[DeeJayA1]

now what do I do??? i don't have a separate tank to place them in and I think my other pair of rams (1 Gold Balloon and 1 EBR) will probably be laying eggs over the next day or two... I have a 20 gallon tank. I don't really care to breed them, but if anyone would care to help me out, I'd gladly repay you with some EBR's to take home...

The tank itself has only been up and running for 8 days and I'm sure it hasn't fully cycled yet. I want to do a water change, but will it affect the eggs at all if i do? Please help

any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Noahma]

if you do not really want to breed them, you can leave the eggs in the tank with the parents, and they will do the rearing. You will loose some to other fish eating, but you might get lucky and have a few of the fry survive. Chichlids are good caring parents (after they practice a bit)

 

[FreedPenguin]

I have 8 powder blue rams I received from a Florida breeder and I plan on breeding them as well.

From all of the research I've done on breeding these guys, it seems that unless they are wild, it would be best to separate the eggs upon fertilization and hatching them separately in a methylene blue solution. Feeding them seems to be tricky as they can only eat very small food when they are in the fry stage.

They may successfully breed and raise fish I think if they are in an environment free of hungry neighbors. Again this is just a gist of what I've read up on throughout forums.

I would google "Electric Blue Ram Breeding Journal"
I am not sure exactly if the breeding behavior of the EBR are the same as GBRs but I would venture to say it is as they are variations of the same fish.

 

[DeeJayA1]

Thanks for that! looks like i've got some reading to get started on... I'm not too concerned about breeding the rams... but at the same time, i'm pretty excited that it's happening. I may just let it ride and see how things pan out as i don't have an extra tank to put them in. I've got a pretty stocked 20 gallon and to top it off, it's only been up and running for about 8 days. I'm sure it hasn't fullly cycled yet either. the 2 pairs of rams have been chasing each other and I also noticed that the other rams may be laying some eggs soon as well. Is this something that will happen regularly? if so, I may get rid of 2 of them so there isn't so much aggression going on with them being so territorial towards each other.

 

[FreedPenguin]

I am almost positive that I read the eggs are very sensitive to water parameters and the fry are most certainly going to be.

If your tank isn't fully cycled, it may experience spikes in ammonia and/or nitrites which are harmful to the fish.

There are many methods I've seen on ways to cycle the tank and it seems you're doing the fish in cycling, which may kill your fish.

So as I understand it you have 4 fish?
There are ways to use rocks, driftwood, and/or plants to establish different territories.

 

[DeeJayA1]

The first 3 days that the tank was running (with no fish), I treated the water with Seachem pH regulator (7 pH) and Nutrafin Cycle... I added 2 boesemani rainbowfish on the 4th day. The 6th day, I added my rams (4). the 7th day, i added 3 angels. Each time fish were acclimated, i added stress zyme and stress coat.

Tank specs:

20 gallon, Aqua Clear 50 HOB filter, driftwood, 2 anubias, 1 java fern, mondo grass and baby tears along with decent aeration (i guess)

I also tested the water each day after introducing fish into the tank so I've been monitoring it as much as I can and my ammonia levels were at 0ppm and nitrites peaked at .5 ppm and my dkH was at 7.. this was as of 2 days ago...

I plan on doing a 30% water change tomorrow. The fish are all fairly small except the rainbowfish which are about 1 1/2". I know it takes approximately 6 weeks to fully cycle but from previous experiences with fish tanks, I've done a lot worse compared to how I went about setting this tank up... so i've got my fingers crossed on this one.

 

[FreedPenguin]

Good luck, be sure to dechlorinate that LA water

 

[nalu86]

Rams are very sensitive, you will prob loose them all in the process of cycling your tank.
What I would do, is bring all the fish back to the LFS do a fishless cycle with a shrimp or ammonia. wait until cycled and then get new fish or the same.

Or get some filter media from another filter.

Or if you have a lot of plants, its possible they will take care of the ammonia and nitrite.

But keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite. if they go over .25ppm, go do a 90% water change. The lower those paramenters, the better chance your fish will survive.

 

[FreedPenguin]

^ completely agree with Nalu, this may be your best shot at keeping them alive

 

[CKJ]

Alot of people use the tetra safe start with success but you really have to follow the instructions to the letter.

See if the pet store at least has any filter media you can use.

Is that nutrafin the stuff you have to used forever? If it is I would advise not to use that stuff and get you some prime conditioner to use instead. Good luck