My German Blue Ram just lay egg!

[xXXXx13]

Hi bro, congrats. It must be a pleasant surprise for you after your KL trip Your patience and hardwork had finally pay off, I'm sure the eggs will hatch soon. Have a little more patience Cheers

[Enespe]

Congrats,can't wait to see the offspring swimming in your tank

[Aquanoob]

@Steven, I only just bought the pair last Monday, never expect them to breed so fast but the female got a bright pink belly, and maybe that is the reason. Until this morning, the eggs are still intact and there is still no sign of hatching yet. The ram parents are still on top of the egg and patrolling the surrounding. will update when I see some tiny activities but I am not optimistic that I will see success in their first attempt. I actually also bought a cichlid cave for them but before I put it into the tank, they already started their family planning.

[Aquanoob]

Finally, I can report that there are some very tiny full-stop darting around the eggs area. The parents are still guarding the area and aggressively chasing away the endlers. I put in the Liquifry but the parents finished it in a short time, will put in some more regularly. The fries are really very tiny that I have to stress my eye to focus on and around the eggs. Hope that they can survive the crucial few days.

[bernie]

Bravo!! Consider removing all livestock except the mother to play safe.

[PKB]

Bravo!! Consider removing all livestock except the mother to play safe.

I agreed, either keep the mother with the fries or Siphon the fries out when they are slightly larger.

I find that the mother is more protective of her youngs compare to the daddy. When I Siphon my fries out, the mother went all out to protect her fries attacking non stop while the male, erm... just try a bit and them give up.

And while in the tank, the mother was busy gathering thr fries while the daddy relac one side.

[stormhawk]

Hi Stormhawk, is grindal worm readily available from LFS? Or do you culture it, do have a guide to it?

Hello bernie, they are not readily available at the LFSes. You have to get them from home breeders who raise them for sale or trade.

On how to culture them, there are many resources you can find on Google. I keep mine in a scrubber pad culture. The box produces enough worms for me to feed my fishes at least once a day with gut-loaded grindals. They are fed on Hikari Carnivore Pellets and oatmeal every now and then.

Cichlid eggs will take anywhere between 3-4 days to hatch, with another 1-2 days before the fry are free-swimming. This is the usual scenario in most cases. The newly hatched fry will spend their time as wrigglers on the bottom of the tank, especially in a pit the parents dug up. Only when their egg yolk is used up, will they be able to swim around freely.

At this early stage, the use of microworm might be a necessity if they have not been moved to a separate tank for raising. The fry do not spend a lot of time away from the bottom of the tank, so the food must be of the sinking type as they will forage 99% of the time on the gravel itself. Liquifry is not a food in actual fact, but rather a means to induce an explosion in the growth of infusoria and other microscopic animals that the fry need to feed on. From memory, the fry are picky when young, as they will not show interest in non-moving food items.

[Aquanoob]

@Bernie, PKB and Stormhawk: Thank you for the advices. The reason why the endlers and cory are still in the tank is because they are not easy to catch, unlike the Mollies and Platy just swim directly into the net. I don't think the endlers are any match to the ram parents, and my 2 cory hide far far away as I witnessed how the male bite the cory tail when they are too near to his comfort. I also don't want to cause a commotion in the tank with the catching of the endlers as they are fast swimer and disturb the fry and parent.

[PKB]

@Bernie, PKB and Stormhawk: Thank you for the advices. The reason why the endlers and cory are still in the tank is because they are not easy to catch, unlike the Mollies and Platy just swim directly into the net. I don't think the endlers are any match to the ram parents, and my 2 cory hide far far away as I witnessed how the male bite the cory tail when they are too near to his comfort. I also don't want to cause a commotion in the tank with the catching of the endlers as they are fast swimer and disturb the fry and parent.

It's not a matter of endler winning the fight against the parent rams. Witness with my own eyes when I lost some fries to Ember Tetra with the Rams pair guarding them. There are simply to many fires and the ram parents are too busy with them. Some will bond to wonder off the protecion zone and get eaten. There are some that are eaten right in front of the parent eyes, mt rummy nose dash in took a fries and dash off, the ram don't even have time to react. That's when I decide to siphon them out to protect them.

[xXXXx13]

yeah.happy for your new fries

for catching of endlers, you might want to catch them after lights off timing. Their movement will be a lot slower.

as of the mollies and platies, they might had forgot how the fish net looks like mine will take cover once the net is near

[Aquanoob]

This morning, the fry are free-swimming and stick around their parent. They are responding to the Liquifry that I put in. I tried to take picture of the fry but they are too tiny and I can't focus on them with my camera.

[Stitch]

Oh how lucky. The last time I put in the liquifry, the mum went for it rather the fry and then puke it out clouding the water around it. Not sure if the fry gets it. Perhaps not cos they died few days later. You mean the fry just went for it when it went down?

[Aquanoob]

The parent also went for the Liquifry but I saw the fries surrounding the food too. Went to Y618 and the boss said that they are still too tiny and can only eat Brine Shrimp and Boon/Daphnia after about 1 week old. The parent are superb aggressive now and I am also taking out as many endlers as I can, leave behind the ram and cory together. The 2 cory are hiding in one corner as I saw them being biten by the male ram, so I guess there should be no problem.

[Aquanoob]

Managed to catch all the endlers inside the tank, now left ram parent, fries and 2 cory in the tank. I forgot to mention that I also bought the Hikari First Bites, a powder form fry food, which I mix with a bit of tank water to make it become a gel that readily sink into water. I saw the fries going for it too.

[stormhawk]

If the parents swallow the Liquifry and disperse it as a cloud around the fry, this is their way of feeding their fry. Liquifry itself should not be squirted directly in the tank, but mixed in a plastic container with some water to dilute it somewhat. Otherwise the fry will not pick at the blob of Liquifry you squirt in.

[Aquanoob]

Sad to report that the fries are all gone yesterday night. I counted about 100 on Friday night and about 50% gone on Saturday morning and by yesterday night, I can't see a single fry any more and the parents were not guarding anywhere. It had been a great learning experience but I thought it will be a better outcome. I did what the hobbyists here suggested like switching on the light throughout the night, feeding the fry with Liquifry, First Bites, Decap BSE and is in the process of hatching the BBS to let the fries eat some live food. I also took out almost all but 2 of the tank mates, being cory which I have difficulties in catching them.

I realised that I can do much more like feeding live food to the fries earlier and taking out the parents which I was waiting for the fries to get slightly bigger before doing so. I should have feed more food to the parents which is possible that they snapped up the fries because they were hungry.

Like what I said, I have gained knowledge and experience in this amazing 6 days and I think the parents will have another and many more chances to breed again, and I will be better prepared this time.

[bernie]

Sad to hear that on a sunny Sunday morning.
I am sure they will spawn again. When time comes, do these:
1) Leave only the mother and the fries in the tank.
2) Feed live food.

Good luck.

[xXXXx13]

Yoz bro, sad to hear the bad news. Take it positively and learn from this experience ba. I'm sure your rams will breed again. Cheers

[stormhawk]

Aquanoob,

Great way to see things. This is exactly the mindset that a successful breeder should have. You will definitely be better prepared the next time they spawn, which should be soon. I had a pair that would spawn almost every 2 weeks once their last bunch of fry died away or were taken from them.

[Aquanoob]

@Bernie, Steven & Stormhawk, thank you for your comments and encouragement. I am having a dilemma right now with my fishes. I took out all the fishes except for 2 cory in my 2 feet tank and transfer them to a back-up 1 feet tank last week. The 1 feet tank looks quite cramped with the mollies, platy and endlers and I put back a couple of endlers back to the 2 feet tank as dither fish to the ram parent. Should I do the opposite and switch the tank between the ram and other fishes? I don't think the ram need so much space to breed and in a smaller 1 feet tank, I can concentrate on them easier.