My blue ram just laid eggs!!!!

[manicou_juice]

My name is Justin, I am 17 and I live in Trinidad & tobago in the Caribbean... On Sunday I bought a pair of blue ram cichlids and introduced them to a 40 gl. community tank which has 3 goldfish, a few tetras, a pair of loaches, sum zebras, etc. earlier today I realised that the cichlids were burrowing in the sand, though I found this suspicious, I didn't really worry about it. Later in the evening, i noticed them being aggressive to the other fish, and when I went to investigate, I noticed lots of lillte brown eggs on one of the ornaments on the aquarium. I was worried about the other fish and didn't really know what to do(about if the other fish would eat them). So a while after I put the cichlids with their eggs in a sepparate tank. Was this the right thing to do? Should I have put the parents with the eggs? Is there anything I should know about how to raise the eggs? Whe I looked up about it on the net, they said that the eggs usually hatch in 3 days...What should I do?

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! Congratulation on your spawn. Your ram fry will be in danger in your current setup. You did the right thing moving them. Once the eggs start to hatch you may have to move the parents as the parents may eat the fry. First time ram parents aren't always the best parents. For the fry you will either need a sponge filter or put a filter sponge over the filter intake so the small fry don't get sucked up. Keep the temp aroun 80-82. For feeding the fry you can either hatch some baby brine shrimp or use hard boiled egg yolks. With the egg yolks you put a very very tiny amount in the water for feeding. Is your fry tank cycled? You can do daily water changes with the fry by either using a turkey baster or using air line tubing. I use a white bucket so that if any fry get out you can gently put them back.

[manicou_juice]

Thanks, what do you mean if it's been cycled??? :s Sorry, I'm kinda naive when it come to these terms. Thanks for the advice!!

[Zagz]

No problem, I mean is it an established tank or is it one you just set up? Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

[manicou_juice]

It's an established tank, I had some yellow, blue and white cichlids in there(don't know their species names), but I moved them out to another tank where I had other cichlids... I never tested for those things, but I change a percentage of the water in the tanks weekly, I had aquariums since I ws about 10... This is the first time(other than guppies and swordtails), that a Fish had spawn...

[Zagz]

Then you are set to go. Keep us updated on how the fry are doing.

[manicou_juice]

are they supposed to turn white?? I'm getting kinda worried cuz sum are turning white...:-|

[rubysoho]

white eggs have a fungus on them. It s up to the parents to fan the eggs and pick out the unfertilized (clear) eggs or eggs with fungus (white). Tan eggs are what you want.

[rubysoho]

Do you know the hardness of your water? I found this tidbit while rummaging around the internet:

" Soft water is critical for proper egg development. Water that is harder has a lower osmotic pressure, compared to the inside of the eggs. Water will not flow into the eggs and properly harden them, causing the eggs to turn white and possibly fungus. I normally hatch out eggs in straight RO water, with hardness around 5-10ppm. "

source: Breeding Blue Rams (Microgeophagus ramirezi)

[Zagz]

White eggs are fungused and not viable. Depending on your setup you could remove the parents and add some methylene blue and an airstone close but not too close to the eggs.

[manicou_juice]

they never hatched...sorry for not replying sooner... they had spawned anothertime after, but those immediately turned white...