If anyone has advice.....the eggs were still there when I came home. The male was sitting above them. However, he now has stringy poo. He looks quite stressed. And I noticed him nudging the eggs with his nose, and then his lips moving. I'm afraid he's doing more than cleaning them. I'm going to post in unhealthy fish also, but my main concern right now is the eggs. Is it difficult to hatch them without the parents?
Ram breeding
- Thread starter Kelly5978
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bshenanagins
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They tend to pick at eggs that are collecting bacteria or other debris. They will consistently swim over them to provide fresh water and nutrients. Leaving them in the tank it would be best to leave them with the parents. In the future you could use a dropper and suck up the eggs carefully and put them in a QT tank with the optimal parameters needed for the eggs to hatch, slightly more on the acidic side.
So.....leave BOTH parents? It's still an option to leave just the male. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully, if these eggs don't make it, I will have another chance. The female is looking pretty unhappy, but hopefully a few days of metro flakes will get rid of what's ailing her. Is there anywhere that describes in detail how to remove the eggs, care for and hatch them, and keep them alive through the free swimming stage? Like a website? I've looked unsuccessfully. I've gotten great advice here....about sand and what the parents like, but I'm unsure how to care for the eggs/wigglers/babies...
Grandpa
Aquarium Advice Regular
Treat them just like Angel eggs. The day they free swim you need to feed.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Are my pics showing on this thread? Well....the female is swimming up and down in front of the tank, very dark all over her body (except almost bright white in the gill area and blood red belly). They both keep swimming over the spot that the eggs WERE, but I see either none there. Why would they keep guarding/fanning a spot with no eggs? They were rubbing and twirling earlier, so I thought maybe they would lay more eggs, but I see nothing. When I first noticed the eggs missing, the male was behind the castle, and there was an obvious pit in the rocks near him. I was hoping he moved the eggs, but he hasn't gone back there since. I knew it was probably coming, but it's still depressing . I hope the parents are ok, so I get another chance. Just trying to decide when to remove the divider again.
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bshenanagins
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She looks perfectly fine to me? Very nice breeding colors.
I do tend to over-worry...no laughing mebbid....but she was never this dark before. And she does get darker when the male comes around. She twists and swims with him, but seems not too thrilled he's there. She got really dark earlier, and it looks red where her side fins meet her body. Does anyone have trouble with frozen blood worms? My fish don't like the dried, but they seem to have trouble digesting the frozen. Okay, well if something's wrong, I'm sure she'll show me eventually. So, I am looking at what to put in their new tank. Is there a certain type of sand they prefer? Also, it sounds like I will have to use straight RO water (no way I can cut my tap water to 1-2 gh without chemicals). So, if anyone who reads this has tanks with water that soft, can you tell me how to maintain? I mean, the reason I never tried to cut my water that low is because I don't know how to use buffers. Everyone says stable PH is more important than the actual number, but is that true when breeding? I am setting this tank up specifically to breed them. So, if I use straight RO, and discuss buffer to get it to 1-2, will it just stay there? Or will I have to worry about ph swings? Am I supposed to use something else? Any other tips about setting up a ram breeding tank are appreciated. It may be that the eggs just couldn't survive in my main tank (8 gh/6 kh). Finally, should I just use a sponge filter ALL the time? Or should I add a power filter when they're not spawning? I tried to research this, and think I understand...at water with ph under 6, bacteria can't survive, so how do I cycle it? I may start a new thread in water chemistry, but if there are any specifications when breeding, please let me know...sorry for all the questions, but I REALLY appreciate all the help! Is it weird the male is still fanning the area the eggs were in?
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bshenanagins
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Unless your tap is really bad and very alkaline, RO isn't entirely necessary. If your looking to make her more comfortable acidity wise, I would get my hands on some Indian almond leaves to make the water more acidic. I guarantee your rams will love it.
Fishninja
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How can u tell the difference between male and female
bshenanagins
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Male: no speckles on black spot, long pointy dorsal fin (first three spikes up front), usually slimmer.
Female: pink belly, shorter dorsal fin, rounder
Sillyfishies
Aquarium Advice Addict
And males have a rounder head and females have pointy heads.
Well, I have peat....just never used it. And there's 2 huge pieces of driftwood in the tank, but I use purigen to keep water clean, and nitrates down...so it sucks out the tannins 
. I may try that for the breeding tank...with just a sponge filter. I'm really worried about my girl. The male chased her last night, and she is really pale/grey this morning. I wish I knew for sure if he moved the eggs. I would just take out the divider....and, sometimes it's hard to tell the sex. I look at the black dot (as previously stated) but the male's dorsal fin also extends further. It goes past where the tail starts. He also has a longer black ray in the dorsal (like second or 3rd ray) that stands up higher than the rest. Also, he won't have pink on the belly. Thing is....sometimes (due to bad breeding), they have characteristics of both sexes. I studied the fish a long time before buying (wanted a pair). I will put up a pic of my girl later. I'm wondering what I'll do when I remove the divider, and the rest of the fish bug her too. She even has the stress black stripes!!! She was never such a wimp before! Maybe he's mad she ate the eggs??
. I may try that for the breeding tank...with just a sponge filter. I'm really worried about my girl. The male chased her last night, and she is really pale/grey this morning. I wish I knew for sure if he moved the eggs. I would just take out the divider....and, sometimes it's hard to tell the sex. I look at the black dot (as previously stated) but the male's dorsal fin also extends further. It goes past where the tail starts. He also has a longer black ray in the dorsal (like second or 3rd ray) that stands up higher than the rest. Also, he won't have pink on the belly. Thing is....sometimes (due to bad breeding), they have characteristics of both sexes. I studied the fish a long time before buying (wanted a pair). I will put up a pic of my girl later. I'm wondering what I'll do when I remove the divider, and the rest of the fish bug her too. She even has the stress black stripes!!! She was never such a wimp before! Maybe he's mad she ate the eggs??My rams are doing REALLY badly. I'm not sure I should even finish the tank. Please see "what's wrong with my rams" under my profile, or in unhealthy fish. I'm extremely worried (the boy has something red sticking out of him) Please help! I understand she could be stressed, by the male. But, how could something be wrong with HIM?
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Ok. I put the female over the divider. She is not bright, but the stress stripes were gone in 10 min. She must be afraid of him. She does seem to have a black spot (looks like inside her) about halfway to her tail....but one thing at a time. Lol. I did a salt dip on the male, and the red splinter looking thing did not come off. What do I so now? Do I remove the divider and pray whatever this red thing is, it doesn't affect the other fish? Or get rid of the male? Finally, if I remove the divider, is the male going to go harass the female again? Are the no longer a pair, so I should just give up on them reproducing?
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Just an update: I removed the divider. Both fish are blue again, swimming together, battling the Bolivian, defending the castle and even doing their shimmy mating dance. The male still has the red splinter (worm?) coming out of him, even after a salt dip....but I guess I'll just wait and see if another fish has anything similar happen. I am going to proceed with the mating tank for the rams. I know my waters not soft enough for eggs to hatch and I'd like them to have the environment they prefer anyways. If they don't mate, I'm sure someone in my tank will, and I'll be ready! thanks for everyone's help.
thanks for everyone's help.
bshenanagins
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Just an update: I removed the divider. Both fish are blue again, swimming together, battling the Bolivian, defending the castle and even doing their shimmy mating dance. The male still has the red splinter (worm?) coming out of him, even after a salt dip....but I guess I'll just wait and see if another fish has anything similar happen. I am going to proceed with the mating tank for the rams. I know my waters not soft enough for eggs to hatch and I'd like them to have the environment they prefer anyways. If they don't mate, I'm sure someone in my tank will, and I'll be ready!
Ahh that's good. I kind of figured the close quarters was bothering them. I just added a new AC30 stuffed to the brim with peat moss. Ill let you know if it initiates some breeding among my 9 rams
Fishninja
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Are german gold rams as easy to breed and take care of as German blues
Sillyfishies
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I'm pretty sure they are the same thing as German blues. Just a different color morph....
Clownfishlover
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I agree with sillyfishes
You WERE right!!! Although they DID lay eggs when sectioned off by the divider, it was too close of quarters. The male still has the red splinter thing, but they are both colored up, she is getting rounder, and they're cleaning and defending the castle! Lol! I think I'll put the castle in their tank when it's done. Last worry: is it possible they require another fish bothering them, in order to WANT to breed? The female seems to only like it if she gets to fight other fish to protect the eggs! Anyhow, I'm really hoping the males red thing isn't a worm, but they seem a lot happier now! Thx everyone
