OK, so I got a pair of german blue rams about three weeks ago. On Christmas Eve they spawned and the eggs lasted almost two days. Today I bought a pair of gold rams. Lets just say, the fun has began! As soon as the new pair was added fights over territories began, it was really coll to watch. The two pairs are living in a 55 gallon planted community tank with 4 angles, a lone female bolivian, a bn pleco, and an adf. So no plans on any fry getting raised in that tank. The purpose of this log is to share my experience with breeding rams in a community tank. I will document the behaviors of the fish and also provide pictures.
About the tank:
As I said, its a 55 gallon planted tank. The plants include ALOT of wisteria, pennywort, javamoss, frill plant, and dwarf chain sword. I have eco-complete substrate, and natural river rocks from a camping trip. The temperature is at about 83 degrees.
The first spawn:
With the spawning of the pair of blues I saw the behaviors of first time parents. It seemed like they were much more "in love" than focused on raising the results of thier "love". They built a pit in the front right corner of the tank in the wisteria "jungle" as I call it. That pit was soon abandoned and another was dug deeper into the jungle. The eggs were layed in that pit. After the eggs were layed it was feeding time and as soon as I put the brineshrimp in both parents left the eggs unattended. BIG mistake. As soon as they left the BN swooped in and started to munch on the eggs. I guess they realized "oh, we have eggs" and went back to the nest to drive out the pleco. Many eggs were still left and they decided to take turns leaving the eggs to go eat. I left a "moonlight" light on so the parents could still see and protect the eggs. Which they did. The next morning there was less eggs and through out the day they just disappeared.
Today the new pair was added and we will see what happens! I have soem pictures of the tank, the blues and their nest. No pics of the golds yet because I wanted them to get a good nights sleep first. So enjoy the pics!
About the tank:
As I said, its a 55 gallon planted tank. The plants include ALOT of wisteria, pennywort, javamoss, frill plant, and dwarf chain sword. I have eco-complete substrate, and natural river rocks from a camping trip. The temperature is at about 83 degrees.
The first spawn:
With the spawning of the pair of blues I saw the behaviors of first time parents. It seemed like they were much more "in love" than focused on raising the results of thier "love". They built a pit in the front right corner of the tank in the wisteria "jungle" as I call it. That pit was soon abandoned and another was dug deeper into the jungle. The eggs were layed in that pit. After the eggs were layed it was feeding time and as soon as I put the brineshrimp in both parents left the eggs unattended. BIG mistake. As soon as they left the BN swooped in and started to munch on the eggs. I guess they realized "oh, we have eggs" and went back to the nest to drive out the pleco. Many eggs were still left and they decided to take turns leaving the eggs to go eat. I left a "moonlight" light on so the parents could still see and protect the eggs. Which they did. The next morning there was less eggs and through out the day they just disappeared.
Today the new pair was added and we will see what happens! I have soem pictures of the tank, the blues and their nest. No pics of the golds yet because I wanted them to get a good nights sleep first. So enjoy the pics!
, the old pair, and the dwarf chain sword group that is spreading. I dont like how the flash makes my tank look.
