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Hi, just noticed my blue rams have some eggs, I was wondering if the male is usually aggresive to the female? He was chasing her away, he has for the last couple of days. Now he is guarding the eggs I think. Will he eat them? Whenever she comes close to the eggs he chases her off.

Milkyboy

Milkyboy

Sounds like he is just being a very protective daddy to me. I have heard of some males allowing the female to be close to the eggs and some not.
If he starts to get stressed (feel that the eggs are threatened) out he might eat the eggs. Are there any other fish in the tank? If it is their first spawn the eggs might get eaten too.

Good luck and congrats.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

In the tank there are 6 cardinals and some glass shrimp. Will the shrimp pinch the eggs?

Milkyboy

I dont think the shrimp would be able to stand up to an attacking ram. I think they will be fine there.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Noooo, just got home from school to find the eggs gone. Stupid fish

Milkyboy

Sorry to hear that. They will try again, just wait and see.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

dont panic rams do this alot when learning. the first few times they will eat the things in defense...stupid i know. it may have been the female which is why the male was so determined to keep her away or it could have been the male trying to prevent the female from getting a meal. they coulda have seen a shadow and freaked out who knows lol. beginner parents allways seem to have this issue.

It can take rams several tries to raise their young completely. Surprisingly mine managed to hatch their fry the first time and then one night the fry vanished. It didn't take them long to lay a 2nd batch of eggs. Last time they gaurded the eggs equally but this time the male seems to be the only one gaurding the eggs. He doesn't chase the female away but she doesn't seem as interested this time. Just feed them well(some frozen food helps) and keep the water quality up and they'll lay again.

Thanks a lot guys, how long will it take for them to spawn again?

Is it possible to put up a mesh around the eggs to prevent them eating them?

Milkyboy

My last post was Feb 7 and they'd already raised them to fry so around 2-3weeks for mine. If the eggs had been eaten right away they probably would have laid again a little sooner. If you cover the eggs the rams will probably abandon them and they can't take care of them. My rams were constantly cleaning the eggs, getting rid of bad eggs so it wouldn't effect the other eggs, and they moved them to different locations depending on how dirty their laying spot was and how persistent the other fish were being. Probably every other day the eggs and then the wrigglers were moved.

Some people do syphon the eggs or fry out and raise them seperately but some believe that's part of the reason rams are having trouble raising their fry. We're breeding it out of them and not allowing the fry to grow up with their parents. If mine don't accomplish raising their own fry then I'm either going to settle for having none or move them to the community tank and try a different pair.