first post - rams breeding

[dynamixcoder]

Hello, im nate!

about a day ago my newly purchased german blue rams decided to pair off.. they both are from 2 sep LFS and paired off in 2days... (new for me)

Its a 20g cycled planted aquarium and as of yesterday they are the only occupants, The reason being that they layed eggs last night and killed a 2nd female ram for getting too close to eggs so i removed other occupants to prevent further conflict.

This tank has 2 large peices of malaysian driftwood and a slate peice i put in there after i saw pairing, however they never used the slate.. they layed them in the gravel.

ive bred discus before and they refuse to lay on anything but a breeding cone or ceramic pot.

my question is: will they have any issues with the eggs being in the small gravel (its white)?

 

[dynamixcoder]

 

[dynamixcoder]

Ive posted an image for those to see what i mean.

 

[dynamixcoder]

Also about 80% of them are confirmed fertilized and developing.

 

[thatmagicguy]

It is normal for rams, especially ones not far removed from wild stock, to lay eggs on the substrate. The only time it can be a real problem is when gravel is large and there are alot of wide spaces and an undergravel filter. Otherwise they will do fine. There wouldn't be much you can do about it anyway. I have always siphoned off my newly hatched babies into a 2 or 5 gallon tank after they hatch and then once they are free swimming I start them on live baby brine shrimp. Rams, especially new parents, can be notorious for devouring a spawn, but sometimes they make outstanding parents.