GBR Surprise

[SparKy697]

Just before lights out last night I noticed that the male seemed to be picking at the eggs. I could'nt really tell if he was eating them or not. This morning it seems that we are left with only about half of the eggs.

So far I have not found any information about what might make the male eat the fresh eggs, unless it's just the fact that the fish are young and just don't know what to do yet?

I know that I found eggs in the main tank from this pair, but there were only maybe 10 or so. This time I would say that there were over 100. Does it take a couple of times to get things right?

[Jchillin]

I cannot recall but I know one of them will eat any eggs that were not fertilized. They have been known to eat them if there is a severe threat but that isn't the case here. Unless they eat all the eggs this time around, I'd say you're on your way to have some wigglers.

Congrats, and by the way...I told ya so.

[SparKy697]

and by the way...I told ya so.

Lol. Yes you did!

In fact it was shortly after I read your post that I decided to go down and check again. I had just posted a reply so I had to come up and edit it.

Could you now please tell me that I am about to win the Lottery?

[Jchillin]

Originally Posted by SparKy697

Could you now please tell me that I am about to win the Lottery?

If I were you, I'd dip my lottery tickets in the tanks. LOL!

[SparKy697]

BTW, I just found your profile on the GBR. It was very helpful, I wish I would have found it a bit earlier.

You will now be inundated with questions about how to proceed.

[shayfish]

My male ate the first few attempts also. Sounds like yours are doing well.

Mine still seem to hate me for moving them.

[SparKy697]

Originally Posted by shayfish

My male ate the first few attempts also. Sounds like yours are doing well.

Mine still seem to hate me for moving them.

My male ate nearly half of the eggs but that seems to be over. They are now 36 hours old and by what I have read they may start hatching in a day or so.

I can say that these fish really did not show any color for a number of days after moving them. I was really worried. They did eat well though and over all seemed happy and healthy. I began feeding them 2-3 times a day on frozen blood worms and flake food. After doing a 50% pwc on sunday things really started to take off. You read about the value of water changes in breeding and I don't know if that is really what did it, but the fish colored up and started cleaning a spot for eggs almost immediately.

From what I have read, I probably need to invest in RO, but so far only tap water has been used. We are on the soft side here with gh around 5-6 with a pH of 7.2 out of the tap. Now I know that is not what the books say you need, but I'm thinking that if the fish layed eggs they must not have a huge problem with it.


Getting set up for the brine shrimp show to come.....
This is fun and rather involved at the same time.

[Jchillin]

I wouldn't be surprised if after a few days you lose a bit of alkalinity and have something more in the 7.0 range. Sure, it would be great to have something around 6.6 but I think your pair can handle it.

Have you checked the eggs to see if they're fertile?

[SparKy697]

So after a long conversation and much inspection, I'm going to say that this batch of eggs is not fertile.

Day three and as far as I can tell the eggs are still white and starting to look a little fuzzy. I have been warned that if this happens they would not be viable.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. It gives me a little time to get things better prepared. This is a young pair of fish and it sounds like they need a couple of times to get it right.

On other fronts, there seems to be two more pairs forming in the community tank. Hopefully there will be success at some point along the line. One pair actually seems to be between a male blue ram and a female gold ram.

Watch for a german ram breeding log in the future.

[janek]

I have GBr eggs every 2 weeks or so but never had any hatch. However, with my Bolivian rams, I have eggs every 2 weeks as well and they hatch everytime. I need to figure out what to do with the 40 babies now as it seems by tomorrow I will have another 40 again.

[SparKy697]

I see people selling them on aquabid all the time. You might give it a try if you are having that kind of luck.

[bs6749]

Originally Posted by SparKy697

I see people selling them on aquabid all the time. You might give it a try if you are having that kind of luck.

Originally Posted by janek

I have GBr eggs every 2 weeks or so but never had any hatch.

[SparKy697]

However, with my Bolivian rams, I have eggs every 2 weeks as well and they hatch everytime. I need to figure out what to do with the 40 babies now as it seems by tomorrow I will have another 40 again.

[bs6749]

Oh, I figured you were talking about GBR's as I see them on aquabid all the time. I have rarely seen Bolivians though, as nobody seems to want them. I would get a pair but I already have too many rams in my 55.

I did see an incorrect listing a few times for "Bolivian Rams" in St. Augustine, FL and they wanted $3 each. They were actually GBR's and I wish I lived closer cause I would have picked up a bunch of them, but that would mean another tank or two LOL.

[Jchillin]

Originally Posted by bs6749

I did see an incorrect listing a few times for "Bolivian Rams" in St. Augustine, FL and they wanted $3 each. They were actually GBR's and I wish I lived closer cause I would have picked up a bunch of them, but that would mean another tank or two LOL.

I just imagined several GBR tanks taking up your entire home's footprint.

[bs6749]

LOL, yeah...GBR's are the reason that I got back into this hobby again and I just love the little things. I only have a 55 gallon right now that is housing 8 adult GBR's and I have a 10 with 3 GBR fry that are 52 days old. I don't know what I am going to do with them but I have been thinking about getting a larger tank. I was going to sell the fry, as I originally had over 80 free swimmers but when the number was reduced to 3 I thought... what's the point. I would get like $10 from them so why bother selling the first ones, you know? Check this out: http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/353367558.html

I wonder what the stand looks like.

[Jchillin]

Whoa! That's an amazing price, especially if the stand is sturdy enough to hold 300 gals.

[bs6749]

I wouldn't know what to do with it or WHERE to put it haha. But I was thinking the same thing...not a bad deal at all. I saw it advertised on there before for about $600 OBO I think it was. Maybe I should give 'em a call : )