Yay!! German Blue Rams Laid Eggs!!

Kiana

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2007
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Saint Paul, MN
Yay!!!! I just recently bought this pair of German Blues and didn't think that they would pair up. But they did and I noticed their weird habits like: cleaning, territorial over a flat stone, always together, and the female's lavender belly has gotten rosy pink since I took her home two weeks ago.

They live in my 16 gallon, moderately planted with swords, corkscrew vai, java moss, dwarf hairgrass, and banana plant, gently decorated with driftwood and rocks that I stacked up to form little caves. I had to remove all other fish when I noticed their spawning behavior.

Then one day I came home to find the female 'abused' by the male (he was aggressively chasing her around the tank). Her left eyeball was swollen red by his pecks. I wasn't sure if this was spawning behavior b/c it was so brutal so I put him in a breeder net for a day.

The next day, the female's eyeball looked a bit better and I released the male back into the tank. That was 2 days ago. Last night I came home from work and found eggs on the flat rock they had claimed. How exciting!!

I heard that Rams usually end up eating their eggs, but my Rams are excellent parents. They take turns guarding and fanning the eggs. Funny thing is, they swim over to my airstone, gobble up some air bubbles, swim back and blows it onto the eggs also. Ha ha!! It's pretty amusing to watch. So I thought that they needed more air, and while trying to move the airstone tube closer to the eggs, both of them teamed up and started attacking my airstone vigorously.

I'm wondering if anyone knows what to do from here. Should I let the parents do all the work since they have proven themselves good parents? If so, I will leave them in the 16 gal. and what kind of filter should I use so that it is safe for the frys when they hatch?
 

fishlvr

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2006
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I would leave them to take care of the first batch. Then, if they eat the eggs, take subsequent spawns out of the tank. After the first spawn, it becomes a routine of egglaying every 2-3 weeks.

If they hatch, use a sponge filter.
 

tankmates

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2007
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OH
I have found rams to be pretty good parents. You should remove the fry after a week or two though. Their good parenting usually does'nt last forever. You can place them in a 10 gal. with a sponge filter.
 

Kiana

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2007
13
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41
Saint Paul, MN
My Rams got into a fight this morning. Why? It looks like the male is being too overprptective of the eggs and the female is trying to fight her way to the eggs. They fought right over the eggs, causing some to fly off the rock. She doesn't eat them so why is he fighting her? I wasn't sure what to do so I separated the two. I'm thinking of hatching and rearing the eggs myself. I have some experience from breeding Blue Longfin Danios. But I'm not sure how much different Ram eggs are. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 

fishlvr

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2006
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Add a dither fish. Maybe something small and weak, and fast enough to avoid getting killed but too slow to take eggs. Something to protect the eggs against will give reason to protect them and in turn make the relationship between the two fish stronger. They may not "bond" again until another batch is laid.

For artificial rearing, move the rock with the adhesive eggs on it to a 1 gallon jar and add some aeration and some fungicide. Methalene(sp?) blue works for fungicide.
 

Kiana

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2007
13
0
0
41
Saint Paul, MN
fishlvr;1354335;1354335 said:
Add a dither fish. Maybe something small and weak, and fast enough to avoid getting killed but too slow to take eggs. Something to protect the eggs against will give reason to protect them and in turn make the relationship between the two fish stronger. They may not "bond" again until another batch is laid.

For artificial rearing, move the rock with the adhesive eggs on it to a 1 gallon jar and add some aeration and some fungicide. Methalene(sp?) blue works for fungicide.
Thanks for replying. I did what you suggested for artificial rearing. I've never used meth blue on my danios b/c their eggs don't stick together so it was easy to separate the fungused ones. Fungus was already starting to spread on the ram eggs even with the meth blue. But the frys hatched so I was able to save a good handful. I transferred the hatched frys into another 1 gal. that I prepared with plenty of aeration. So far the frys are still moving about so I think I'm doing everything correctly. Thanks again.
 

fishlvr

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2006
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Try not to put the aeration on too high, as it can damage the fry and give them flared gills.
 
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