Ram Eggs?????????

joeyg2100

joeyg2100

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Oct 31, 2005
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I have a pair of German rams who just laid some eggs. I set up a 10 gal. with some media from my main tank. I let the pair lay eggs for about an hour. Then I took the rock out that she laid them on. SHould I have waited longer berfore I took the eggs from the parents? Did the male have time to fertilize them? I took them out because I noticed that the female ram was starting to eat the eggs. Should I have done this. Let me know. I have never tried to hatch fish before. I am new to this. Any information will help.
 
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I don't know too much about rams..but some fish eat the eggs because they are mouth brooders. I don't know if this is the case, but you should do some research that will help a lot.
Congratulations on the eggs!
 
As far as I know rams don't carry eggs around like a mouth broder(sp?) Will someone please help me with this
 
I have always heard that German Blue Rams are notorious bad parents and most often eat the eggs or "forget" that they laid them and other fish come in for the kill. I would imagin though that this parenting instinct varies from individual to individual. I just bought a pair a month ago to find out for myself. Hopefully someone with a bit more experience with them can come along and instruct us both!
 
generally the eggs are fertilized shortly after the female deposits the eggs..the male is usually right behind her to fertilze the eggs. on first spawns some choose to see if the fish will be good parents. but many chose to remove the egss right after the spawn..

good luck
 
Did you observe the male swimming over the eggs after the female had layed them ? If you did, the eggs should be fertile.

Was the female "eating" the eggs....or cleaning them off ?
Rams "puff" over thier eggs to keep them clean, they also will hover over them "fanning" them with thier fins. They pick off bad eggs and eat those, generally leaving healthy eggs alone.


Are there any other fish in the tank with your rams ?
Sometimes, other fish in the tank can stress them out if they are spawning...causing them to eat the eggs or fry. I have not had issue with my rams eating thier eggs. They are usually very good parents until about a week after the free swimming stage...at which point, the fry usually disappear. I have never witnessed them eating the fry, so it's quite possible that the filter gets them. I don't have it covered as I usually remove any fry at the wriggler stage, if I want to raise any of them.

Also, the parents will grab the fry in their mouths and spit them back where they want them to be...if you don't know what they're doing it sure does look like they're eating them.

As far as did you remove them too soon ? Well, if the female was indeed eating the eggs....and you wanted to raise them, than it was a good time to take them out. What you might want to do the next time is just observe thier behavior next time they spawn. Watch to see what they do with the eggs and if they will care for them till they hatch...then watch how they are with the fry. Use the next spawn as a learning experience to see just what the parent's will do with them....sort of count them out as lost...lol...because they may well get eaten, but you would have learned a bit to help you the next time around.

BTW....ram parenting behavior is so interesting and fun to observe. They will move them around the tank from one spot to another...digging out a little ditch in the substrate to hold them all in one place. When they start swimming around the parents will chase them down if they wander too far...snatch them into thier mouths...and spit them back with the group. They usually let them swim around a bit during the day as they wander around looking for tiny microbs to eat...but in the evening they corral them all into one place and "put them to bed" ....lol....pretty cute actually.

Enjoy your rams Joey....wish you success with your batch of eggs ! :D
 
Thanks for the response. I watched the whole thing. And yes the male was right behind her everytime wiggling his tail as fast as he could. I figured he was fertilizing them. After she laid all of her eggs, she did take a few and take them in her mouth and spit them back out in a nother spot. Then I watched the female take the eggs in her mouth, but I never seen her spit them back out. She just kept taking egg after egg. I took the rock out after I witnessed her take about 5 in her mouth without spitting them out. I think she was stressed about me putting water from my 55 gall to my 10 gallon. Becuase that is when she started "eating them. I hope these hatch.

I also only filled the 10 gallon tank up half way, and put in a sponge like filter system that I found at petsmart. Looks like this Filter I then put a media bag over this to make sure the fry don't get caught in this filter. In the bottom of the bag I put some gravel from my 55 gal. cycled tank. Will this be enough bacteria to keep this tank clean of ammonia and nitrates. I have no gravel in the tank, just the glass.

Also if they hatch, how long will it take for them to hatch?
What do I feed the fry, and how long after they hatch?
Any other info will be great.
Thanks for the response.
 
Tank sounds fine....the gravel you added from the cycled tank will help. I keep a few bags of gravel sitting in running tanks so that they're handy when I need them. Keep an eye on the parameters though, if your sponge filter isn't seeded or cycled.

They should hatch in 2-3 days, depending on the water temp. I keep the temps at no less than 80F.

Put some live plants in the tank, java moss is great for fry, but any type of aquatic plant that you can put in there will help produce infusoria for the fry to eat while they are really small.

One they get large enough you can start feeding them powdered fry food, micro worms or baby brine shrimp.
 
Update

The eggs look good, atleast some of them. When I got home last night most of them, I would say 80% of about 100 eggs all have little black specs in them. I think this is good. Went to the LFS last night to get some food for these guys when they hatch. They had some powederd fry food, that he said works great, but it was like $10. Has anyone used this stuff before.

EMG: You said use some Java Moss. What if I don't have any of this do LFS carry this stuff? From what I have seen and read; is that you have to grow it first. I wish I had some of this. I also have been checking the water perameters, and everything is checking out ok. I will check twice a day when they fry hatch. Also should I fill the tank all the way, b/c right now it is only half full.

I can't wait for these to hatch. I am going to be a grandfather. :dance2:
 
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