FishProfiles.com Message Forums

They're getting the rock ready for spawning. The shaking is if your another bolivian rams...

I'd be expecting eggs fairly soon. Reportedly, they sometimes spit sand over the eggs to hide them, too.

Keep us posted!

Eric

mine have never slapped i knew i was missing something how big are your mabe thats it?

Well according to the guy at the LFS I bought them from, he told me he had them for about 6months. Which is plenty of time for the rams to pair up. As for their size, mine is probably just starting to mature because there are a hint of yellow but definitely not as vivid as Eric's.

Here's are some good pics of the pair swimming:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v347/djsly/Optimized/


[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-05 11:03][/span]

My male is probably about 3" total length, and the female about 2.5" or so. I think the other rams in the tank help the males color a bit - he gets brighten when playing the tough guy as well as when courting the female.

Sly - your guys are probably just a few months behind mine - my LFS had them for about 2 months before I bought them. Nice pics, too. Are they without flash? Have you tried shooting at an angle to the tank with the flash on (I think this gives more vibrant/true colors)?

Eric

[span class="edited"][Edited by big e 2004-08-05 08:50][/span]

All my pictures are w/o flash. I'll try using the flash for my next batch of pictures

Does your Rams swim in the middle or high level of the tank? Because mine keeps at the bottom all the time. I've never seen them go to mid or high levels. When I was at the LFS, all the rams were swimming mid to high (apparantely waiting for me to give them food).

They are still a bit timid but they don't swim away when I get near and they move around now even with the lights on.

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-05 11:08][/span]

In my old 20 long, they swam from top to bottom, but spent the most time down low in the tank. In my 29 they spend most of the time in the bottom, some time in the middle (limited - the unpaired fish spend more time being chased up to the mid-level), and the only time they hang around up top is when they see me open the lid to feed them (then they sit right beneath the surface like dogs waiting for their bowls to be filled).

My solo angelfish I just bought is the opposite - he/she spends most of the time in the mid/upper levels which provides some activity up top in my tank.

As for shyness, it'll go away. Mine were a tad shy at first, but now they're the most outgoing cichlids I've had since a former Texas cichlid (RIP Blinky) who I had for about 10 years. My 5 year old son likes to put his finger on the glass of the tank and slide it around (this annoys me because of the smears) and the rams follow his fingers wherever they go - I have to admit, despite the smears, it is cute to watch.

Eric

Good to hear that they will get bolder as time passes. Right now, even at feeding time, they stay on the bottom and I have to drop pellets next to them.

I'll be going on vacation next week, so hopefully they will be more outgoing before I leave.

I noticed that my male has gotten more colorful! He has more yellow at the head region and I see red outlinings at the fins. I also see some blue on his pelvic fins. My male is starting to your like yours Eric! When I got him, he was very plain

Oh yeah, the male is the dominant one now. He has been for several days now.

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-08 18:10][/span]

It's amazing how drab these fellow are at the LFS. I'm glad yours are coloring up now, too. With the drab presentation at the LFS, small size, I think they're ignored by a lot of people...which is too bad.

Eric

Eric, I saw some new and odd behavior that I haven't seen before. Maybe you can help.

From another thread:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/thread.asp?id=45360
[font color="#BF791F"]
I was watching my 2 Rams this morning and saw some strange behavior I haven't seen before. When ever they are near a small round pebble, they would open their mouths like they were sucking on something. They would "suck" and slide their mouths across the pebble. Also, sometimes they would shake themselves.

Any idea if this should be worried upon?


Water parameters are:
pH 7
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30

-Just did a 25% water change.
[/font]


[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-10 10:59][/span]

They are funny fish! I've seen that tail slapping thing, too. I've had mine for about 8 months now, and they didn't show pair behavior until about 2-3 weeks ago...so you're pretty lucky to be seeing it already. I have heard even after pairing up it often takes them some time to spawn. I guess we'll just both have to wait on see on that issue.

Eric

What??

I"m not ready for babies! This is my first tank so I have no experience with fries!

How long til the eggs hatch? I"ll be away for 10 days starting tommorow night! :%)

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-10 13:25][/span]

Is someone else feeding them while your gone? I've left fish for 2-3 days without feeding with no problems, but any longer I have someone feed...

As for what you need to do, you don't need to do anything. It might take them some time to getting around to spawning, and first time parents often have "issues". Issues would include letting tankmates eat the eggs, getting nervous themselves and eating the eggs, eating the fry, etc...Cichlid usually have a slight learning curve on the parenting issue. Then again, I've had tanganyikan cichlids that were great parents from the start.

So, when you come back home, who knows what you'll have in there! FYI - I'm heading out of town tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. and will be gone until this weekend.

Oh, one thought, tell whoever is feeding that if there are babies swimming around one day to be sure and crush up some flake food really fine along with normal feeding - lots of fry do fine on crushed up flake (really, really crushed up until it's powdery).

Do let us know what happens!

Eric

Yeah I have someone feeding them daily, so food won't be a problem. I hope everything is well once I get back next week.

Should I do anything special for them? For example, should I move some round pebbles in the back near a corner for them to hatch their eggs? Or perhaps turning the lights off early?

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-10 15:07][/span]

No need to do anything for them...seems to me they're on the right track all by themselves! If they're good parents, and your LFS is trade/cash friendly, you could be in great shape.

Seriously though, I've had cichlids take 3-4 attempts to become good parents, I've had the instantly successful parents I mentioned above, and I've had spawners who never became good parents.

Some folks set up a second tank and move the free swimming fry to that tank early on, but I tend to prefer to let the parents raise them until they're big enough to sell or pawn off on a friend or until it's obvious the parents are kicking them out of the tank to spawn again. My theory has always been that parenting behavior is as much learned as genetically inherent and fry raised with the parents will likely be better parents than fry raised seperately...naturally, commercial breeders do all they can to ensure the maximum number of fry survive so they often/usually move the fry to a seperate tank.

Eric

Thanks for your advice.

Well it looks like the pair has choosen one particular pebble and the male is showing territorial behavior. If any fish gets too close to the pebble, he'll poke them away. They spent almost all of thier time near that pebble. I can't see any eggs yet but maybe I should try looking closer.

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-10 17:51][/span]

They laid eggs!

Here's the thread in the Breeding section:
http://fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/thread.asp?id=45450

Maybe you can help me Eric when you get back.

Sly - I posted this in your breeding thread, too, but mine have also laid eggs! Now, the waiting begins...

Eric

Yeah, I've seen that too. I also had one female that was larger than the male at first and she ruled the tank. Now that he's as big, if not a tad larger than her, she's not in charge (he chose another female to pair up with).

My male is constantly "getting big" and shimmying next to the female...she ignores this, but when he's not being so obnoxious (in her opinion), they are swimming around together.

I'm glad you're enjoying your pair as much as I am.

Eric