German Blue Ram Discussion

[KittyKat]

here are my lot who i got 3 days ago (traded for guppies... tanks don't look overstocked any more)

female:

the male who's with the female:

the second male:

 

[Jchillin]

Great looking rams. Congrats on your new acquistions.

 

[KittyKat]

thanks! unfortunately the female's colouring isn't too evident on those pics she's realy much more brighter and she's getting ready to breed with the first male (already!!!)

 

[Skyrmir]

I dunno about the net scaring rams. Mine will literally swim into the net by themselves. At least if I'm not chasing some other fish. (moved my danio's the other night geez what a chase).

I'd say my fish are just wierd, but even at the LFS when they put a net into the ram tank, the rams swim towards the net. Even the 'agressive' cichlids try to bury themselves when the net comes around, but not the rams.

Another wierd spot for the die off chart though. One of my male rams died Monday. I'm still not convinced of what killed him. He was protecting eggs for nearly 5 days (bad eggs) and I think eating the eggs made him sick. He went transparent and lethargic within a day, died a day later. No I have to decide if I want to try leaving 2 females and a male in the tank, or try introducing another male again.

 

[Jchillin]

The interest in this thread amazes me, but I think it definitely gets off-track (present company included). Spawns and fry are great, but what we are trying to get to the bottom of is why Rams die!!!!

A small part of breeding and the success or failure of surviving fry is needed since we can measure the success of captive/home bred vs purchased from who knows whom. That is precisely why I encourage the posting of any and all spawns.

So far, it doesn't seem that we have any significant number of surviving spawns either due to ingestion by parents or tankmates.

 

[maxwell1295]

Good point, Jchiilin.....I wonder if anyone here has homegrown Rams that they have raised from birth. I'd eventually like to get to that point. If I can get my fish to raise them to the fry stage themselves (without eating the eggs), I'd like to try raising some. I don't want to have to remove the eggs, so I'm content to let them figure it out on their own.

 

[FreshwaterJeff]

Does anyone know of online GBR retailers that sell wild-caught or captive-bred GBRs?

LiveAquaria.com has them, but they say "Farm Raised, Thailand." That's enough to turn me off of ordering them from there...

The LFS I trust around here doesn't have GBRs (at least not right now), and I don't know any other stores that well in the area. Any Chicagoans out there with advice?

 

[KittyKat]

hi FreshwaterJeff

they realy do not ship well and if you do buy on-line, 4/5 they will arive DOA. on the other hand, i'm in UK and if you e-mail me (bagira00@hotmail.com) i can give you contact details of the guy from who i got my lot. he imports straight from the Czech Rep. and will in a few months time have some F1 wild caught for sale (their parents will have been wild caught).

 

[SeymourFRESH]

whoa, maybe it is because they ingest bad eggs! BOTH of my original males died, each weeks after spawning.

next time i get eggs, i'm puttin those suckers in a JAR

word

 

[SeymourFRESH]

here are some pics of my rams! yeah i know...i had to jump on the bandwagon there....i have 3 females and 1 male. BOOYAH! sorry my algae is "greening up" these pictures a little bit

 

[Jchillin]

Does anyone know of online GBR retailers that sell wild-caught or captive-bred GBRs?

You can check with Aquabid.com. There are a ton of breeders who do sell F1/F2's. I know of one in particular but cannot recall his username at the moment.

 

[FreshwaterJeff]

Thanks, J. You're the best.

Through Aquabid, I found Florida Guppies Plus. They specialize in fancy guppies, but I was intrigued by their Rams listed on their website (and aquabid) so I emailed them to find out more.

(website: http://flguppiesplus.safeshopper.com/index.htm?960)

Here is Luis' response (in my mind, sounds good to me...still not certain I'd want such fragile fish shipped, but these are more what I think we're all looking for):

"Thanks for the email. Fish are about 5-6 months old, they are a from 2 German lines we acquired years ago, since then we have split them into 3 lines that are linebred every couple generations."

So, not F1's or F2's, but the European heritage and multiple lines sound good to me. Am I misinterpreting anything there?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, got a few more pics for you. I just got 2 new babies, and are doing very well. 2 of my original GBR's have taken them in as if they were their own. At least that's what it seems like. The 3rd one is kind of a bully, but he's not bad. Just if one gets too close to where he is eating, he'll swim towards them fast, spooking them off. But no other aggression. When no food in the tank, he's quite normal with them.

As for the first pic, the little female is always with the older GBR. They seem to be quite close, like family members. It's rare to see them apart. The babies are often with each other as well. It's quite fun to watch. GBR's are just so awsome if you have the right tank with the right water conditions. I have not lost any ram yet, so I think I'm doing quite well. So here's the pics....

 

[Jchillin]

You are seriously overtaken by GBR fever LWB. They look absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure if you mentioned it or if I have forgotten but, where are you getting these beauties from?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

There's a small pet store here called Village Pets. They have everything from dogs, cats, rodents, rabbits, and have a really nice fish section. And there's 5 people that work there, 3 are excellent in the fish section. 2 of them are good with most community fish, and one is a Cichlid Expert. She's also the one that orders the fish, and orders only from a couple particular sources which she's been dealing with for years and trusts. She's real picky when ordering fish in and who to buy from. She's still looking for Roseline Sharks for me, but her sources don't have any yet. So, when they do get some, I'll have 6 on the way and I know they'll be gorgeous. And the best part, Village Pets is only a 5 minute walk from my house.

 

[Jchillin]

And the best part, Village Pets is only a 5 minute walk from my house.

You are indeed fortunate LWB.

 

[LindaC]

So much for my luck with the females. I came home from work on Friday to find my female standing in one spot and laboring to breath. I knew something was wrong when she didn't come out to greet me as she and the male usually do. I watched her for a while, added some Melafix to the tank but I knew, if only from past experiences, that once the females start appearing stressed and sick, it's only a matter of time. On the advice from a friend who breeds females, I even added some Aquarium Salt to the tank knowing that it might destroy my plants, that's how much I wanted to save her.

Woke up yesterday morning to find her lying on the bottom, dead. The male appeared very stressed, swiming back and forth at a very fast pace and then going over to her and trying to wake her up. I felt so bad for him. I immediately did a 70% water change to get the salt out of there. Then I added my other female ram who was in my 10 gallon tank with another male. This male has a torn gil plate and is very thin, but he's been hanging in there for a long time now and seems to be healthy in every other way. He will not spawn with the female though, not sure why, they did once and that was it. The female kept chasing him but he would just run.

Once I put the female in the 29 gallon, her and the male paired up right away and the male appeared to be very happy. They now look like they're getting ready to spawn soon, looking for a place and cleaning the subtrate. Another tip is when I put my hand in the tank, the male tries to bite it, which tells me he want's me to leave things alone. He only does this when there's either eggs in the tank, or they've got a place ready.

Now I need to find a companion for the male in the 10 gallon, he's so thin, even though he eats very well. I would really like to know why the females are so sensitive and seem to die for no reason at all, very strange.

 

[Jchillin]

Sorry to hear about the demise of your female LindaC.

I would really like to know why the females are so sensitive and seem to die for no reason at all, very strange.

Nope, it's not very strange at all. I believe I mentioned earlier in this thread about the breeding techniques employed overseas. The hormones that are injected and the other techniques used are primarily to produce more males than females. The female line is so weak that it is very rare that they survive two years, if that long. This is why I constantly recommend obtaining GBR's that are bred locally, from an FO or F1 line. The imports (which most LFS and online fish retailers recieve) are very risky.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

WOW lonewolfblue, your rams look amazing! what kind of camera did you take those with?

 

[Zagz]

I have never gotten any GBR's from anyone but a local breeder due to the fact that there was no other availability. I am grateful that I did get them from a breeder because all of mine, males and females doing great.

On a side not the lfs recently got in what they called long finned rams, I googled them and they are neat looking, but are they German or Bolivian? Not too positive of their health at the lfs. They were in a crowded tank with a fair amount of lemon tetras.