platy ben

Ok, so i bought a male and female ram from my LFS about a week ago. And on Thursday night they spawned for me and i watched it all, the male definitly fertilized all of the eggs and they were doing a great job looking after them (fanning them etc..)
I put the light on friday morning and the eggs were no where to be seen and the male seemed grumpy with the female, chasing her away whenever she got near where the eggs were.
The pair are still young and both are only just about 1" long.

There are no other fish in the tank and the only other thing in there is a tiny mystery snail.

Water parameters are fine and the rams are both now swimming around together again and are looking great, but does anybody have a clue what happened to their eggs?

Shawnie

awww ben im sorry..but they ate them.....the next time they spawn, leave the lights on 24/7 because like with my angels, they feel threatened and cant defend (even if nothing else in the tank) when the lights are out and eat them before something else would...they will spawn again, and the algae will get worse on the light from leaving it on 24/7, but it works and you just need to wipe it off once a week or so....goodluck!

platy ben

Oh no, not more algae lol, I think i have a minor case of diatoms starting in there already.

Ohwel, its worth it

I did think maybe they ate them but i didnt know leaving the light on would help.
Thanks Shawnie .

By the way, any idea on how long it will be before the female is ready to lay eggs again?

Shawnie

I dont know about rams ..never had them....I know my angels spawn about 1-2 weeks after each spawn disappears...once I get the african stuff settled, im going to concentrate on the angels and their spawns...for now, I continue to shut off the light and they are gone by morning...but ive had a few spawns go for weeks with the lights on so I know that is a major part of mine ...diatoms as you know will go away...how about some ottos in there? they will help with all the algae issues...but again, it doesnt look to great but it doesnt hurt anything ...

platy ben

I do like ottos buti never have much luck with them , i bought 3 for the 33G and 2 vanished the first nighti put them in, but the last guy is doing a sterling job of keeping the tank clean .

Hmm its a 15G and it has in at the moment:
German blue ram pair
one mystery snail
2 cherry shrimp (moved them from the 8G to see if my rams will get along with them)

Would adding 2 ottos be pushing the bio-load a little to much?

Thanks for all of your help Shawnie

My cockatoo cichlids spawn once every 1-2 weeks so i guess it will be roughly the same with rams, sadly the cockatoo eggs normally get fungus.

Shawnie

actually with what you have in there, they should be able to handle the extra algae you could get with the lights on ..although like i said, most of my algae comeson the lid right under the light and not so much in the tank... knowing you have a mating pair is half the battle for breeding...they and you will get it right the more it happens your always welcome to the help and hope it works for you soon!

platy ben

Cool Il just stick with what im doing then, except ive got to remember too leave the light on when the eggs arrive

Just an off topic question, so far the rams havent been bothered by the cherry shrimp so would i be able to add a few more if all is still well in a few days?

Shawnie

sure I wouldnt see why not....ive tried the shrimp as they are cute lil buggers..but they always end up a meal

platy ben

So far ive only succesfully kept and bred my cherrys in a tank with guppys, so maybe i will be able to add rams to the list of fish ive kept them with