Cool! Please let me know how it goes. I'm curious to know, too. I'll be taking 100 to my LFS for the wholesaler to pick up Wed but I'm sure I'll have some left if you want to do it again. :D
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Cool! Please let me know how it goes. I'm curious to know, too. I'll be taking 100 to my LFS for the wholesaler to pick up Wed but I'm sure I'll have some left if you want to do it again. :D
Going to a board meeting for the Fish Club tomorrow... I'll ask those guys if they want any....
I have a work trip in 10 days planned and I will be gone for almost three weeks... So I will only order more Rams if I can get place them with folks the day the arrive. :)...
Thanks Liz.
BTW, the six that I kept love their home with 6 rummy nose tetras, 6 cardinal tetras, 6 dwarf corydoras 4 otocinclus vitatus, 2 amano shrimp and 1 juvenile bristlenose pleco. :D They are going to love that I am up to 2 x 40% water changes a week.
So, as mentioned.... 22 fish went immediately.... 8 to 1 fish store, 4 to another fish store, 10 to private fish club members (2+2+2+4). I've not heard anything from the fish stores.
However, one of the buyers of the a pair (we really made sure to get a male and female) say they are doing great in a 40 breeder with dither fish.
The buyer of 4 of them, introduced them to a 20 gallon regular tank... where one strong male killed 2 of the rams and badly injured a 3rd. Whoops. He moved the aggressive male to a large 135 gallon community tank where it sought out the German Rams, Gold Rams and Bolivian Ram and started to beat them up as well. I guess he's a fiesty one.
For my part, those 6 continue to do well. I felt by keeping 6 together with other dither fish that I would have checks and balances for aggression and I think I was right.... I have one or two that are more aggressive, but not to the detriment of the other 4. Massive water changes, clean conditions, nice temp (We've had 7 days of 110-115 degF temps, so the house is at 80... and the RO water from the storage bodega is coming in about 83degF... so the tanks are sitting at 82degF... instead of the normal 79 I had).... Probably favors the rams more than the corydoras.... That said, I've lost just 1 fish this month (a tiny panda cory) in my entire Fish Nook so I feel as if everything is really dialed in right now.
Peter, I've never had a killer myself but Tom has talked about them. One guy who purchased a pair from me had a pair that had spawned twice unsuccessfully but were still living happily together. Then out of nowhere Boom! The male slaughtered his mate. I did make it right with the guy. If you have the chance to do this again I'll replace the fish your friend lost, as well. I still have another 100 fish so for me it's not a big deal.
Let me know how the pet stores did with theirs when you find out. I'm curious.
A fresh start. This half black and half gold spawn warms my heart. I think the color of my gold female is gorgeous. Dad's in there but he's so black it's hard to spot him where he is in front of the plant.
Sorry to deviate from the Pitch Black Ram topic, but that's an excellent Gold Female. Do you have a male GOld that is as expressive? That would be a very nice spawn...
She's a very pretty gal Liz!!
I think she's a beauty too, guys. Unfortunately her color will not be the same after she get out of mothering mode. When I netted her out of the display tank she was only the color you general see with Golds. I'm enjoying see her in motherhood colors while I can.
Peter, I do have her brother in the same display tank. I won't be using him because when I bred him to a black female every one of the kids were black. It makes no sense to me how he can express gold and throw only black. Anyone have a clue? I need a Ram genetics expert to explain this to me. And while he's at it I'd ask why most of the black from black pairs do not produce fertile offspring.
Genetics discussion aside.... these Pitch Black Rams that I received from you Liz are the best behaving Rams that I have had in a very long while. They are great eaters, very active, good tankmates (they are dominant, but they are not uncontrollably aggressive). I'd doing good water changes, have great circulation, lots of plants; these guys are just responding positively to the well suited environment they are in... No one hides, no clamped fins, no staying at the top, etc... Just healthy fish.
I've got this little 10 gallon tank I put together for the Desert Aquarist Society (Tucson area fish club) 10-Gallon Challenge... I might move 2 of them over to that tank at the end of July just to see what happens. I bit hesitant becuase the conditions in the FishNook are just fantastic. But here's that low tech 10 gallon planted aquarium... (the baby silver angels are temporary... I got 6 for a $1.. they are being gifted to a person who will be staying at our home and taking care of my tanks for two weeks)
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Hey Liz, Do you have any of Tom's dark rams for sale? Do you ship?
I do, but if you've read through this thread you will know that there are some fertility problems with this batch. The thread explains why. If what you want are excellent quality Pitch Blacks from Tom's line to look at they'll fit the bill. But for breeding I estimate only one out of 4 or 5 pairs produces fertile eggs. Shipping is no problem. Send me a PM if you're interested.
If you can cross to a Gold you will for sure get fry. If you breed to a black to a gold parent you should get a high percentage of viable fry. That's how I got got back in the game after this kick in the head. I'm sure that I can choose females.
I think I went through the same issue with my own pairs the last batch I got. They would spawn, but no viable fry from spawning. I thought maybe it just wasn't the time of year or I had lost my touch. This makes me feel better. Others were having the same struggle.
I though it didn't happen often but now I'm starting to wonder.