# Little copepods in my FW AQ



## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Allrighty well i was checking out my aquarium that currently holds no fish only a ghost shrimp and i see a few little critters in the algae on my glass and scooting around my sword plant. I do water changes twice a weeks and siphon once every 2 weeks. are they a sign of poor water quality? (what i am reading..) or what bc it seems im doing things right here lol.


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

r u sure those r not the little shrimplets?


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

ahh well i was reading a bit and from some pictures ive just seen they appear to be Cyclops, i seen a few carrying eggs around also lol great!. curious they arent harmful to fish are they? bc they look like they would be great food for the german rams fry i will have once they breed.


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

they r considered food for larger fish


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

anyways, i just got 3 german blue rams, will try to breed those too, thought it would b easier to sex them, i think i have 3 males and 2 females, guess time will tell. theyre still small. how big do they need to b to breed?


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Ahh very nice! i love german rams lol. well if u can post pics i could probably tell you the sex of the fish. and for size for breeding mine were around 1.5-2.0 inches. they laid 250+ eggs also and it was their first time lol. though they chomped them 3 days later i did get to see a few wigglers that i saved(about 4). they got free swimming a few days after their yolk sacs were gone but then parished soon after. Problem was i wasent ready for them but i will be next time! lol.


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

i bred flowerhorns, and same thing, first time they layed about 300 eggs and i started to c the wigglers and then noticed that they were being eaten, so i moved one of the parents and i realize is moved the young male, so i switched them back later, got upset and so did the male flowerhorn cause he beat up the female,
i switched the female, got another spawn, this time i said ill let it go.
same thing happened, the wigglers were disapearing again, and the res eggs developing some fungus id say. 
got disappointed again, in a few days i found about 150 tiny fry swimming around.
So now i know that the move them away to protect the wigglers from infection and that sometimes an inexperienced parents make some mistakes. i guess all SA Cichlids r similar


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

yeah i know what ya mean lol since German rams are mainly farmed they have like 0 experience parenting. I think im going to let them learn after a bunch of spawns. id like to have them work harder and not me haha, plus the fry inherit the parenting skills so its good that way.


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

some say they can spawn avery 2-4 weeks i guess depending if the fry stays with them...


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

yeah, i could believe it. they spawned a week after i got them lol. plus i was feeding them frozen brine shrimp as a main food and new life spectrum cichlid formula small pellets every now and then. 

Though i had to xfer them to my brothers 75gal planted since i had to re-do the substrate and put sand in. so im letting the tank settle for a few weeks before i put them back in. Why i did sand was so the fry wouldnt fall into the gravel and get stuck or die. also the rams can easily dig a pit in it.


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

Cyclops could possibly harm tiny fry, but I rarely have an issue with them... bunches come, and my fish gobble them up. Consider it free food.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

lol sweet  Thanks.


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## viperblue21 (Feb 10, 2009)

*We're trying to breed our rams too*

We found out about their first clutch when my wife was putting in a new plant. Both the male and female attacked her arm she almost hit the ceiling. In disbelief i finished the planting and i got nipped too. We figured it all out when we were posting about it. The females are smaller and have pink bellies. I was told that changes in water temperature induce the desire to lay eggs. Water changes make it seem like the monsoon has come. We're still trying to get them to lay a section batch they are now isolated in a 30gal tank. Before they were in a community. Good luck


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Hey viper Welcome! says ur new ;p lol yeah females definatly have the pink abdomin and a more rounded belly compaired to males. I generally put my temps to 84 deg and do one slightly cooler water change to spice things up for them lol thats what got mine goin besides the gormet foods haha.


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

whats the breeding size, mine r about 1.25", i used to have on some time ago that was about 2.5"


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

bigshark said:


> whats the breeding size, mine r about 1.25", i used to have on some time ago that was about 2.5"


The breeding size is 1.5" and up lol urs are close. they may even breed if they paired off. but they may only lay like 50 eggs if their small. if u see a pair that are interested in each other put them in their own tank and see if they indicate that they may breed soon. Male and female court each other Fully extending their fins doing circles then some chasing Female Eats Alot around this time... it takes time. lol Good luck.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Getting rams to spawn = effortless

Getting rams to leave their spawn = a bit harder

Raising ram fry to maturity = quite hard

At least, that is my experience. Mine breed every 3-4 weeks like clockwork, but raising their fry has been a difficult project.


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## bigshark (Jun 14, 2008)

looks like theres plenty of german blue ram(GBR) breeders.
So i understand that growing them is the problem, so do u have any success with that? guess i am doing my research as we speak.

looks like the whole copepod tread has been hijacked by GBR breeders/enthusiasts


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Ahh indeed, growing them is tuff i hear also, alot of people use Microworms to start for the first week untill their large enough for BBS. which is what im going to do when mine are ready.


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## viperblue21 (Feb 10, 2009)

*All of their first batch of eggs got eaten*

We had origionally isolated the eggs but the parents do a better job of defending them and keeping them clean of fungus. I'm going to raise the temp a little higher currently 78 and do a water change. And yes the fry have very small mouths. Theres a liquid fry food available but microworms are always recommended.

Hi to you too Tropicana, Big Shark, and Chris


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