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GBR's Breeding!!

1153 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  greenleaf888, 
HiroPro
I was at my favorite LFS Thursday and decided to get a couple of German Blue Rams. I watched the tank they were in and observed that at the front of the tank the largest, dominant male was paired with a female. I didn't know at that time what their exact breeding habits are, but I liked the way they were paired up and thought they might be ready to breed.

I got them home, along with a dozen Ember Tetras, and drip acclimated them to my 55 planted tank that I'm in the process of setting up. After a couple of hours in their new home, they were exhibiting brilliant colors and staying close to each other. The female's belly was bright red and after a little research I found out that this was a good sign that she was ready to breed.

On day two, they had made a nest in the front of the tank by scooping a good sized hole in the substrate. They were chasing other fish away from the site as well.

On day three, they moved locations to the back of the tank behind a rock. A more difficult place to see, but still observable.

Day four. At one point in the evening she laid her eggs :icon_smil . I can't see the whole nest, so I'm not sure how many there are. They are taking turns guarding the eggs and fanning them occasionally. I removed a small group of Rasboras I was giving to a friend and placed them in a small quarantine tank because I was afraid they'd eat the eggs :icon_frow .

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I haven't seen if the eggs have hatched yet or not since the lights haven't kicked on yet. My concern now are for the eggs or fry.

I have the following in my 55G tank:
12 Ember Tetras
8 Ottos
1 SAE
1 Farlowella Cat
6 Amano Shrimp
2 Bamboo Shrimp

Should I be concerned about an of these? I don't think that the Ottos or the Farlowella would be a problem, but I'm not sure about the others.

I have a 15G tank with a Red Cherry Shrimp colony, some Amanos and a couple of Ottos. I've thought about transferring the eggs or fry to this tank. I've also thought about leaving things as is and see what happens.

Anyone have any suggestions?
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Digsy
It will be almost impossible to raise the fry in a community tank. I have tried doing this a few times as my two pair of rams are constantly spawning and I was hoping in a heavily planted tank, it might work.

Mine spawn about once a week and generally, the eggs fungus before hatching but, I have only managed to get the fry through their first week before they disappear in my community tank so, if you want to try and raise these fry, definitely move those eggs to your 15.
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qazplm25
And anyway even if something goes wrong and they die, the GBR's will most likely keep spawning a lot, so dont worry!

I would also move them to the 15. Good luck!
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HiroPro
Do you think the Amano shrimp would go after the eggs? I was thinking of trying to collect the fry and moving them to 15.
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fishscale
Possible. Amanos are known to eat RCS, whether it is scavenging dead bodies or catching them.
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G
I have had my GBR for about a half year in a community setup and they have probably spawned a dozen time's, but every time the egg's are devoured within a day or two. All I have is a couple pleco's, some otto's and tetras and I know the tetras didn't eat the egg's. I could defiantly see your farowella eating the egg's the shrimp may try to get their fill, maybe even the SAE. The rams are fearless when it comes to protecting their egg's, but against much larger fish probably like your farowella, it's ultimately hopeless.

As was said above, as long as your water is fairly decent your pair will most likely spawn every week or two. I am actually having a problem as a result of them spawning so frequently, my female isn't growing and I suspect it is because she is constantly producing egg's, so I have been trying to stop them from spawning.
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