German blue Ram Breeding

German Blue Ram Journal 8-8-2010

I have been reading allot on GBR (german blue rams) So I decided I would give them a go a few months back... To my surprise I found them very eager to reproduce! Really very simple, I purchase a few males at first, waited until they got a nice size to them, and found a female... introduced her to both of them in a community discus tank.... Everything seemed fine, and a pair developed very quickly.

I moved the new couple to a 20gal soil substrate planted tank... PH about 6.8, water soft, KH very low, and below 10ppm nitrate.... Feeding purely frozen bloodworms, and keepin temp in mid 80's, it was only about a week and I got my first spawn. The female had laid about 20-30 eggs.... Unfortunetly she is very small and very young mother and ate all the babies.

After the eggs had been eaten the pair seemed to seperate... I put in the male from the community tank to spark the flame again... and sure enough the pair immediatly teamed against the male visitor and chased him around... I removed him from the tank about 24 hours later so I wouldnt loose him to stress. About a week had passed and the pair did not seem as happy with eachother, so I placed everyone back in the community tank.

That week I found another female... this one was twice as large as mine, and her colors where gorgeous! i purchased her for far too expensive and placed her in the community tank. What happened next shocked me the most. The male from the original pair took allot of interest in this new female... He followed her everywhere. The female from the pair tried to come in and boss the new female around and her ex-man was not having it... He chased her away from his new friend. So pretty cool... my male is shallow! He dumped his female fishfriend to go with the HOTTIE new girl. lol

I put the new pair in the 20gal 2 days ago... today I come home to a bunch of eggs... Too many to count... looks like 50-60+ eggs! So the new female is more fertile than the other evidently! lol.... Lets just hope she is a better mother and doesnt eat all the eggs. after observing them for awhile, I figured out there routine... The male would guard the eggs while the female would circle the tank, either lookin for food or enemie?? Then she would come back to her eggs, and the male would do his rounds... very nice team work!

I will keep everyone updated day to day on the progess... From what I have read it should be 40 - 50 hours until they hatch.

German Blue Ram Journal 8-9-2010

Alright, woke up this morning to a nice clean piece of clay! The female ate them all again! .... Well because she is from the pet shop, I am assuming she has been eating her eggs for awhile.... I am considering pulling the eggs next time they spawn.

German Blue Ram Journal 8-10-2010

The Members have spoken.... 90% of people that voted on the poll I posted said to pull the eggs next time, and try to raise them myself! sounds like fun! Should be a little bit over a week and I will have some more eggs to pull.... will keep everyone updated on the progress.... Stay tuned! Pictures too come!

German Blue Ram Journal 8-14-2010

Woah.... they went at it 2 days ahead of there schedule time.... Maybe he got her drunk, works for my wife... j/k

Anyway, seriously... TONS of eggs... even more than last time.... there is no way I am counting.... 80+ for sure. And yes, i did what I said I was going to do... just took the whole clay plate right under her, and she went crazy on me! then i replaced it with a clean piece... she was so confused, poor momma. Anyway, I have a breeding net and placed it in there.... So just gotta do the waiting game... I will keep you updated day by day, and tons of pictures... starting tomorrow... im tired now. lol

This is awesome bro. I'm so excited to see PICS!!!

German Blue Ram Journal 8-15-2010

Video of eggs and new hottie female.

Do you have good circulation in the breeder net? I've never dealt with ram eggs, but with angelfish eggs years ago, I kept an airstone directing the flow gently around the eggs to keep them viable. If the mother or father fan the eggs, then you need to find some way to duplicate that when you remove them from their care. (The angels would also pick off the dead ones so they wouldn't fungus and spread to affect the live eggs.)

Good luck with these! I hope you get them to hatch. I had Bolivian Rams for a little while, but ended up with two males and never got to see a spawn.

German Blue Ram Journal 8-16-2010

I did end up placing the Breedin net directly in front of the water flow from the HOB... but today all eggs are white and infertile... I ended up droppin down the breedin net to let mom in there.. she immediatly ate them all. lol

Im not sure what I will do next time? pull the eggs? pull the female? Or just let nature take its course? We will see, i will keep everyone updated... so keep watching this post.

Betty - thanks for the tips, I tried to do everything the parents wouldve done, just not a good fish parent I guess. lol

German Blue Ram Journal 8-27-2010

Ok, so Ive moved my GBR 3 times in the last couple weeks, so they havent been productive at all! Today is the first time since 8-14 I got a spawn..... But, pretty much 3 days after being back in there original tank, BAM! a spawn, so I know this is there home, and they will produce the most here.

Anyway, I got a bunch of eggs again, this GBR produces more eggs than any GBR female I have ever heard about... From what I researched its normal to get 30 or so... she always produces 60+. Well, Ive tried lettin them do there own natural thing with both parents in the tank 3 times, Ive tried pulling the eggs 1 time and been unsuccessful everytime..... Cant even get them to hatch! So, One thing left, is pull mom, but I cant do it.... Babies need there momma! even though she eats them..lol So I am tryin to go back to the natural way. (Again, from what I research it can take 10 spawns for the parents to learn to be good parents)

Spawned happened around 11pm tonight, so 48 hours from then I should have some hatching.... I will keep ya all updated daily!

NEvermind, just woke up this morning, turned on the tanks, decided to pull eggs from mom and put them in the net breeder again... this time with a lil more water circulation around it... so its got the air from the sponge on one side, and some flow from the HOB on the other... This time I will use an Eye dropper to kinda pick off the dead ones as they pop up so they dont infect the whole batch like last time... Wish me luck.!

Ok, i had the HOB directly on the eggs, and a bubbler below them.... I even picked out white eggs last night for like an hour! Woke up this morning to them all white and rotten with fungus.... I give up, leaving them with the parents from now on.

wow your not have good luck in this department

well dealing with non-mouth brooding fish is new to me..... I had a pair of convicts that did there thing but that was on accident.... loosing my fulu, peacock, and tropheus eggs is the fault of that stupid egg tumbler!! I figured out a way to do it though... now just gotta wait for another spawn.

I will tell you my GBR spawn once a week, like clockwork, really cool I dont have to wait at all... but the mouth brooders taken along time to get goin again.

Next time pull the pot and place in a 1 gallon jar/ 5 gallon dish tank. Add water and a heater. Make sure that the water temp is the same in both tanks add metblue about 7 drops and an air stone. Just like you do to angel fish. Wait 3 to 5 days and they will start to free swim . Then do a 50 percent water change every day. To feed use micro worms and baby baby (6 hour old) BBS. They have small mouths

If i'm not mistaken the female will eat the eggs if they are unfertilized.

Maybe your male had sports accident when he was younger =P.

Did you try using Indian Almond Leaves or Alder cones? Both have anti-fungal properties.