Electric Blue Rams

[stormhawk]

Hopefully they'll spawn. I see the male displaying to the female every now and then. They're young so the only thing I fear is them eating their spawn.

I'm not free this weekend since there's a family gathering at my uncle's place. Perhaps on Sunday, but no promises.

[stormhawk]

Took a video of the EBRs displaying and doing their usual threat postures. Nearing the end you will see some special behavior.

[Aquanoob]

Sorry what special behaviours are we suppose to notice? I don't see anything strange or special somehow.

[mordrake]

Lovely rams you have there. Would love to get a pair or 2 but worried my tank pH of 5.6-5.8 may be too low.
Hope they spawn soon

[stormhawk]

Aquanoob, nearing the end of the video you will see the pair cleaning the pit they dug in my substrate. The male pushes the soil away with his tail when he shimmies in the pit. That is usually the prelude to spawning activity. The male is not even attempting to chase away the female, but he lets her remain in his zone when typically he would chase every other Ram away.

Mordrake, thanks a lot. The male EBR does not seem to be interested in the normal female Ram and he only focuses his attention on the fatter of the 2 EBR females. Maybe this strain does not recognise the other strains of Rams as potential mates. However, the other male EBR and one of the 3 normal Ram males keeps dancing to the fat EBR female too.

[mordrake]

Hmmm.... Off to NKS now!

[Stitch]

Stormhawk,

Can you share with me how you determine a female electric blue ram where there is no pink belly and the dorsal fin is not very visible to tell.
What other features can we look at? Thanks.

[stormhawk]

The pelvic fins do not end in a sharp tip, but instead in a blunt tip. May be pointed in some females. First few dorsal rays are short and their dorsal and anal fins are not as long as males. When in breeding condition, occasionally you may be able to see a hint of violet in the belly.

The male EBRs in my tank have a slight red color to the top edge of their dorsal fin, whereas the females have a silvery-gold tone on the 4th and 5th rays, black tips on the first 3 rays.

If in doubt, buy a few juvenile EBRs like the ones at C328 in one of the tanks close to the left entry way, and grow them up in a group. Those are not sexable at that age so it's a hit and miss kind of affair if you start with those. I prefer to buy young adults that are sexable, but often, you have to visit 2 LFS like I did, to get both sexes.

[andytan]

Hi Stormhawk,
I managed to breed EBR last year. Be careful after they have spawned, the male becomes very agressive. In fact it killed the female. I have to remove the male as well and let the eggs hatch by itself as they were alone in a breeding tank. Managed to get 60+ juveniles. They are about 2.5cm now but recently about half were wiped out by some disease(bloated stomache). I am left with about 20+ juv now. Wish you good luck in breeding them. By the way they can survive in PH 6.0 water as I managed to acclimatised them. My tap water seems to have a PH of 6.5 and after water change the driftwood and plants in the tank bring it down to 6-6.2. Will be introducing them to my 4feet main tank soon.

[stormhawk]

Thanks for the tip. I was not expecting this strain to be more aggressive than the others. My tank has a pH of 6.8 and pretty soft water for some reason. Not that it matters, they seem to be showing intense colors these days. I think 2 of my normal Rams have formed a second pair in the same tank.

[Adam_80]

It's really tough to find electric blue balloon ram females. Anybody got it? Hearsay that supplier purposely refuse to let go females to monopolize breeding..

[Adam_80]

Hi Stormhawk,
I managed to breed EBR last year. Be careful after they have spawned, the male becomes very agressive. In fact it killed the female. I have to remove the male as well and let the eggs hatch by itself as they were alone in a breeding tank. Managed to get 60+ juveniles. They are about 2.5cm now but recently about half were wiped out by some disease(bloated stomache). I am left with about 20+ juv now. Wish you good luck in breeding them. By the way they can survive in PH 6.0 water as I managed to acclimatised them. My tap water seems to have a PH of 6.5 and after water change the driftwood and plants in the tank bring it down to 6-6.2. Will be introducing them to my 4feet main tank soon.

What were u feeding the ram fries? Bloated stomach sounds like internal infection to me... probably can find out the cause to prevent casualties from future breeding..

[stormhawk]

I did see a female EB Balloon Ram at C328, but that was a few weeks ago. The breeders cannot monopolize the strain for too long anyway.

Bad news on my end, lost one of the EBR females and the normal female. Neither had injuries on them and they did not spawn yet. I guess they had gill flukes or something else picked up when they were at the LFS. Treated the surviving EBR female and she laid eggs in the hospital tank...

[crabby:)]

Hi,i have just gotten 3 balloon electric blue rams there is 1 male and 2 females they are mixed with a school of neon tetras and they seem a little shy when it comes to feeding time,but i have seen comments of them swimming to the top of the tank when they see their owner do i need to train them all will they swim up automatically,now they are seen swimming at the mid level of the tank and only eat from the ground how do i get them to eat from the top?thanks in advance,hope to get some geat answers

[LifeisBoring]

I get what you mean, heres my suggestion. Change feeding habit (not sure if it works).

I do see my ram fighting for food with my blood parrot / pearl gourami /pleco whenever I feed them dry bloodworm


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=1.442502,103.787730

[stormhawk]

Once the Rams associate your presence with food, they will come forward when you are around. My Rams always come forward once they see me or anyone in my family.

Sad news however, lost all 3 female Rams. Last surviving female Ram came down with a bacterial infection so I was treating her in a hospital tank. She actually laid eggs in that tank.. however, she did not survive the second day of treatment. I think I need to find other sources of female Rams, because getting a fish from C328 is like playing Russian roulette.

[Luc Tango]

Hey stormhawk, let me know if you see any. looking for some too. I wish some LFS will bring in wilds though.

[stormhawk]

I don't think they'd bring in wild ones, but it's good to hope. The young Rams that I bought, out of the 3 males, 2 survived and they are showing signs of being German Blues. For $2 a fish I'm very happy.

I'll keep you posted if I find any females.

[Aquanoob]

If you are interested in getting the normal German Blue Ram male and female, you can pm me for where I got them from. The pair I bought spawned within 4 days, and hopefully they are still available in the LFS. By the way, they are farm bred and not wild type. Have been asking a lot of LFS for the wild type, but the reply is always, " No stock".

[Luc Tango]

Hi Aquanoob, I saw that you got them from Tampines. Blk 82X one? (forgot the block number, only know how to walk there. lol)

I am actually thinking that JZX might be the best bet to bring in some wild rams. and maybe some wild apistogramma cacatuoides. (I just love those!)

Stormhawk, likewise, i will let you know if i spot any rams around. I am bad at sexing though so better for you to go down and have a look.