Breeding Rams

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
I know many of us have bred Rams before. I've bred German Blue, Gold,and also Bolivians.

Aside from Bolivians which like it a tad cooler I have always kept my Rams just like Discus which for me is 84-86F.. To breed them I drop the temp down to 82F.

Why do I kerp seeing they like to breed at hotter temps than the 84-86f? That doesnt make alot of sense to me.

So I thought I would ask my fellow fish keepers here what you keep or kept your rams in temp wise and what temp you bred them at?

Thanks,
Al

[jeep]

I keep mine at 82. But, I don't specifically work with them at this point because I got overrun, lol... Once I acquire more room for fish, maybe I'll focus a little more on them...

[LizStreithorst]

I keep mine at 82, too.

[Charlyc11]

I did keep mine at 82F and 84F for breeding but now that they are mixed in with discus 83F.

[Iminit]

Ok it’s breeding thread. I’ve got eggs in a Tupperware that are turning into wigglers. I changed water this morn. Didn’t add the blue stuff. But seeing fungus now. Should I add a drop? Also what’s next? How soon till eating bbs?

[LizStreithorst]

Too late for blue stuff. Make sure their water is clean. They will eat BBS several hours after free swimming. Good luck!

[Iminit]

Thanks Liz. Was using the meth blue till this morn. Saw a few were now wigglers so I changed the water out. Will do it again.

[TTW]

I keep and breed my wild rams at 81°. I also let the parents raise them.

[LizStreithorst]

All my domestics are parent raised, as well.

[brewmaster15]

I raised all mine with Parents as well.

[Charlyc11]

I did half and half parents, artificial. I am stepping away from breeding rams for now.

[LizStreithorst]

Why, Chuck? Rams have been very good to me.

[brewmaster15]

I did half and half parents, artificial. I am stepping away from breeding rams for now.

Sounds like Chuck got the discus bug.:)

[Charlyc11]

Sounds like Chuck got the discus bug.:)

I don't have the time for multiple fish projects just yet (not retired) trying to get the discus tank going and also picking up the six from Tom. Over the winter I might do a little breeding and one has to take priority over the other. I still have about 8 PBR's and abut the same gold. I might pair up a gold and black to possibly see the results. Have you done that Liz? I know the gold is necessary for the blacks but what are the results of another generation of them? I will find out. This is a busy week Thursday flying to Scottsdale AZ for a 5 day weekend and hopefully my fish sitter will take care of my kids and her mom my my dogs, cat and turtle. They live next door so it's easy for them they're always home and she runs her grooming and trainning busyness from her basement.

Work in progress.

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[LizStreithorst]

I'm sure you know how lucky you are to find a good house sitter right next door.

IMO it is a good idea to cross a gold back into the line from time to time. I find that I get a larger percentage of black fry from a gold X black.

[brewmaster15]

I'm sure you know how lucky you are to find a good house sitter right next door.

IMO it is a good idea to cross a gold back into the line from time to time. I find that I get a larger percentage of black fry from a gold X black.


I have read that crossing the golds into the blacks again is good to get mire blacks as well.

[XAnhLe]

I've artificially raised EBR and GBR frys in the past (8 years ago) and is currently working with 3 pairs of black ram. Currently I have my setup in the garage where the room temperature is between 80-90F and water temp can get between 81-86F. Since Southwest Florida is experiencing a "freezing" 60F overnight temperature this week, I'm running 2 Vornado Whole Room Heater and Fan that I bought from Costco, each rated for 300 sqft, to keep room temp at around 82-83F.

I don't do anything special with the water temperature. Water change is usually done with an aging water tank that I have in the garage as well so the temperature does not fluctuate. I do notice spawns usually happen around a storm or rain. I believe this is due to temperature (minimal)/pressure change similar to the raining season.

[LizStreithorst]

Here's an interesting thing I discovered. One of my ram breeding pairs spawned and another pair spawned the next day. The first pair were at 82. The second, by accident, were in a tank at 87. The first pairs babies are still wiggling. The pair that spawned a day later, with the tank at 87 has free swimmers today.

[Charlyc11]

Great info by accident I guess the higher temp helped. How about the size of the spawn? Are you dropping the temp now?

[LizStreithorst]

It's a great big fine spawn. I'm taking the temp down slowly.

[XAnhLe]

It makes sense, higher temp = higher metabolism/faster growth. I'm working with 2 spawns and it's progressing slower than the previous batch. Wigglers -> swimmers +1 day. Main difference is the current temp is 81F vs 85F from a month ago.

[brewmaster15]

Cool info everyone. Thanks!

So I have a question ... what do you get if you breed Black rams to German Blues? what do you typically get as offspring?

al

[LizStreithorst]

they're variable. They show some of the blue's pattern but are darker. Very pretty fish, but their value is greatly reduced because that's the way blacks used to look before they were refined to the point that the're close to pitch black.

[brewmaster15]

Interesting Liz.. thanks. Sounds like its something I may want to try. .. maybe I will get lucky and get a purple .. then we'd have the next new thing..I should probably get some electric blues to throw in the mix...lol :jester::jester::jester:

[XAnhLe]

Interesting Liz.. thanks. Sounds like its something I may want to try. .. maybe I will get lucky and get a purple .. then we'd have the next new thing..I should probably get some electric blues to throw in the mix...lol :jester::jester::jester:

Haha, you should look into Black x electric crosses.

Look at this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fish/comments/qfd069/blue_knight_ram_pair/

[LizStreithorst]

Cool fish. Shame the cross doesn't breed true.

[brewmaster15]

Tomorrow will either be a great day or a "brew you messed up day"

Tomorrow I have 10 wild rams coming to me from a seller that I have never bought from. Its one of those spontaneous fish buys we all know we should not do but do anyways. I've done this before. Sometimes it works out well.. sometimes not so well. Its kind of like going to.the casino with a hundred bucks to spend. Do you really know how it will end.

I've wanted wild rams again for a while. I havent had great luck with them in the past. Even from well known sources my last batch came with uncurable lymphocystis. Im hopeful these will come in well.

I almost got some festivums and bolivan rams too but decided to only risk the wild rams.

So just how confident am I that things will go well? I spent yesterday and today prepping my new quarantine tank. Its a 55 gal tank housed OUTSIDE.. under my deck. This is fall in CT. Last night the temps were 37F . The tank stayed at 85F. I have it wrapped with layers of reflectix and foam. Bottom and all sides. The top has greenhouse poly on it and foam with a light cut out for LED lighting. Theres air driven sponges and a 300 watt heater..

Theres no way in H%$% I am going to bring fish into my house without a really thorough QT from a source I do not know.. . I would prefer this be summer but its ok. Its supposed to be in the 40's and 50s latter in the week. I figure after a week I may bring them in.

[brewmaster15]

Before you think .."man that guy is nuts" there was a time a while back where I did similar with fish froma discus importer/seller... that batch came in with columnaris... which has several strains some more aggressive than others.. I ended up bleaching that tank of discus. ..thankfully.. it was isolated outside. :bandana:

[Second Hand Pat]

Al, I totally get it as I had wild rams come in with something incurable and very contagious . I think you suggested I cull them and I did. Hope yours comes in healthy.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Pat Im pretty sure that yours had lymphocystis too.

Rams are in CT at this point...hoping for the best..prepared for the worst.:)

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat Im pretty sure that yours had lymphocystis too.

Rams are in CT at this point...hoping for the best..prepared for the worst.:)

That sounds correct Al, crossing fingers all goes well with yours.
Pat

[Iminit]

Good luck Al and pictures!! From the beginning :). I didn’t know you could still get wild rams.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Guys. Rams just arrive and were packed with heatpacks that were functional. The packing material was probably better suited for summer, its not styrofoam, but a thick cardboard papery material batting. As a result the bags were on the cool side, at 70F . The fish all appear fine though and the bags are floating in the tank now to acclimate temp. post more after I get them tanked.

al

[brewmaster15]

Rams are tanked . They look fairly good but theres some clamped fins there so I will have to watch and see if thats just shipping ammonia burns. I will let them settle in a few hours before trying to feed.

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Obviously these images are at their worst..moments after being tanked.

[LizStreithorst]

how long were they in transit, Al?

[brewmaster15]

Overnight UPS Liz.

[LizStreithorst]

They should look better, but they should get over it.

[Iminit]

Never seen wilds before. So I’ve got no clue. Will they color up? If wild the fins would be just from wild to wherever and they don’t look bad at all. I’d guess it’s going to take awhile for them to get used to the new surroundings. Good luck!!

[brewmaster15]

They will look alot like domestic Blue rams but more of a lean mean fighting machine...kind of edgy and well..wild.:)

al

[brewmaster15]

Happy to say the group is doing well. Settled in very well. Already eating.

Just did a 90% wc

My phone takes pretty crummy shots in low light..

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Theres one in the group with a pretty rough tail ..hopefully it heals with good water.

Al

[brewmaster15]

Very happy to see they took right to my discus chow. I thought they would. My other Rams really like it and the DiskusGold pellets.136983

[Iminit]

Looking good! Boy you really are busy!

[Adamski77]

cute little guys...

[brewmaster15]

Looking good! Boy you really are busy!

As of now I have black and gold rams from Brian(jeep), dutch blue rams from Tristans, and these wilds. Its more than enough to play with. :)

Whats kind of unexpected is I've gotten to really like the blacks. I set up a few pairs but one in particular I just really like.
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[Charlyc11]

Mine are the same and I guess all from the same origin (Liz/Coralbandit). Some blue and red hues and white dot on dorsal.

[brewmaster15]

Mine are the same and I guess all from the same origin (Liz/Coralbandit). Some blue and red hues and white dot on dorsal.

Yep thats pretty much how this stuff works.:)

[brewmaster15]

Looking forward to fry from these..
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Al

[Iminit]

Wow they colored up nice!!! Like!!

[brewmaster15]

Wow they colored up nice!!! Like!!
Oops sorry to confuse. Those are the dutch rams I got from tristans a few weeks ago. I got 3 males and 3 females and have them set up in 20 gal tanks as pairs. I think this pair will be the first to spawn.

[LizStreithorst]

I see your lady's tummy is getting red. Won't be too very very long.

[brewmaster15]

My thoughts too Liz. Wouldnt it be great if discus did that too!

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