New born electric blue ram!!

[Tony]

Hi All,

Finally managed to see electric blue ram frys swimming for the 1st time after shifting the pair to 1ft cube tank for more privacy.

Here is a picture of daddy guarding the babies. Very aggressive and fending off all, including me from taking a close picture. Mommy is being chased and hiding behind the plants in the background.

[stormhawk]

Congratulations on the healthy fry. I thought the Electric Blue would never have females for sale, at least locally.

[Stitch]

I have a question but is for the german blue ram.

Mine recently spawned and the parents are guarding the eggs diligently.
However, I noticed that the colour of the eggs seems to fade in colour compared to the first day. Some even went brown (or colourless ... cannot differentiate because they layed the eggs on piece of log which is brown in colour).

Next, how long before the eggs hatch?

[Tony]

Congratulations on the healthy fry. I thought the Electric Blue would never have females for sale, at least locally.

Yup! I'm also quite surprised. It took some patience observing and alot of luck I spent 10mins observing for signs of clearing pit in the LFS tank that have soil before netting. Then I bought more pieces hoping I can land at least a pair. I bought 2 small pieces and 1 big piece (females don't grow that big for ram). It ended up the small pieces has 1 male and 1 female that paired up naturally. It took me 3 spawn to see free swimming frys. Hope they live to adult-hood though.

[Tony]

I have a question but is for the german blue ram.

Mine recently spawned and the parents are guarding the eggs diligently.
However, I noticed that the colour of the eggs seems to fade in colour compared to the first day. Some even went brown (or colourless ... cannot differentiate because they layed the eggs on piece of log which is brown in colour).

Next, how long before the eggs hatch?

1. Normally black/brown eggs are infertile or fungus and the pair will clear them out by eating them up.

2. Keep the water circulation good and gentle to avoid fungus. Keeping them in slightly acidic environment seem to help for me. I used ADA soil.

3. It takes about 4 - 5 days for the eggs to hatch. I noticed that while they are still eggs, the pair like to dig multiple pits in the soil at different spots in the tank and move them around daily, until the last day prior to hatching the pair will stay put and take turns to guard the eggs.

4. After hatching, keep a look out for your female as the male will guard the frys fiercely and attack anything that come close (some bros may experience the opposite of having the female guarding fry closely and attacking the male). Please have wood and lots of plants for hiding.

5. Use low maintenance plants so that you do not need frequent trimming or fert. This will reduce disturbance to the pair and new born

6. Water changing is stopped once you see eggs. Just do normal topping up till the frys are 1 week? This is to ensure minimal changes to environment and avoid spooking the pair unnecessarily that will cause them to eat the frys

I'm still learning and hopefully some frys will grow to adulthood.

[Stitch]

Oops, I just did a water change this morning. Gosh, hopefully this does not cause any hurt.

I also noticed about the moving of the eggs when I looked into the tank this evening. Could it be because of the water change or is this a normal behaviour? Hmm... still learning.

1. Normally black/brown eggs are infertile or fungus and the pair will clear them out by eating them up.

2. Keep the water circulation good and gentle to avoid fungus. Keeping them in slightly acidic environment seem to help for me. I used ADA soil.

3. It takes about 4 - 5 days for the eggs to hatch. I noticed that while they are still eggs, the pair like to dig multiple pits in the soil at different spots in the tank and move them around daily, until the last day prior to hatching the pair will stay put and take turns to guard the eggs.

4. After hatching, keep a look out for your female as the male will guard the frys fiercely and attack anything that come close (some bros may experience the opposite of having the female guarding fry closely and attacking the male). Please have wood and lots of plants for hiding.

5. Use low maintenance plants so that you do not need frequent trimming or fert. This will reduce disturbance to the pair and new born

6. Water changing is stopped once you see eggs. Just do normal topping up till the frys are 1 week? This is to ensure minimal changes to environment and avoid spooking the pair unnecessarily that will cause them to eat the frys

I'm still learning and hopefully some frys will grow to adulthood.

[mobile2007]

Actually i noticed that there are a lot of electric blue ram on sale in the local LFS. Also, the latest batch of electric bue ram has a more intense blue color.

[Tony]

Oops, I just did a water change this morning. Gosh, hopefully this does not cause any hurt.

I also noticed about the moving of the eggs when I looked into the tank this evening. Could it be because of the water change or is this a normal behaviour? Hmm... still learning.

The pair will somehow like to move the eggs to different spot in the tank. I noticed that often and think it has little to do with your water change. Perhaps they feel the eggs are safer elsewhere? .

[Tony]

Actually i noticed that there are a lot of electric blue ram on sale in the local LFS. Also, the latest batch of electric bue ram has a more intense blue color.

Yup, and the new batch are alot bigger in size as well. Improved version over many selective breeding programme by LFS?

[mobile2007]

Yeah, saw quite a few of the electric blue ram, really big at Y618 ( or c328 ? ). Anyway, congrats to you for the new born fries.

Yup, and the new batch are alot bigger in size as well. Improved version over many selective breeding programme by LFS?

[Tony]

Thanks bro, hope some can survive to see adulthood. Else it is still fun seeing the parent protecting the frys. They are very much like apisto that have very protective parents. They pick the frys up using their mouth and bring them back when wonder too far off. Very nice to watch.

But I personally find the electric blue ram more aggressive then the german ram.

[Stitch]

I think I lost all my eggs already. Sad, dont see anymore eggs... but why are the pair still guarding the fort and still chasing away the others?

[Tony]

I think I lost all my eggs already. Sad, dont see anymore eggs... but why are the pair still guarding the fort and still chasing away the others?

Bon't panic yet, look closer and see if the pair have relocated the eggs elsewhere. Note that if the spawn is small, chances are they will spawn again shortly.

Also, for young pairs, it seem to take them a few spawn to know the skills of parenting. It took mine 3 spawns before I see frys. So don't panic and try not to spook the pair. Just relax and let them do their "thingy".

[Aquanoob]

Congrats Tony, it is always a good feeling to see fishes spawn. I tried having my endlers to spawn with male to female ratio 1:5 but still fail to see any result. Are you selling the ram fry when they are bigger?

[Stitch]

Thanks Tony.

Bon't panic yet, look closer and see if the pair have relocated the eggs elsewhere. Note that if the spawn is small, chances are they will spawn again shortly.

Also, for young pairs, it seem to take them a few spawn to know the skills of parenting. It took mine 3 spawns before I see frys. So don't panic and try not to spook the pair. Just relax and let them do their "thingy".

[Tony]

Congrats Tony, it is always a good feeling to see fishes spawn. I tried having my endlers to spawn with male to female ratio 1:5 but still fail to see any result. Are you selling the ram fry when they are bigger?

Sometimes, it is better not try too hard, just leave them to their natural duty and you may get pleasant surprise

I will have to offload some if they can survive to adulthood.

[stormhawk]

To answer your question Stitch, if the eggs turn white, they are infertile in most cases. Those are usually destroyed by the parents before they begin to fungus. In my experience, dwarf cichlid eggs hatch 2-3 days after they are laid, and the fry spend the next 2 days or so consuming their egg yolk. They are usually free-swimming by the 3rd day post hatching. The parents move the newborns from pit to pit, depending on their requirements. I would not disturb them for now.

In a community tank however, if there is a lack of plant cover/hiding spots, the fry are more or less guaranteed not to survive. Only in tanks with heavy plant cover and lack of nocturnal predators like catfishes and loaches, will these fry survive to adulthood. It is therefore wise to spawn them in a breeding tank, and remove the parents after 2-3 weeks with the fry.

[Tony]

Bad news. All 50++ frys gone when I came home from work today and the pair is lovey dovey again. Lesson learned, never leave the frys with the pair for more then 4 days after hatching. Either remove the frys or parent to another tank if you want them to live to see adulthood. Can only look forward to next spawn now. So sad...

[Aquanoob]

Tony, the ram couple will likely spawn again soon. But this time, need to apply the lesson learned.

[Serketa]

Spawning is happening here now too with my newest rams.. Last evening I watched the couple pairing up, digging sand in two different location. Chasing others away and "dancing" to one another. They laid eggs right after I added some black water tonic, after I turned lights off - I'm not sure if it speeded up spawning. I fed them with frozen food for two days before they started pairing up. Temp is not so high as recommended for spawning. (heater isn't working I guess..)

Let's see if I'm lucky enough this time to get fry.. Interesting.