Why wont they breed?

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mitch890

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 8, 2009
39
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Nebraska
Im trying to breed my bolivian rams in my 75gal

the down low:
Ive had 4 bolivian rams for about 2-3 months, I have 2 males for sure and 1 female for sure... the other one im leaning towards female but it shows signs of both sexes. I believe they are sexually mature, and No pairs have formed.
They are all within the 2.5-3 inch range.

I dont know if im not being patient enough or what?

the setup:
medium black substrate, well planted with fake and live plants, driftwood, clay pot and many smooth polished and slightly rounded stones of adequate size.

Environment:
water set at 79 degrees, 20% water change weekly, neutral water parameters, fed lightly 3 times daily with varied diet of quality flake and shrimp pellets. Fed 2 times weekly with bloodworm.


why wont they make me some fry? please help... any advice would be appreciated.. thanks
 
I have had alot of problems trying to breed rams in the past. The German ram is far harder to keep and breed, but even for the Bolivian ram, soft water is a key. (Soft water meaning, in this context, a GH of less than 12)

I have six of them in a 58, and have never even gotten a pair, while the Keyhole Cichlids they live with spawn constantly.
 
that makes me sad. I have known people who had sucsessful breeding project with the bolivian ram. I was told they would be no problem to breed. I got them to breed.. I was also looking at apistogramma cockatoo. But i felt the rams would be easier to breed since their monogomous. I spose it may never happen for me:(
 
Pull all (Rams) but two out and see what happens ;)
 
I would but I have no other setup for them. I live in an apartment so another tank even a small one is out of the question.. what else could help? Ive seen the south american buffers designed to promote breeding and bring out colors in lfs but it is expensive and I dont want to waste the money if it does not work.. does anyone have experience using these buffers?
 
Get a Egg crate from Hdepot and Make it to sixe of the tank width and tall enough to not let anything through and close a pair off to one side and see what happens.
 
Agree with Ed... sometimes they need time to settle in.

Are there other fish in the tank?

I'd up the feeding of bloodworms and give them some tetra dithers to make them feel comfortable.

Once they're nice and plump, I'd throw in an extra water change and bump the temp up to the low to mid-80's. That'll do the trick on a lot of cichlids...

Good luck and have patience.
 
edburress;2886679; said:
I would just give them time, 2-3 months is not very long.
Click to expand...


This is always my favorite way ;)

I am patient :)
 
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