german blue ram eggs :)

[finfan]

well i was not expecting anything at all, i have had 3 male rams for about 3 or 4 weeks now and just got a female three days ago, of course the dominant male has been courting her since i dropped her in the tank, well i come back from work late tonight and much to my delight, there is a nice little pit and some little white eggs, maybe 60 to 80 eggs :)  but i don't think they have figured out parenting quite yet, the female seems more attentive to the eggs and at time they both leave the sight and then come back and do some dance, the female seems to be fanning the eggs regularly, the male is usually around but not right on the eggs, it will be a miracle if the eggs make it through tonight between all the hungry mouths in the aquarium, plus with this high ph i am sure they would never really develop anyway, but its still very exciting to see the eggs and the parents trying to learn to be parents..  my first cichlid eggs :)))

[fishlady]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

do you have a holding tank you could remove them to ?.....that would be the great thing to do for them....give them a fighting chance of survival.....

[jklntx]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

I've had several batches hatch in my softwater community tanks and it is fun to watch the parents, but typically they are pretty lousy at being parents. If you have tetras in your tank the fry wont last long because the parents dont defend well.

[Mzungu]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

All right! Good luck, let us know what happens!  

[finfan]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

well, as i predicted, there is only a few eggs left because i have all the tetras (6 black phantom, 4 glowlight, 4 cardinals), they are always looking for an opp. for the parents to leave and swoop in for the kill, i am surprised anything is left, but its been very interesting to watch, too bad i have way too much work now and can't sit and watch for hours :(

ok i need advise on how i can turn this tank into softer water?  the most natural and least hassle way, once i do that, then i can try to take the tetras out and see if they can successfully breed or maybe i can put them in a little tank of their own, but i would still need to know how to make it softwater, i can't collect rainwater so that is not an option for me

[armthehomeless]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

Sorry to hear that most of them are gone.

...Peat makes your water softer...

[imagirlgeek]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

How about driftwood?

[finfan]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

i do have decent size driftwood in there, i don't know that it has made any difference, maybe adding more would, also i need to probably take carbon out of the filter!  is peat filter media available in any LFS? is that a natural way to lower PH?

[armthehomeless]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

Peat is natural...yes.

You should be able to find it at most LFS. I know the chain petstores have it.  If you are careful, you can get it from a gardening store as well. (Be sure there are no chemicals) Read up about it first. You don't want to drop the pH too fast. I don't know what your current pH is.

[finfan]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

actually have not checked parameters in about 2 months, but everything has been healthy and there has not been any changes in the tank, i have done regular 20% or so water changes as well, but the last time i checked it was somewhere between 7.5 to 8.0, it is possible that it had gone down in the last 2 months, definitely should not go up, its a planted tank with moderate amount of plants

[imagirlgeek]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

This is just my opinion...but when thinking about messing with pH, I tend to believe that "If it's not broken, don't fix it".  PH can be difficult to stabilize once you start messing with it.  

It sounds like your fish are happy...breeding and healthy.  :)  If I were you, I would just leave it as is.

[armthehomeless]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

 If I were you, I would just leave it as is.

Actually, I would too ... messing with the pH can get tricky and dangerous.

[finfan]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

i think i will take that advice, it just would be so nice to get a low ph because so many SA fish prefer that

[imagirlgeek]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

I feel ya!  :)  

I was the same way when I got my Trophs.  I wanted to bring up my pH because that's what they prefer.  BUT after lots of reading, and lots of good advice here I opted not to jack with it.  The fish are healthy, they breed, they eat well...I can't really ask for much more than that.  From your post, I gathered that your in the same boat.

[fishlady]

Re: german blue ram eggs :)

finfan.....plants and driftwood will lower the ph naturally also....but i will tend to agree with geek and tim....leave it alone...if you want to seclude them and get them to breed you must have the temp up towards 80 degrees...if they are already spawning in the water you have then they will continue to do so...my suggestion is take out the other inhabitants to another tank.....continue what your doing to this tank....you'd be surprised that if these fishies are aclimated to the ph you have now...if you lower it they may have trouble adjusting and you might end up loosing them.....fish seem to adjust to higher ph's rather than move them to lower ones.....i say read up on the temps they need to breed and go from there....the peat is an option but you might be trying to fix something that's not broken.......i have a dozen baby rams....i'm waiting for them to get breeding age so i can see if they will pair up and so the thing they do....lol...