Anyone had success breeding Bolivian Rams?

I have a mature pair in a 10 gallon tank with flat rocks, a small amount of gravel and lots of hiding places. I over-filter the water, and do frequent water changes.

I've read so much conflicting info on water coolness, or heat...and other things...I'd like to hear from someone here who has successful did it, please~!

I've had them in 8 PH water for 2 years, as that is what our local water is, and they've done fine. Should I attempT to lower it for breeding them?

 

Hi,

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A 10 gallon isn't large enough for for a pair of bolivians. You need a larger tank to breed them. What temp are you keeping their tank? I would suggest you lowered the pH naturally by using peat moss and driftwood. But that would mean you would have to be careful with waterchanges and how much you lower the pH. Also you need to be very careful as how much peat moss you put in because you don't want it to drop too quickly.

 

Thanks for responding, RogueAgent94.
I have many tanks, 8 total....the Bolivians will be put in my 20 tomorrow...I did some reading, and that was the only info that I've found consistent.
Temp, so far, has been about 78.

I have some Indian Almond leaves...would those be good? (read down near bottom)


I'm going to get some freshwater aquarium sand tomorrow to use in the 20, before moving them over.

please tell me more...

 

Hi,

Adding more sand will be good because the parents will dig around in it and use pits in the sand to move their babies to after they hatch. Adding some plants and driftwood along with flat rocks will be good. The rocks should be fairly smooth.

Indian Almond Leaves will also help a lot and make the fish more comfortable. I wouldn't remove a lot of the water if it gets a tint because they seem to enjoy having tannins in the water. I would put a one in a gallon of water and then monitor the drop of pH so you can predict how much your pH will drop each day. Test every day for a week and then you can calculate how many leaves you should add to the tank.

I would raise the temperature to 84*F. They seem to prefer higher temps.

To promote breeding I would begin feeding some high quality foods with lots of protein. Kensfish.com has some great food. Also feeding fresh food will help a lot. You want a mix of about 7 foods.

 

thanks for that info~!!
Should I do the 40% water change with cooler water, as I've read?
(maybe replace that with water already having an almond leaf soaking in?)

 

Hi,

When breeding Amazonian fish I usually did a 50% waterchange with water a tiny bit cooler than my tank water. Usually a degree or two cooler but it shouldn't be a very large change.

I wouldn't replace with the almond leaf water. I would just put the rams in the tank and then do your water pH test separately with the almond leaves. I usually used gallon vases or small 5 gallon tanks that I used as QT. Put in one leaf per gallon of water you test with. Then test every day and see how fast the pH goes down and how far it drops in one week.

 

thank you for that.
I'll need to use a gallon jar...my 5gal is used for raising baby angelfish from my very productive 3 breeding pairs in my only 20 gallon tank~!

I've got the freshwater sand, but my most consistent angelfish pair(every 12 to 14 days) just laid about 300 eggs on a breeding slate in it. After making another attempt at raising those fry, I'll move the angels too a 55 gallon tank.

 

Ooh okay. Sounds like you have very prolific angels .

 

Yes, my 2nd pair laid eggs over the weekend and moved the wigglers to a plant leaf 3 days ago...should be swimmers tomoro.

It's amazing, my 3rd pair are laying eggs right now, but none of them are sticking...it's heartbreaking to watch them both going to bottom, picking up trying to spit them back on again.