GBR's spawned!

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wizzin

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 10, 2006
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East of Pittsburgh
So my pair of GBR's spawned! Some weird circumstances surrounding this though, which is why I'm posting. I'll try to get the video I took up tonight.

First, the setup: 20gal long, emperor 280 HOB filter and a sponge filter, one nice piece of driftwood, 2 Echinodorus amazonicus, a bunch of java moss, 1 nice flat top river rock, substrate is a unique mix of peat (yes, peat sphagnum), seachem onyx sand, and regular pea sized natural gravel with root tabs for the swords. WC = 25% per week with 10% R/O (my R/O water is like ph5) and 90% tap, plus a little sodium bicarbonate to get the ph to 6.8ish. Only other inhabitants are 3 roseus danios.

Temp = 81F - 82F
Gh = 80ppmm
Kh = 180ppm
pH = 6.8
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0

Now, about 2 months ago, which was about 3 months after I set this tank up, I bought 6 GBR's from a LFS. I took 2 hours to acclimate them using the bucket/drip method, then floated them in plastic containers for 30 minutes for the temp to equalize, then slowly tilted the containers to dump them in. They all died within a week! :cry: :( :confused: I have no idea why. All perams were perfect. I think they were just "bad fish". At 10.99 each, it was a bit of sucky situation.

So, fast forward to two weeks ago, I was at a different LFS, and they had just got a shipment of fish in. There were 6 GBR's in this shipment. These were only $6.99 each. The lady said they came in with a shipment from south america, and she thought they were wild caught!!! I don't know why I didn't buy all 6, but decided on just 1 male and 1 female. Took them home, acclimated the same as the first batch.

Not long after I got them, maybe even the same day, the male was showing off for the female, and she didn't seem bothered by it. He would flash and turn broadside in front of her and dart around all nutty like. Now, about 4 days ago, I noticed the female's belly turned fire engine red. The next day, she started showing her tube. I bumped the temp to 82.5 and did a water change. Next day, she built a pit! In the substrate. I thought they liked hard surfaces and I thought the male built the pit???

Last night I came home, went straight to the tank, and low and behold, she had laid what looked like 80 or more eggs! A TON of eggs. I was lucky enough that they were still in the process of laying. Heres where it gets weird though. First, I've only had them for 2 weeks! Didn't take them long. The male had no idea what to do. He was hovering about 6 or 8 inches away from her while she was laying. then she would swim up and nudge him like "what the he$% are you doing?" "get down there and do your thing!", so he would swim down and do his thing, but then leave again. She'd lay more and repeat the nudging. There has to be 100 eggs there in about a 4 inch diameter pit!!! I didn't think they laid that many???? So the male is finally guarding the pit, but only because the female had to show him how. He wasn't showing much interest in the eggs at all. She would go and prod him and literally push him down to the pit. It's like he's a virgin and she's been around the block. Both are around the same size of about 1.25".

So, will he get better at being a dad for the next spawn or is he a retard LOL - should I move him to another tank and get another male to try? It looked like he had eaten a few of the eggs this morning, but maybe they were the unfertilized ones? All the eggs are a light tan/brown color and I'd say theres 60-80 left.

Just wanted to share...
 
Only about 100 eggs? That's a small batch, lol. They say they can lay 200-400 eggs. Also, yes, they can lay eggs on both a hard surface, as well as in a pit. And yes, the female is the one that does the cleaning of the surface and the digging. As for the male, that's normal. He waits til several eggs are layed, then does his thing. And for guarding the eggs, the female does most of it. The male guards the area around the pit. And occasionally fans the eggs for a few seconds to a couple minutes, then the female goes back to doing it.

Also, if the eggs are left with the parents, more than likely, they will get eaten. If you want fry, you will have to remove the eggs and raise them yourself, which is very difficult to keep the fry alive. When the eggs turn white, they are bad.
 
Lonewolfblue;1052944; said:
Only about 100 eggs? That's a small batch, lol. They say they can lay 200-400 eggs. Also, yes, they can lay eggs on both a hard surface, as well as in a pit. And yes, the female is the one that does the cleaning of the surface and the digging. As for the male, that's normal. He waits til several eggs are layed, then does his thing. And for guarding the eggs, the female does most of it. The male guards the area around the pit. And occasionally fans the eggs for a few seconds to a couple minutes, then the female goes back to doing it.

Also, if the eggs are left with the parents, more than likely, they will get eaten. If you want fry, you will have to remove the eggs and raise them yourself, which is very difficult to keep the fry alive. When the eggs turn white, they are bad.
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Thanks. Well, the male is guarding the eggs. I could be wrong on the number of eggs. It's a bunch. Too small and too many to count. Female is just cruisin around constantly mouthing the substrate. Yeah, I read about artificially raising the fry. Theres a good article on the cichlid-forum. I really wasn't prepared for this batch, so I'm not setup for artificial egg hatching. I'll see if they get to wrigglers then maybe pull them and try raising them. If not, next time I'll try pulling the eggs and raising them myself.
 
Of course they only had 100 eggs, they;re only 1.25". Big mature females can have that many but these are only small. Any pics of the pair?
 
Even my small females I had produced well over 100 eggs, lol. There's probably more than you think, lol. Looks can be deceiving, lol.

If you do decide to raise them later, one piece of advice. Leave the eggs with the parents for about 12 hours before moving them. That way you ensure the eggs are fertalized. Then move them over into a small tank with distilled or RO water, which you can get at the local Safeway grocery store. And raise the temp to 86-87 degrees. I think this is why all my attempts failed, is I had the temp at 79-80 degrees. This last go around with my Bolivians, I used RO water and upped the temp to 87 degrees. I had a near 100% success rate. Now I have near 200 Bolivian fry. ;)

Also, when the time comes, if you need any help, feel free to ask. I'd be more than happy to help walk you through the process.
 
cool video
 
Stingingrays;1053322; said:
german blue rams
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GBR= German Blue Rams?? :confused:
I have been in this hobby for more than 30 years, worked in fish wholesalers and shops for about 20 years and I have never heard them refered to as GBR. They are great fish and I kept them and spawned them many years ago. I don't know how someone can get 200-400 eggs from a dwarf cichlid - she must have been a big mama ;) . I think 100 or so eggs sounds about normal, but opinions and experiences vary.

Just a pet peeve(no pun intended)-
Many people on MFK have started using a million acroynms in thread titles that no one has heard of before. IMO, an acronym is more effective when more than 10 people use it.
 
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