Not Discus, Rams

[etr63]

Hi All
I have a pair of rams ( german blue male and wild german female ) that have spawned twice for me. Last time the fry got eaten when the went free swimming. This time I put the eggs in a 10 gal and they are allmost all free swimming now. Not sure how many, over 100. Lots of questions now. When do I start feeding them? They are sooo small. I have some wardleys small fry food that is a white liquid. I also have a small bs hatchery ready to go. They started going free swimming this afternoon. The tank is a BB with a sponge filter. There is a bunch of brown stuff on the bottom of the tank, is this the egg shells? The temp is 81 degrees is this good? Water changes? How often? how much water. How do I do a water change with out sucking them up? Again they are very small. Since my water was ok for the Rams to spawn, is it ok for Discus? God this is so cool! I have been using a magnifying glass to watch the process. I got to see up close, the eggs develop, hatch, wiggle and go free swimming. It was incredible. Any help would be appreciated.

Earl

[cruzzinchop]

Hey here is my chance to give back,

I have done lots of blue rams. They will lay every 7 days or so. They are terrible parents and will always eat the eggs and babies if they make it that far. I feed BB at around the 8th day or 24 hours after they are free swimming. Free swimming is when they actually get around the tank on there own in small schools and dont get stuck. Use your liquid fry wardly's for about 2 days and then start BB's. Leave temp at 81 and the 10 gallon is fine for some time. The brown sludge is just the waste that the fry produce. Do your best to suck the tank out at least one gallon a day and suck up the sludge with a airline tube into a white bucket. The with a flashlight suck the babies you accidently picked up back up with a turkey baster and put them back in the tank. It is about that easy. Your water good enough for rams .....good enough for discus...... Dont count on it!!!!! I breed angels and rams like they are rabbits but discus has been a slow process. Get lots of practice in with your rams and with some luck your discus may follow.

It sure is a kick in the backside to see them grow up. I still enjoy the whole process and my kids have learned a ton. Have fun and if you run into troubles with the first batch no worries there will be lots more in a few days.

Jason

[etr63]

Hi Jason
Thanks for the reply. I hope I can keep them healthy. How many drops of the small fry food do a add to the tank and how often? How long until I will need a larger tank? cant wait to see if the look like dad or mom.

Earl

[cruzzinchop]

Just a couple of drops 4 times a day. At around 30 days switch to ground flakes and move to a larger 20 to 55 gallon.

[etr63]

Thanks Jason
They are all free swimming today and I have started to feed them the wardleys small fry. There sure is a lot of the little guys in there. I will try the BBS on Friday. Thanks for all the advise.

Earl

[cruzzinchop]

No problem just make sure your sponge filter is set with a fairly low bubble rate so it does not suck them up. Have fun.