'm wondering if they shouldn't be kept in a smaller tank. Keeping the parents with the fry is something we have not done yet, save the time the parents ate their second spawn.
Some specific questions.... Should I keep a high water/air flow on the eggs to reduce fungus, even though it seems like they will blow around in the current? Should I be medicating for fungus? Either Hydrogen Peroxide doesn't work or I've been doing too little. Should I have an airstone in the tank instead of just an airline?
What size tank would you suggest for the fry? And should there be a sponge filter or a powered filter in the tank?
Any pointers and suggestions you guys could give me would be really appreciated.
