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Hi,
I just got my first pair of German Blue Rams 5 days ago, and they were spawning on a piece of driftwood when I got home today! I’m fairly new to fishkeeping and have never bred fish before. They are in a 23 gallon tank with 3 male guppies, 1 male platy and 2 cories. The rams are doing a good job of keeping the other fish out of their territory so far.

I realize that it’ll be hard to raise the fry, especially since these are new parents, but I’d like to give it a try. I’m not sure what I should be doing at this point. Here are some questions:

1. Should I just let the parents try to keep the eggs safe, healthy, etc in the main tank?
2. What should I get to feed the fry if they do hatch?
3. I’m going to the LFS tomorrow, so is there any medication I should get to help prevent fungus on the eggs, or should I just see what happens? The male has been fanning the eggs.
4. About how long are the different stages of development?

Any advice on breeding rams or tips for keeping the eggs & fry alive would be great. Thanks!

Hello,
I am into breeding rams aswell. Okay so...
1. The parents will clean and keep the eggs nice... During the day. They will possibly get eaten at night by a cory.

2. You can feed them some home made stuff like vinager eels, microworms, and BBS. There are also stuff premade like powder and liquid food. Heres the link to how to make some livefoods your own... http://www.fishprofiles.net/faq/live-food.asp

3. You can use methylene blue to stop fungusing, but it isn't necessary.

4. I don't really now about their stages of development. Someone else should answer that for you.

Hope I Helped!

Chris

I hate seperating the parents. So many people have removed the eggs, fry, or one of the parents that many rams have lost the knowledge or instinct to rear their own young. If mine don't lay eggs and raise fry with no intervention then I'm just not going to have them raising any fry. It takes most ram pairs many tries to raise their fry to a big enough size but if your patient and feed them well they will keep trying every few weeks until they get it right.

Young rams do best on livefood. Brineshrimp are the most common and easy to raise but some say brineshrimp are too big. I never had a problem with it but microworms are smaller and often suggested. You should know when rams first hatch they will actually look like the eggs have sprouted wiggling tails because they will still be attached to the egg sac. They don't need fed for a couple more days until they absorb all of the egg and are freeswimming.

Depending on tank conditions(mainly temp) eggs will hatch in 1-5days. Fry will be freeswimming in another 2-3days. They will start to look like tiny rams in a couple weeks and depending on how big your tank is and whether it can contain lots of growing rams they should be removed from the tank around that time. While growing they need perfect water quality and absolutely no changes in parameters or you could lose all of them.

Hey, Im considering breeding blue rams to sell to the fish stores around here kinda as a extra hobby, hopefully make a little money to help my fish stuff buying habbits.
I did a google search a week or two ago and found this guys log on how he raised his fry. I hope you find it helpful.
http://www.cichlidae.com/tank.php?id=368

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back