# GBR fry!, Watching their growth.



## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Hey guys, I just had a hatch of about 150 German blue rams and I want to take small video clips/pics showing their growth over the weeks. The first will be up shortly.

April-24-11:



 lol! Wiggle!

May 16-11: Finally!









June 22-11 Well heres an update! The few i have are doing great. They just started to take NLS grow pellets.










July 10-11 The fry are doing very well, 3 females and one male. I do have 4 others which I will not be selling. Here are some updated pics... Soon to be spawning.


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

Grats!! 

I'm so jealous my female gbr always lays her eggs but the male keeps on eating them =/


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Thanks! yeah thats the case in many pairs so I raise these little guys myself. If I have to many fry I let the parents learn for a few weeks. I have been able to get them free swimming before but the parents started to eat them while spawning a second time with fry.


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

Hopefully my male stop eating the females eggs lol.! I can almost imagine how exciting it is to see those lil buggers free swimming


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

brapbrapboom said:


> Hopefully my male stop eating the females eggs lol.! I can almost imagine how exciting it is to see those lil buggers free swimming


It is truly awesome. Here is the pair I had 2 years ago with the fry. 



 I have a male from one of their spawns which im using to breed atm. Those two though were my favorite pair. I also wish I had the camera I have now back then lol.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Any new pictures with the fry? It would be nice to see them growing.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Charging the battery!


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## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

I was just wondering if you ever take the eggs out after spawning and try to hatch them yourself?

Since they seem to be notorious for eating their own eggs. 

I just got a pair and the female's tummy is big... I dont really know what to expect.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

I actually take the eggs most of the time since few pairs can grow their fry. It is quite hard to grow the fry until they are a week or so free swimming. IT takes roughly 48 hours to hatch GBR eggs and then 3 days after hatching to becomes free swimming at about 82F. Good luck if your going to raise some! 

As for food BBS is to large to start so go with banana worms, they work great for a few days then BBS.

Sorry guys/gals I will get a few pics tommorow. And some of the parents probably.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Kerohime said:


> I was just wondering if you ever take the eggs out after spawning and try to hatch them yourself?
> 
> Since they seem to be notorious for eating their own eggs.
> 
> I just got a pair and the female's tummy is big... I dont really know what to expect.


You can remove the eggs, and once they loose their egg sacs, keep them in a planted tank (lots of little microscopic goodies), until they can eat BBS. I never had any trouble getting 2-3 day fry eating bbs and if you end up with a good mommie fish, often times she will even spit out food for her clutch if you keep them with her (for instance, remove the male instead of the clutch).


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Chris S said:


> You can remove the eggs, and once they loose their egg sacs, keep them in a planted tank (lots of little microscopic goodies), until they can eat BBS. I never had any trouble getting 2-3 day fry eating bbs and if you end up with a good mommie fish, often times she will even spit out food for her clutch if you keep them with her (for instance, remove the male instead of the clutch).


That also definitely works haha, I actually put a few of my geophagus fry into my shrimp tank to eat the microscopic goodies on the glass because there was a population boom in them. Have you ever noticed the female getting too stressed after the male was removed? Curious because the male plays such a role in the nest activities too.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Usually see a decrease in hatch rate, but the male is the one that usually triggers the want to breed again, so better to remove him than take the chance!

That said, if you have two good parents and they don't gobble up all their eggs, the two of them work better together.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

I thought the female would be the ones to trigger breeding with the production of eggs from abundance of food. The male cant breed without a female so would you not rather remove her? Interesting... haha. Two definitely work better then one though.


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## SAMhap (Jun 20, 2010)

save me some.


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## destructo (Aug 12, 2009)

Congrats on the fry, I have had my GBRs spawn 3 times and every time they eat the eggs. 
I am wondering if my water is too hard or they just haven't gotten the hang of it.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Usually the parents dont get the hang of it for a long long time... Some pairs never do while others get it the first time.


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## luluxiu (Jul 24, 2011)

I never had any trouble eating fish 2-3 days BBS, if you end up with a good mommie fish, many times she will even spit out the clutch for her food, if you keep up with her, for example, remove the male, rather than the clutch ...


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## Stephen (May 6, 2011)

Damn I wish I had a nice set of rams from you. oh wait... I do


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

luluxiu said:


> I never had any trouble eating fish 2-3 days BBS, if you end up with a good mommie fish, many times she will even spit out the clutch for her food, if you keep up with her, for example, remove the male, rather than the clutch ...


I have no problem feeding them, just BBS is a bit harder for them to eat right away.

Also I have tried to remove the male and my female just got stressed and abandon the eggs. So I do it myself now, unless I have a great pair.

@Stephen Haha thanks buddy. Im glad you are enjoying them.


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