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Suggestion on growing Blue ram fry


DenningA.Rajit

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Hey all,

Its about 4 days old now and I noticed that some of my fry are free swimming. I just want to know if anyone had some experience in growing Blue rams fry.

My question is when do I take the parents out of the tank? or Should I leave them in until all of the fry are free swimming or should I take them out now?

Also, what are the best food should I feed my Blue rams? Is MW a good fry food to start up with them?

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DISCLAIMER: This is just what a book that I own says. I never had a blue ram in my life. So credit goes to author (Derek Lambert)

Funny that this book mentions that the fry are not going to be free swimming until the 7th day after hatch. You must've got some pretty fast-growing fry :lol:

But according to the book, rams won't eat their fry; instead both parents will defend their fry.

Microworms are good starter food until 3-4 days. Then they can handle baby brine shrimp from then on..

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I suppose if you are confident in rearing the fry on your own, you can remove the parents. Commercial breeders would need to be able to artificially rear the fry while they rest and mate the parents again. So, I think rearing the fry without the parents are always possible.

A cichlid species that spawned while they were in my care were very likely eat their first few spawns.

Another cichlid species that I took care of would take care their fry very lovingly (Apistogramma cacatuoides). They would sometimes get the pellet or anything edible; munch them to smaller pieces and spray them on the batch of fry. It was a really pretty and amazing sight. The mother would defend her eggs and fry ferociously, even from something bigger than themselves (i.e: me)

Who says fish got 3 seconds memory? :)

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Kertaz,

It would be nice to see that happening for my Rams. It's a pity that the Male died due to my human error this morning.(I was kinda sad the whole day (sighs)) I placed him in the hospital tank because the female was chasing him furiously away from the nest site on Sunday. He probably died of depression or sort because there wasnt any vegetation in there. So, I am putting my hope that she had learnt what she can from the male because the male had a good instinct in caring for the young when he was still alive.

Here are photo of the mum taking good care of the babies (For those photoholics out there)

5997824648_e33211ba48_z.jpg

Saw one nice blue ram male in my LFS today. I wonder if I should buy it and see if my female would paired up with him. I read someway that Blue rams paired up for life. I hope she will fall in love with this new male if I get it. I kinda have a soft heart for these little beauties. :)

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Sorry to hear about the dad. :( Many cichlids species are usually paired up by themselves.

If you're afraid that the mother would eat the fry, maybe you can remove her and rear the fry on your own.

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Kertaz,

I was hoping to rear them up my own. That was my initial idea but I'll wait and see. I might leave some babies for her and rear the rest my own. At least, she has something to keep her busy when I am not around. (also depends if she doesnt hide away from me when I want to catch her too)

Speaking of which, need to get my bbs hatchery up and running and get some bbs eggs as well. Java moss is a must as well. Have this idea that the babies sleeping on comfortable and secure java bed in my tank.

Another photo of my other female ram in my community tank. :D

5997888024_91fc996347_z.jpg

Den

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One of the biggest hurdles breeding Rams is to get them to look after the fry.90% of the time they eat the eggs or fry.Ram fry are amongst the smallest cichlid fry and cant eat BBS from the start.

Raising them separate to the parents is more difficult than it should be.The fry like Apistogramma fry need interaction with their parents usually mum to feed properly.

The best way to raise Rams is in a well established and large tank so there is plenty of smaller bugs to eat.Ive raised batches away from the parents but have had problems because they fry are very sensitive to wastes and need paramecium for a while.It will be almost impossible to raise fry in a community tank

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Kiliguy,

Thanks for sharing your experience with me on this little curious cichlids.

I noticed this morning when I check up on my adopted family, the mum seemed to be keeping a good eye on her babies. Seeing her picking up the strays and placing them where she can see them was a positive start to my day.

I currently stationed them in a 1 foot tank and I am also putting few drops of MW now and then to replenish the stock in the tank. For paramecium and little critters in the tank, I have heaps of algae and my java moss seem to be growing well enough to grow new stems. So, hoping that is enough food to go around to feed the babies.

In your past experience, do you think 1 foot tank is sufficent enough to grow the fry or should I think of upgrading the tank to a 2 footer. I have a empty 2 footer on stand by just in case I need to use it for the rams.

Thanks again for your input. I really appreciated it.

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Just went and take a look on how the female is doing with her babies. I got some pleasant surprise.

All fry are swimming now and they are crowding around mum learning how to forage for food on the bottom of the tank. I just added more MW into the tank so that they have something to eat.

This time I wont be too eager to change the water until they approx 2 weeks old. Being positive at the moment. Last couple spawns the fry only survived on till 1 week old. So, looking promising at this stage. Really really hoping that they will survive till they are one month old.

My first ever fish spawn in my breeding career.

So summary, I think it was the male that ate the babies because he kept encouraging the female to mate. This probably why they may start eating the fry (not sure but that's the only reason I can come up with especially when the female needs food to develop her eggs in her) Also, I stopped adding live worms to feed the female since Sunday but added pellets instead. (This too I omit because I am no longer conditioning my Rams to breed but to look after their babies).

Once I separated the male from female (due to human error) and also changed the female's diet, there were more fry in the tank. Also, I can justify that female rams are better parents from male ram from this spawn. That's my observation anyway. :P I think the male rams tend to move them around too much which makes them stressful. My female just chosed a spot and kept watch on them till they can swim. After that, slowly encourage them to explore the tank.

Breeding for conditioning with live food while fry are around result in my first two spawns been eaten up.

Bubbles from sponge filter was kept at 3 bubbles per second. Last time, I had it full and the fry did not last longer than 5 days.

So excited and proud of my female ram. :D

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Kiliguy,

In your past experience, do you think 1 foot tank is sufficent enough to grow the fry or should I think of upgrading the tank to a 2 footer. I have a empty 2 footer on stand by just in case I need to use it for the rams.

Ive found Ram fry to be very sensitive for the first 6 weeks so I would keep them in the tank and do lots of small careful water changes until then.Ultimately when i was breeding these fish I used a 4 ft tank to raise the fry to a saleable size.2 ft would be OK for 20 maybe but the bigger the better.

Your first spawn ever !!! man what a fish to start on :cheer: .Ive spawned 200 odd species and I still find Rams very tricky

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