# Nice sized Blue Ram spawn



## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

My young Blue Ram pair spawned for the second time, exactly one week from their first. Much larger clutch of eggs this time and the Male seemed to have a much better idea as to what his role was.
While the pair did not start to eat the eggs as they did the first time I decided to remove the eggs after giving the pair a couple hours of practice at guarding them.
I'm horrible about at estimating at how large a spawn is but there are quite a few to say the least...









(more eggs that cannot be seen in the photo on the other side of the driftwood)

I had thought that all the eggs from the first spawn had fungused but was pleasantly surprised by the sight of this little guy and one of his siblings yesterday...










Hopefully I can get more than 2 free swimming fry from this latest spawn.

Brian


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## novice (Mar 14, 2006)

*Blue ram spawn*

Hi Brian,

Congrats - and hope you can keep them alive - I have not gotten past the egg laying stage, and have since lost the pair.

have they spawed in normal tap water or have you lowered/increased the pH

ricky


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## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

novice said:


> Hi Brian,
> 
> Congrats - and hope you can keep them alive - I have not gotten past the egg laying stage, and have since lost the pair.
> 
> ...


Hi Ricky,

The first spawn was in roughly neutral water, not sure on hardness, ph was made neutral using seachems neutral regulator. 
Second spawn was in slightly acidic softer water. Used tap water with seachems discus buffer mixed with distilled water. Hoping to increase the hatch rate with the softer water.

Brian


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Congrats!!! Man i love fry.... :3


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

Congrats! That is a very large spawn for rams...about 200 I would guess 

I've raised mine in normal tap water with a ph of about 7. Do you have microworms for their first food? It works better than bbs (baby brine shrimp) as it is smaller. I use them for a week or so then add bbs till it looks like they are all eating them. Then I switch to just bbs.


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## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

nightowl1350 said:


> Congrats! That is a very large spawn for rams...about 200 I would guess
> 
> I've raised mine in normal tap water with a ph of about 7. Do you have microworms for their first food? It works better than bbs (baby brine shrimp) as it is smaller. I use them for a week or so then add bbs till it looks like they are all eating them. Then I switch to just bbs.


Yup, have a microworm culture going.
The two free swimming fry are currently doing quite well just eating the micro-organisms naturally in the tank. With the population explosion I hope to have in a few days time I will start feeding microworms to ensure there is plenty to go around, switching to decaped BBS when they are large enough.


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## novice (Mar 14, 2006)

I want a breeding pair , I want a breeding pair , I want a breeding pair


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## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

Many more of the eggs seem to be viable in this spawn than the first, from about 60% to around 80%, I'm guessing this is largely a result from the use of distilled water when making water changes to decrease the hardness.

Hopefully the use of hydrogen peroxide will prevent any fungus that may form on the unfertile eggs from spreading across the whole spawn like the last one.

Brian


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

Sounds like you are on the right track  

Did you use the hydrogen peroxide in with the pair or just the eggs? Prolonged (or often use) on adult fish can cause some gill damage according to an article I read on slamon hatcheries.

Novice...I do still have a pair or two kicking around, but not planning any trips into TO right now.


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## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

Just the eggs.

I know a few people that regularly use hydrogen peroxide in their aquariums to control algae and the last I know of they haven't had any problems. Couldn't tell you the dosage or frequency of treatments though.


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

I use it to hatch out eggs, but if they lay once a week you could be using it for 2 or 3 days every week so I'm sure it wouldn't be too good. I don't add my cycled sponge filter till I stop using the HP in the hatching tank.

In a larger tank I'm pretty sure it isn't quite so bad to use it every month or so when the algae gets too bad  Never heard of it beeing used to control algae, but then again I have BN plecos in all my tanks so I have no algae.


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## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

I agree that with such regular spawns regular use would be potentially harmful. 
What I do it float a 1 gallon container inside the tank with the pair to maintain the same water temp. I add whatever the rock/wood the pair spawns on into the container, and then treat just the container twice a day with hydrogen peroxide. I also run an airline tube into the container to create water movement and have a few small java fern plants floating in the container and a bit of java moss on the bottom to provide some micro-organisms for newly free swimming fry before I move them to their own 5 gallon tank.

Very good point about not adding the sponge filter until you are done with the hydrogen peroxide treatment as all the beneficial bacteria and enzymes would be killed.

And the examples of regular use I mentioned are all in 50g+ tanks.

I personally believe that some algae and other biological 'gunk' (technical term) are part of a healthy/balanced aquarium and should not be a problem with regular partial water changes and as long as the bio-load of the tank is not extreme.


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

Sounds exactly like what I do when I don't have a free tank 

Does the HP kill off the plants or the organisms in them? I wait to add plants to late wiggler stage when I no longer use the HP.


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## BigB1986 (Mar 19, 2007)

nightowl1350 said:


> Sounds exactly like what I do when I don't have a free tank
> 
> Does the HP kill off the plants or the organisms in them? I wait to add plants to late wiggler stage when I no longer use the HP.


The HP has had 0 effect on the plants in the hatching container. They have continued to grow and are looking very healthy.


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

Thanks for the info


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## Allan (May 8, 2006)

Congratulations

Al


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