German Blue Ram Spawn!!!! Help here please.

[xoniac]

Hey there,

So the male GBR I recently added to my tank hooked up with one of my lovely ladies and today I came home to a hundred or so eggs! The male is watching over them diligently and won't let any other fish anywhere near them. I wasn't really PLANNING on breeding these fish, but as there isn't much else in that tank right now (and may not be for a bit), I figure why not give it a go?

Unfortunately, the only other tank I own is a five gallon that is currently home to three red clawed crabs... but I have a tank divider!

I was just wondering if you think it would be a wise idea to put in the divider so the other fish can't get in there with them, or put up the divider and take the parents away too, or just leave the parents in there and not put in a divider. The only other fish I have in the tank is another female GBR who never leaves her little hut, a dwarf gourami who doesn't mess with the other fish, and a very, very small peacock eel (3ish") that I just threw in there yesterday - he's burrowed down in the gravel and doesn't come out much just yet. The tank is 40g, is currently at about 82F, and has wonderful water parameters - I just did a 50% change yesterday. There are a couple of plants on both sides of the aquarium too. I just don't want the eggs or the fry getting eaten or sucked into the filter.... but I don't want to stress the parents into eating their own eggs by taking the lid off and throwing in a divider either. What do you think?

[Larry Bugg]

For me, rams alway made terrible parents. Always ate the eggs or fry. You don't need a big tank to raise rams. Here is the method I used when I was breeding them.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/96014-gbr-breeder-tank.html

[xoniac]

For me, rams alway made terrible parents. Always ate the eggs or fry. You don't need a big tank to raise rams. Here is the method I used when I was breeding them.

Thanks! My rams are being particularly good parents so far... all (or at least most) of the eggs made it through the first night no problems, and the male is still guarding them wonderfully. I ended up putting in the tank divider because the female kept getting into a tizzy with the gourami and the other female looked super stressed before bed. The tank divider, however, didn't fit properly. Still, the male never strayed from the nest and the female only slipped out occasionally - she always came back. Before I fell asleep, the gourami had slipped through a few times but this morning seems content to stay on his side. I'm going to go get a better fit one later today, or trim this one down so it works for me. I'll probably also go pick up a bunch of java moss or something for them. Unfortunately, I don't think I can set up a fry tank, even in a shoebox sized container. Dad isn't very happy with all the tanks I'm setting up and told me no more... lol. However, maybe once the eggs hatch I'll move the parents to the other side (only about 1/3 of the tank is blocked off).

What do you suggest for feeding the fry (other than baby shrimp fry)? Anything I can buy from the store? And when do I start feeding?

Thanks again!

[Larry Bugg]

Don't let them fool you. Rams will be very aggressive in protecting the eggs and the wigglers and fry. My problem is that this behavior does not continue. I would quite often get them to several days free swimming but that was about all before they were always eaten. That is why I always pulled them prior to free swimming. You might try golden pearls. I've never used them but have read about people using them. Angelsplus makes a product called fry starter that I have used. It is in a powder form and I would mix it in a container of tank water and then use a pipet to shoot it into the cloud of free swimmers.

[xoniac]

Don't let them fool you. Rams will be very aggressive in protecting the eggs and the wigglers and fry. My problem is that this behavior does not continue. I would quite often get them to several days free swimming but that was about all before they were always eaten. That is why I always pulled them prior to free swimming. You might try golden pearls. I've never used them but have read about people using them. Angelsplus makes a product called fry starter that I have used. It is in a powder form and I would mix it in a container of tank water and then use a pipet to shoot it into the cloud of free swimmers.


Awesome! Thanks. My LFS gave me a bunch of Java Moss to put in there for when the fry hatch (they're overrun with the stuff) and I bought some frozen BBS for when/if they get big enough to eat that... I'll try to look for some powdered stuff as well. What do you think about mashing flakes up into powder and feeding them that for a few days? I've read some people have success with that and some don't...

[strawberryblonde]

I've had good success with crumbling spirulina flakes for all my fry, even the tiniest ones. I'm not currently "breeding" my GBR, so I just let my discus have a late night tasty egg snack, but this morning I woke up to yet more fry in my rainbow and platy tanks, so they'll be getting the powdered bits of spirulina flakes till they're large enough to eat standard flake.

If you release the flake underwater and right over the top of the java moss it'll fall into it and they'll munch on it during the day. I generally toss a pinch in every time I pass the tanks...all day, every day...till they're a month old.

[xoniac]

If you release the flake underwater and right over the top of the java moss it'll fall into it and they'll munch on it during the day. I generally toss a pinch in every time I pass the tanks...all day, every day...till they're a month old.


That is actually really great advice! Thanks! I'll definitely try to do that once they start free swimming!

[Condor]

Dividers will not work. The fry will find a way under/around them.

Adrian

[Larry Bugg]

+1

[xoniac]

Unfortunately, the divider is all I can do. Maybe I'll get lucky and most/some of them will stay put.

Actually, I don't even know if this batch is going to work for me now. While I was out, my heater went on a rampage and heated the tank to 90 degrees instead of 82. About half of the eggs went white during this period; when I got home, I cooled the tank down to about 85 and am letting it work itself back down to 82 on its own. Tomorrow, I plan to buy a better heater - one that has actual settings on it. :( Either way, the rest of the eggs are still there and still clearish, so I'm hoping they'll hatch.... but we'll see I guess.

Know I shouldn't have expected much, especially this being a first time thing for me and my fish, but I was kind of already in a mood and this didn't help. Ah well. We'll see what happens I guess.

[Darrell Ward]

A piece of Poret foam wedged across the tank will make an effective divider.

[MSD]

Hans sells that foam.

[xoniac]

A piece of Poret foam wedged across the tank will make an effective divider.

Excellent! Is this something that would be sold at a pet store or something, or is online my only option?

[Larry Bugg]

online