New Rams with Eggs Already

[bs6749]

Well, I just received some really nice GBR's on Thursday. They are half wilds and are about 5 1/2 months old. They've been in my possession for 3 days and have laid eggs already (pretty common with rams). I haven't even really gotten the chance to look at them since I had finals Thursday and Friday, then I immediately went to work after my Friday final, worked until 3:30 in the morning on Saturday, got not even 4 hours of sleepm and started work again from 7:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night. Been pretty busy and haven't had much time to pay attention to them When I was looking at them around 6:00 tonight I noticed that one female looked like she was ready to lay. I emailed the breeder that I got them from and told him how cool this was and that I'd email him when the female laid. Went over to a friend's house and just noticed that she had spawned. The male is not letting her too close to the eggs. These breeders were parent raised so it'll be interesting to see what happens with the eggs. I'm assuming that they were fertilized since the male is involved in protecting the eggs. Anyway, enough with the talk. Here's some pics:

Male with eggs (look closely at top of clay pot underneath male)

Female on right

Tried for a better angle...no success lol.

Peek-a-boo

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Congrats dude.

 

[bs6749]

Thanks. It's EXTREMELY weird for me to see them breed when they are this small. They can't be larger than 1 1/4" and they are already breeding, and they aren't even fully colored yet! Remember the pictures of the previous rams that I had? Those got to nearly 3" (males) and had fantastic coloring when they were adults. The ones above are wilds crossed with that line, so there is definitely great lineage. Just a little different to me. I was hoping to have proven pairs within months, not days. This pair isn't proven yet, not until I see wigglers they won't be proven. They are just confirmed at the moment. I highly doubt I'll see anything from this spawn since I have 6 adults (was only expecting 2 pairs but he sent me 3 again...) and 21 1/2" fry in a 29g. I was hoping to clear out a 10g to make room for this pair to raise the fry but they spawned too soon for me to take action LOL. This has me seriously has me thinking of shifting my focus on my tanks. I'm leaning towards breeding these fish now more than ever.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Sounds great man, hope you have good luck. After I start making some extra cash of my breeding i'm going to have to buy some rams off ya.

 

[bs6749]

I checked the tank this morning and the eggs were still all there and the male was still protecting them very well. I was hoping to do a large PWC today since I fed the rams some frozen cyclops on Thursday and for the most part they remain uneaten. I'm thinking if I do the water change I may have to remove the eggs since it may cause the parents to freak and eat them. I'll have to keep a close eye on them afterward to make sure this isn't happening.

 

[Zagz]

Congrats, my bolvians spawned on a small piece of driftwood. LOL, not even spring with all this spawning.

 

[bs6749]

Thanks Anne! I'd love to give Bolivians a try sometime but haven't found any good quality ones. I suppose I could ask the breeder I got my GBR's from if he has any connection to get me some wilds, since he often gets in wilds GBR's. I know what you are saying about fish spawning and it not even being Spring. However, we often do things in our tanks to immitate Spring, correct? I've had fish spawn at all times of the year. Sometimes I don't even do regular water changes and they spawn for me. I thnk once we take them out of their natural environment the factors of their new environment take over. I'd also be interested to see if maybe there are both genetic and environmental factors contributing equally to this behavior.

 

[bs6749]

Eggs started turning clear late yesterday afternoon and by this morning they were all gone. It's really funny because the male was protecting the spawn as if he HAD fertilized them, but obviously he hadn't. I haven't seen this until now.

 

[Zagz]

That's too bad, but they will try again and sooner or later they will get it right.

 

[bs6749]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting them to amount to anything this time. I need to get a 20L or maybe a 29g and divide it between two pairs and see how that works out for them. That way I'll have an extra tank to grow out fry.

 

[meegosh]

I call dibs on the next fry!!! Congrats on your pick up! I'm assuming this is from your source of the old GBRs that you had and showed me pictures of when I got mine. It sounds like they know what to do, its just a matter of time before you have a tank full.

 

[bs6749]

Yes, they are from the same source as the old ones I had. It's actually that line crossed with wild ones and these are 50% wilds. I have some that I'm growing out right now and will have them for sale hopefully in mid February. They are 1/2" right now and I'd like to grow them out a little more and then sell them.