Blue Rams Spawned

[Chenay83]

My Blue Rams have spawned in a tank with hard water. What color should the eggs be? Good eggs or not I have a breeding pair, yay me!!!

 

[h2oskierc]

Awesome. Congrats!

I think the color of the eggs actually changes over time, but I could be wrong.

 

[Chenay83]

Really what colors do they change to?

 

[h2oskierc]

I believe that the eggs get more transparent as they get closer to wiggling. (Not sure that is the technical term).

 

[Chenay83]

Well they are pretty clear shouldn't I see something in them?

 

[jetajockey]

The eggs should have a bit of an amber tinge to them. If they aren't any good they'll turn a bright white as soon as a few hours go by (up to a day usually).

 

[Chenay83]

If that's the case then I'm pretty sure they are no good. The parents are being very protective of them. Should I remove the eggs?

 

[jetajockey]

No, let them deal with them. If they aren't viable the parents will clean them off, plus there may be a few in there that made it.

 

[Chenay83]

Ok thanks! I'm glad there are places like this where you can get the info you need from people who actually know what they are talking about or at least get an educated guess.

 

[h2oskierc]

Jeta has (does?) bred Rams. He/She knows their stuff...

I have read elsewhere that the first couple spawns don't always go right and not to be surprised.

 

[Chenay83]

Well they cleaned the eggs off. At least now I know they are a breeding pair, so I put them in their own aquarium. Has anyone been successful in breeding them in hard water?

 

[h2oskierc]

Here are a few links that may have some info for you:

Breeding Ram Cichlids Mikrogeophagus ramirezi

A few blue ram breeding set-up questions

breeding blue rams

I haven't totally read through them yet.

 

[Chenay83]

Thanks that help a good deal. I am getting an RO system.

 

[h2oskierc]

Let me know what you get, what you think of it and if you don't mind the cost. That is something I would like to do. I don't see my EBRs breeding in my current water.

 

[jetajockey]

How bad is your water? I've bred them in soft 6's to moderately hard upper 7's.

 

[Chenay83]

I've only done a cheap strip test that went up to 8.5 so I know it's at least that high.

 

[jetajockey]

I wouldn't rely on the strip test for anything at all, honestly. A basic liquid pH test kit isn't expensive and it's much more accurate.

When it comes to breeding in general, don't start making changes until you start having issues. Now if you have a mature healthy pair, fed well, frequent water changes, etc, and they aren't spawning, that's the time to start adjusting things. But generally speaking, the less things you change, the better, at least if you want to keep things simple.

 

[h2oskierc]

How bad is your water? I've bred them in soft 6's to moderately hard upper 7's.

My water is consistently 8.2. The EBRs seem really happy in it, and as far as I know mine are too young anyway, but RO has interested me for a while, and I would like to go marine some day, so it seems natural to start thinking about it now.

 

[Chenay83]

I am going to do RO in my big tank. I just don't really know how get the fish that I already have adjusted to it. I have my own theory but when its all said and done I don't know jack.