Saltwater & Reef

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 05:43 PM

Is that a good idea or no? I just got the bottle of distilled water from safeway. Will the eggs/fries survive in this water? THe reason why I'm doing this is the pH of my tap water is 7.4 or so and it's a little high in my opinion. Distilled water ph is 7 and will adding this bring down my tap water's pH? At a lower level pH will my rams breed quicker?

mgamer20o0 · 08-23-2009, 05:46 PM

it wont hurt at all. people mix ro and tap water all the time.

DizzCat · 08-23-2009, 05:54 PM

My pH range is between 7.0 and 7.4 in my Ram tank and they breed for me all the time. I don't think you need to do anything like that. Just be patient and they will breed if they pair up.

How old are they (size?) and how long have you had them? Do you have some smooth, flat rocks in the tank for them to lay eggs on?

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 06:01 PM

Hm okay, they are adult size i believe, my male is a lot bigger than the other males i've seen on youtube etc. He is about 41/2 inches and female is like 3 inches. I've had them for almost a year now like 11 months. They've spawned 3 times and one time the fries were actually free swimming for a week but then dad ate em all. Yah I have flat rocks and a flowerpot thing for them to breed on

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 06:02 PM

distilled water is RO water? I thought they were different

mgamer20o0 · 08-23-2009, 06:11 PM

ro tends to be cheaper to buy. if they already breed for you and got free swimmers i wouldnt touch the water. stable ph is better then one thats always changing.

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 06:12 PM

ok

DizzCat · 08-23-2009, 07:27 PM

My Rams tend to spawn 3 times in a row. Then nothing for almost 6 months. Then they spawn again 3 times. Weird. I have yet to figure out what that is all about? The first time they spawned I had had them 4 months. After that spawn it was almost a year before the next one. Their last spawn was in May. They spawned again one more time and now nothing for the past 2 months. The dad stayed with the May fry for 6 weeks until I moved them to a grow out tank.

I put a divider in as soon as the spawn is over and leave only one parent with the eggs/fry. My pair fight after a spawn. That is the only time they don't get along. The female has been known to eat the fry when they hatch, so I usually leave dad with them. He is the better parent anyways.

Sometimes they will eat the eggs or fry if conditions are not right or they feel a threat. The last spawn they did, before I could get a divider in all the other fish (tetras, danios, guppies) started eating the eggs. They can keep one or two fish away, but as soon as the rest started getting the eggs, they gave up and ate them themselves.

I have found that after feeding them frozen blood worms for a few days in a row and then doing a large water change is the time they spawn. When I do a water change I will leave the tank about 3/4 full and let the filter splash water for about half an hour while I clean other things. When I add water back I make it 1 or 2 degrees cooler. This stimulates rainfall. Rainfall is when they spawn in the wild because there is more food at that time. Blood worms are good source of protein for the female.

Here's my Bolivian Ram videos. They are pretty cool.

Ram Vids :: Ram Family remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

May Spawn 2009 :: Best Remix Free Swimmers remix by dizzcat45 - Photobucket

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 07:37 PM

Ah ya I guess my pair is doing the same thing too. My female seemed to be the better parent, she was so mad at the dad for eating the babies last time and ignored him for a couple of weeks. I like your idea of stimulating rainfall, maybe I'll try it someday.

Ya I've watched all your videos Dizzcat and I'm jealous that my rams are not good parents haha. Maybe giving them time to learn is the key.

Do you have any idea of how to make infusoria or good food for the fries? I fed the last batch hikari first bites but it seemed to get polluted really quickly. Should I try the egg yolk thing after boiled? How many times a day should I feed the fries.

thanks

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 08:57 PM

will 2 pairs of rams in a 16g tank work?

DizzCat · 08-23-2009, 08:58 PM

Fry need to be fed about 4-6 times a day. They need to be in a spot where there is very little water movement or else the food floats away before they can eat their fill. I have had many fry starve because of this. Hikari first bites is not a good option for tiny Rams. They just do not eat their fill. It could be your dad ate the fry because they were slowly starving and he knew they were not going to make it. In the past, the most I have gotten to live past 2 weeks is 8 fry, the rest starved. Even in low water movement they had a hard time finding food that settled on the bottom. I have used the First Bites, frozen baby brine shrimp and crushed flakes with no luck.

Ram fry are so much smaller than fry from live bearers such as Guppies and Platies, and African fry. They cannot handle food such as crushed flake, it is just way too big for them.

The best food for Ram fry is Live baby brine shrimp. I used that on my last batch and every single fry lived and are now 4 months old! Because the food is live and wiggles the fry had no trouble seeing them at all. They were fat, happy fry! They grew twice as fast as ever too.

All you need is a couple jars, air pump, tubing, salt, baking soda and shrimp eggs. You get two jars going at once. It takes about 18-24 hours for the shrimp to hatch. As soon as they hatch is when you feed. What I did is, when I started feeding from one jar I mixed up the other so that way I had one ready at all times. I used one one day, the other the next day. When you have your next batch of fry I will get into more detail then. You can find the eggs at most lfs. I only used 1/4 teaspoon for each batch. I will never try anything else again! So, if you want your fry to live and grow up, go with the live baby brine shrimp! If you look at the video of the fry growing up you can see that their tummies are fat and gold. That is the bbs.

Here is the video I went by to learn how to do it.
YouTube - Do-it-Yourself: Brine Shrimp (artemia) Hatchery

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 09:01 PM

oh thank you so much! Do you do anything to the bbs before adding them to the tank cuz I know that shrimps hatch in salt water, will the fries be affected by the salt?

DizzCat · 08-23-2009, 09:01 PM

Quote:

will 2 pairs of rams in a 16g tank work?

No, that is not enough room. One pair is all you can do in that small a tank. Mine are in a 30 and I will only keep one pair in that. They would fight really badly in a 16 gallon for territory. And I suspect because of the extra 2 you would not get many spawns either, the threat would be too high for them to feel comfortable.

DizzCat · 08-23-2009, 09:03 PM

There is not enough salt that gets sucked up with the shrimp to effect the tank.

I got my shrimp using a long tube and syringe like that guy does in the video and just squirted it down into the fry swarm.

BolivianRams · 08-23-2009, 09:13 PM

whoa that video is really helpful, I'm definitely feeding mines live ones now. Thanks a lot Dizz, I'll be buying more live plants soon any suggestions? Which ones do they like and the fries too. The lighting is no problem at all

DizzCat · 08-23-2009, 10:37 PM

I find mine really like Amazon sword plants. They like to dig pits in the roots of it to put their wigglers in.

Ok, I have to say it! Its FRY, not FRIES LOL I keep thinking of french fries when I read your posts hahaha

No offense intended.