Ram Breeding

[smittyjr18]

I just got a female less then a week ago and i come home to see that they have spawned! 8O , so about how long till they hatch and then how long till they free swim?

 

[Jchillin]

Congrats! That is good to hear.

Generally, the first couple of spawns may not produce fry. However, if the eggs do get fertilized and the parents don't eat them, you should have hatchlings in about 48-60 hours. They will free swim immediately.

You can feed finely crushed flakes or "liquifry".

Good luck!

 

[smittyjr18]

Ok what about baby brine shrimp and doesn't liquidfry have egg in it which you need to do PWC all the time?

Right now the Rams have spawned in my 55 gal. I'm going to transfer them to a 10 gal and go buy a sponge filter for a while till they get big enough to swim with a bigger filter in place.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Its been about 7 years since i have done this and it was with angels and i forgot i was doing a water change and the water was to hot and they all died!

 

[Jchillin]

You may find some other opinions in this thread. Contains several links to web pages regarding the overall care of Rams.

 

[Emg]

Did your eggs hatch ?

 

[smittyjr18]

Yes they did and they ate the first batch. They just spawned out aging and then they cared for the eggs then about the time they should hatch they ate them again, so i got a 10 Gal tank and i'm ready to move them when they spawn again.

 

[mumrah]

what are your water parameters?
ph, kh, gh, etc.

also, is your tank planted? if so, what kind of lighting and do you inject co2?

 

[smittyjr18]

It's a 55 gal with a Magnum 350 /w bio wheels, a Fluval 104 (going to get a UV 18 watt and do it inline with the fluval)

PH 7.6
KH 20 ppm
GH 220 ppm (It's high i know)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

The tank is planted with some Amazon swords and some Walmart specials. Pool sand for the bottom. I have 2 48" lights. One is a power glow and the other is a sun glow,so about 80 watts of lighting. I don't inject anything in as far as CO2. I'm setting up a DIY Co2 here in a little bit. I do add Leaf zone about every week or durring a PWC. I'm just now running peat moss in the Fluval to try and lower the KH,GH and PH.


what are your water parameters?
ph, kh, gh, etc.

also, is your tank planted? if so, what kind of lighting and do you inject

 

[Emg]

Are there other fish in with your rams...? I'm guessing with a 55 there probably is. I find that rams get stressed with other fish around when they are breeding. If you have them in a planted tank...all to themselves they should do much better.

I presently have a batch of blue ram fry in a 20 long planted. The only other occupants in this tank besides the pair of ram and thier fry are 3 otocinclus, which stay hidden most of the time. The fry are free swimming now and mom and dad are doing a great job caring for them....so far.

All the best in your efforts....hope you get a sucessful batch...it is fun to watch them !

A pic of my ram tank...I still have more plants to add, but the rams seem happy enough.....

 

[rubysoho]

Nice tank, EMG!

smittyjr18, I suggest letting the parents try a couple more times before you artificially raise the fry. It takes them a few times before they get it right and it is so rewarding to watch them tend to the babies. However, if you get to the point where the fry are free swimming (it looks like a littly cloud of babies, really fun to watch) then I would put them into one of those fry nets or boxes to protect them. (put a plant in there or a floating plant up top to allow them some security) Crushed flakes will do fine for the babies. In general, most breeders find that baby brine shrimp are too big for new fry because they have small mouths. I don't know much about liquifry so I can't tell you if you'd need to do more pwc or not. Good luck and keep everyone updated! And don't be afraid to experiment and see what works. Once rams start breeding, you'll have plenty of eggs.

I went back a read one of your other posts. With that 10 gallon, it might be a good idea to set it up as a low light planted tank. Then keep the parents in there until they breed and move them back into the 55 gallon after the fry hatch. If you don't want to let the parents hatch the eggs by themselves then you'll need to get them breeding on a piece of slate which you will then turn over at and angle with something directing a light current upward near the eggs to keep oxygen levels nice. You'll also need to pick out any eggs with fungus so that it doesn't spread to the rest. IMO, it is better to let the parents figure it out because they do 10x better than people.