# pic of my oldest GBR baby...he's looking good!



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

This is the best shot Ive had of this one...he's pretty domineering in the tank. I think it might be a boy, but at this stage too hard to tell. 
He's getting prettier each day with more color showing up now.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

looks beautiful, but I think it may be female.

Only time will tell


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I think you might be right. The mother is pretty dominant, so it would not
be unreasonable to think she would produce female offspring with the same trait.

She/he likes to boss the others around, and chases them out of the way.

The other biggest one does look male, has a defined eye stripe and black spike and is totally bigger all over than the others, leading me to think he will be male. Hard to even get a picture of him, he's too fast.


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## Rigio (Jul 23, 2013)

very interesting to see the different pictures as your gbr's have come from wigglers to babies to youth. I've unfortunately lost two of my rams in the past few days. let me know when you're going to be selling some off. i'll definitely be interested in buying a few. i visit Burlington on a regular basis, so pick-up wont be difficult. I wish you the best with raising them, please post more pictures


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

OK picture taking day on the baby rams.
Seems I have some fantastic colors showing up in these German Blue Diamond longfins now. 
Some have lot of orange, some electric blue, some with stripes, some not sure yet 

Im like a kid in a candy store, I can't get enough of these little beauties. 

here's some pics from this am.
this is my orange one along with a green rasbora!








these are the younger ones, peeking out of the plants, you can just see
some of the blue sheen coming out in them now....they are growing good.
























the orange one again....leaning towards a female on this one!








This one has some really nice striping going on.








couple of the younger ones, showing the blue sheen...hard to catch a photo when they are whizzing past your face


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Gorgeous, but I like that green rasbora !


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Me too...isn't that an incredible color of green. I hunted high and low to get them, finally asked Big Als Hamilton, to bring them in for me, which they did. They sure keep my rams distracted, which is what they were intended for.

Funny thing is my rice fish which I got at the same time are breeding too, now if only I could get these little green ones to do the same....hmmnnn


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

here's the oldest male and he's getting the long fin on the top now.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

and here's a couple of fuzzy pics of the 2nd batch growing out.

You can see the difference in the colors showing up now...one is EBR the other is a GBR. It looks like I have a few of the EBR ones in this batch 
That one is very domineering so Im thinking its a male, but will have to wait for another month or so.

The last batch growing out is a mix of 50/50 long and short fins. German Blue Diamond longfin female x German Blue shortfin male, so I should get a mix.


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

they look great. I'm so happy for you. I think you have the magic touch for these things bettaforu


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Thanks, no magic touch, just tried it the way the Breeder in the US does it.
Keep it simple, here's how they do it...if hatching the eggs yourself, a small 2.5 gallon filled with methylene blue till its quite deep blue (I know its awful, but that's what I was told to do) it worked. 

After the wigglers are freeswimming you feed them vinegar eels (not microworms) then after 2 days you start changing out 1 gallon of water each day and replace it with the same temp water with conditioner only added. The water gets less blue as each day goes by, and finally after about a week its barely blue anymore.

Now you start adding in the microworms with the vinegar eels. I left in a few pond snail to clean up the leftovers. I also added moss and floaters to the tank for infusoria right from the start. 

By the time they are about 3 weeks old you can move them to a 5 gallon tank, and just slowly add in some fine flake food...I used Golden Pearls (which is made from brine shrimp) They sometimes won't eat it, and that's OK, just keep adding it and eventually when they get really hungry they start picking at it off the bottom.

When they are 5 weeks old I moved them to a 35 gallon (where they are in now) for more room to grow. Plants are also in this tank moss/floaters, some cholla wood for them to pick at when dinner is late etc. 

I keep the temp around 82F and added Stresscoat as the conditioner, so far
its working good. They are now eating flaked earthworm, golden pearls, live brine shrimp and microworms daily.

Im sooo addicted to these now I am actually enjoying them better than my Bettas and Shrimps (and that's saying something) 

I will try to keep posting the pictures as they grow and mature to show the colors they have.
Thanks for taking this trip with me


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## Rigio (Jul 23, 2013)

Looking good, I'm glad to see they are doing well and growing lots


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

anymore pics?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Not so far. I just moved everyone around yesterday so they are a bit freaked out. youngest babies and my show male and female are in one tank now. 

I fished out the biggest oldest male GBR and the EBR female and they are now housed by themselves in a 10 gallon with lots of moss rocks, plants and stuff to hide in. Hope they will get it together 

The female came out of hiding so she must like this tank....maybe get some better pics of them together now.

The other 3 seem to enjoy the peace in the big tank, so I think it was too many males and not enough space for them in there. I have one very dominant GBR female, she kept the EBR female way in the back hiding all the time and wouldn't even let her eat.


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## Rigio (Jul 23, 2013)

Do you find the gbr and ebr are quite difficult together pictures of? Mine scare way to easily.


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Your babies are looking great Anna. It looks like you are doing a really good job raising them up.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

here they are all settled in their new home....looking mighty comfy 

You can clearly see the young male GBR longfin starting to grow upwards.

The EBR female doesn't have the longfin look but on the male EBR the topfin has a definite spike to it.

These are called German Blue Diamonds, because of the extra blue sparkles on the bodies. It was a breeder in the US that perfected it. I hope to be able to continue producing these gorgeous fish to share with other hobbyists.



















I have noticed the electric blue juvies are more aggressive in nature than the german blue juvies. I have a few more growing out and can see its the electric blues pushing everyone else around.


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## yyzAndy (Sep 10, 2012)

Great job!

I'm a fan of the GBR to but I have had a tough time keeping them. .they last about 3 months then they just seem to pass suddenly. 

I'm wondering what you use for water?

I use tap water. ..ammonia nitrite nitrate all consistently 0, 50% w/c once per week. Ph is around 7.8

Gh is 12 kh is 9.

Any info you could pass would be appreciated. ..

Andy



Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk 2


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

My water is straight tap water PH 7.6 I just add stresscoat. I have the temp at 84F and used half of the water from a cycled tank and half tap to set up the 10 gallon. 

I let it run with a sponge filter (old one from another tank) and airstone and some plants floating. Let it run for 3 days, checked for ammonia (none) and then put the fish in.

I don't use RO for the fish tanks.


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

nice pics!!


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Wow, those 2 are juvies? They look pretty much like adults already, good could and fins for juvies. How old are they?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Hmmmnnn I think they are about 2 1/2 months now? Check my original post. I got them with Jinx back in June I believe. They were the 2nd spawn of the parents....first one they ate. 

I let them have the eggs hatch in the tank and they were fine for about 1 week, then all of a sudden they were all gone....or so I thought. The parents spawned again and when the wigglers were just starting to get to the free swimming stage I noticed 5 bigger ones in the same pit as the newly hatched ones.

Seems this was the surviving ones from the previous spawn and they were smart enough to figure out the safest place was under Mommy and Daddy 

They just kept on growing bigger and bigger and each spawn I took out of the tank, but left them in with the parents who didn't bother them at all, and they grew up with the mother and father. Later when the father died, I got another new male for the mom, and she accepted him and spawned another batch, which I took out and hand raised.

I took the mother and her mate out of the 20 gallon tank and left those 5 in there to grow...these are the 2 biggest ones.

I have about 10 others, and another 20 younger ones all growing out in different tanks.

.


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

I checked your original post and you are right they are in between 2.5 and 3 months old now. They are looking impressively mature for such a young age. Do rams generally develop that quickly or are these special, and you are raising them really well?
My apisto juvies are not nearly that mature looking and they are a month older. Maybe apistos mature slower, or I am doing something wrong.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Only thing I can think of is I have CO2 running on that tank, maybe extra oxygen makes them grow faster, or maybe its the food. I feed them earthworm flakes/golden pearls and microworms.

They are very hardy stock, which I contribute to the breeder in the US as they have raised there's in PH 7.6 water with no fuss. These babies I hatched were off the ground freeswimming in a day, I was amazed.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

just captured these pics after I fed them bloodworms.

They looked like they were picking at the ledge of glass on the side of the tank...where it had a piece silicone over a crack...there's a little ledge and they were both picking at it....hmmmnnn, do I see eggs in the future? Geez I can only hope.....fingers crossed, legs crossed 

My little beauties


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

wow.

was wondering yesterday why hasn't see posted more pics.... I can't wait to get some in my tank!!!


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

I was doing a bit of research on the net and found out that rams grow out at a much faster rate than apistos. There is even different growth rates among different types of apistos.

Bye the way Anna, those two juvies are looking really nice. If you have more that look like that I may end up buying more off of you.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I have a few that might develop into something real nice...keeping my eyes on them.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

here's another of my oldest ones....this is the dominant one in the tank right now.










You can see why these are called German Blue Diamonds aka because of the extra blue sparkles on them, sorry about the water spots.


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

this one is not long fin though. I've seen similar ones at big als mississauga but I think they are fairly expensive there and look too big.

I sent you a PM bettaforu


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

UPDATE:

My Electric Blue female German Blue Diamond male have laid eggs!

They have decided to lay them at the very back of the tank on the bottom, where I cannot get to them  I will have to wait and see if they hatch them by themselves.

At least now I know for sure they are a mated pair!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Here is a couple of pics taken today of my second spawn of longfin german blue diamonds. The EBRs are really starting to show their colors now....the GBDR are a bit slower. I think the EBR are more aggressive for the food and are grabbing the best first, so the GBDRs are not getting as much. I will separate them soon.










Here is pic of my oldest GBDR boy and his new EBR mate. Just waiting for them to spawn


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## Beedans (Jun 20, 2013)

They are sooo beautiful!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

OH NO here we go again, and this time its not just one pair but 2 

Both of my pairs have laid eggs and are tending them diligently 

As I am already growing out 2 tanks of youngsters (35 gallon and 10 gallon)plus a 2.5 gallon with 10 day old fry, I cannot hatch another lot, so will leave these eggs to the parents and IF they are successful in rearing them, then all the better.

Must be those blackworms Ive been feeding them


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

everything I have read about breeding fish says livefood for the parents is best. I hope you have some buyers lined up for these little guys before you end up with too many.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I have a buyer coming on Friday that's taking 6 -8 of the oldest ones and the rest will be at the upcoming auctions.


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## SwimmyD (Feb 9, 2013)

Wow! Congrats on such a great brood of fish! Exciting! They are very pretty fish!


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