Bolivian Ram spawn log

My Bolivian rams finally spawned for the first time, so I decided to start a log to track progress.

Despite having Bolivians since Feb 2020, this is the first time I've had a breeding pair. The male of the pair is from my original batch from coralbandit a year and a half ago, and the female came from Passionfish earlier this year. Not sure if it was the addition of 3 more rams to the tank that spurred the pairing or if the female just finally matured enough, but they decided to get down to business!

The pair spawned in my 75 gal community on Sunday evening, on a small flat rock I'd added to their territory. Not sure how many eggs they started with, since they'd finished spawning by the time I checked on them and the egg buffet had already begun. While the male did chase other rams away, he completely ignored the tetras who thought the eggs were a tasty snack. Then the male himself started eating them too. I know this is fairly common, especially for the first couple go arounds for Bolivians, so hopefully they'll get better with practice.




Anyway, I decided to intervene and removed the stone with the remaining ~40 eggs. It's now in a partially filled 5 gallon with an airstone, heater, and few drops of methylene blue. Water was originally from the 75 gallon tank, but I've slowly swapped that out for clean water. Temp unfortunately bounced around a bit due to a malfunctioning heater that has now been replaced, but I think I've finally gotten it stabilized around 78-79F. Thankfully, the eggs still look great!

I've only had to remove a few that turned white, but the vast majority are still a pale gold. And it looks like I can finally see eyes developing as of tonight. Not too bad for my first batch!



Should start to hatch in the next day or so, then onto the wiggler stage! I know things will get tougher as I advance to wigglers and then free swimmers, so fingers crossed that it'll go well! Either way, it'll certainly be a learning experience.

More updates to come!

 

My Bolivian rams finally spawned for the first time, so I decided to start a log to track progress.

Despite having Bolivians since Feb 2020, this is the first time I've had a breeding pair. The male of the pair is from my original batch from coralbandit a year and a half ago, and the female came from Passionfish earlier this year. Not sure if it was the addition of 3 more rams to the tank that spurred the pairing or if the female just finally matured enough, but they decided to get down to business!

The pair spawned in my 75 gal community on Sunday evening, on a small flat rock I'd added to their territory. Not sure how many eggs they started with, since they'd finished spawning by the time I checked on them and the egg buffet had already begun. While the male did chase other rams away, he completely ignored the tetras who thought the eggs were a tasty snack. Then the male himself started eating of them too. I know this is fairly common, especially for the first couple go arounds for Bolivians, so hopefully they'll get better with practice.
View attachment 808320 View attachment 808321

Anyway, I decided to intervene and removed the stone with the remaining ~40 eggs. It's now in a partially filled 5 gallon with an airstone, heater, and few drops of methylene blue. Water was originally from the 75 gallon tank, but I've slowly swapped that out for clean water. Temp unfortunately bounced around a bit due to a malfunctioning heater that has now been replaced, but I think I've finally gotten it stabilized around 78-79F. Thankfully, the eggs still look great!

I've only had to remove a few that turned white, but the vast majority are still a pale gold. And it looks like I can finally see eyes developing as of tonight. Not too bad for my first batch!
View attachment 808322

Should start to hatch in the next day or so, then onto the wiggler stage! I know things will get tougher as I advance to wigglers and then free swimmers, so fingers crossed that it'll go well! Either way, it'll certainly be a learning experience.

More updates to come!

Good luck! Watching.

 

Yes, best of luck. I will be watching as well. Congrats!

 

I have had "Good" success breeding and raising them @ 78'. Just be ready with freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, which was recommended by the "Ram" guy coralbandit to be the best first food once they become swimmers.

Good Luck!

 

View attachment 808374

I have had "Good" success breeding and raising them @ 78'. Just be ready with freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, which was recommended by the "Ram" guy coralbandit to be the best first food once they become swimmers.

Good Luck!

In your experience, how many days did yours typically take to reach free swimming after hatching? Generally I've seen 3-5 days as an estimate - wanted to make sure that's accurate. I'm trying to decide when to start my BBS culture - thinking a few days after hatching or so. I also have a vinegar eel culture ready to go, so I have that as a stopgap if the BBS aren't ready soon enough.

I also have a variety of prepared foods - Golden Pearls in various sizes, Hikari first bites, and Ken's premium growth meal. I'm hoping I could get any fry mostly transitioned onto at least one of those within a month or so, since we have a trip at the end of Sept and it'll be best if I could leave pre-portioned foods for our house sitter.

Thinking live foods for the first week, and then either mixing prepared + live at the same time, or perhaps doing prepared as the first feeding when they're hungriest, and then live later in the day. Thoughts?

 

On average 3-4 days to hatch to wigglers then 3-4 days to swimmers. I feed them BBS at least 3x per day with 50% water changes 2-3 times per week. Nice pink bellies.
After about a week or so I start mixing in Golden Pearls with the BBS. Then over the course of 4-6 weeks add more and more golden pearls along with finely ground up growth meal. Eventually no bbs, just fry food (Kens, etc..).

Good Luck!

 

I have movement!

I’ll admit, I don’t know quite what I was expecting with wigglers. But I wasn’t expecting to see golden twitching/bouncing beans with tiny tails.

I know my gudgeon offspring went through the wiggler stage too, but the nest wasn’t out in the open so I didn’t get to witness this before!

 

I have movement!

I’ll admit, I don’t know quite what I was expecting with wigglers. But I wasn’t expecting to see golden twitching/bouncing beans with tiny tails.

I know my gudgeon offspring went through the wiggler stage too, but the nest wasn’t out in the open so I didn’t get to witness this before!

I think the size is what surprised me the first time, especially when they start swimming. I guess I expected something bigger!

 

My Bolivian rams finally spawned for the first time, so I decided to start a log to track progress.

Despite having Bolivians since Feb 2020, this is the first time I've had a breeding pair. The male of the pair is from my original batch from coralbandit a year and a half ago, and the female came from Passionfish earlier this year. Not sure if it was the addition of 3 more rams to the tank that spurred the pairing or if the female just finally matured enough, but they decided to get down to business!

The pair spawned in my 75 gal community on Sunday evening, on a small flat rock I'd added to their territory. Not sure how many eggs they started with, since they'd finished spawning by the time I checked on them and the egg buffet had already begun. While the male did chase other rams away, he completely ignored the tetras who thought the eggs were a tasty snack. Then the male himself started eating them too. I know this is fairly common, especially for the first couple go arounds for Bolivians, so hopefully they'll get better with practice.
View attachment 808320 View attachment 808321

Anyway, I decided to intervene and removed the stone with the remaining ~40 eggs. It's now in a partially filled 5 gallon with an airstone, heater, and few drops of methylene blue. Water was originally from the 75 gallon tank, but I've slowly swapped that out for clean water. Temp unfortunately bounced around a bit due to a malfunctioning heater that has now been replaced, but I think I've finally gotten it stabilized around 78-79F. Thankfully, the eggs still look great!

I've only had to remove a few that turned white, but the vast majority are still a pale gold. And it looks like I can finally see eyes developing as of tonight. Not too bad for my first batch!
View attachment 808322

Should start to hatch in the next day or so, then onto the wiggler stage! I know things will get tougher as I advance to wigglers and then free swimmers, so fingers crossed that it'll go well! Either way, it'll certainly be a learning experience.

More updates to come!

OMG I am so relieved to see that my rams weren't just a nuisance to you from bringing worms into your tank. I am so happy! Her name was Lady like in the Lady and the Tramp, but I don't know what you named her as of now.

 

Looks like about half the wigglers may have died overnight.

I checked the thermometer and the temp appeared to drop to 76F or so overnight - could that have been enough of a swing to kill the wigglers? Otherwise, any idea what could be causing it?

I did also start doing a series of water changes yesterday to slowly get rid of the MB in the water. Used treated tap water, most of which was aged 6-12+ hours. The water in the fry tank should have already been mostly tap water (not original parent tank water) due to prior water changes, so there shouldn’t have been any other major swing in water parameters.

Guessing I should grab a pipette and try to carefully fish out the dead wigglers so they don’t foul the water.

OMG I am so relieved to see that my rams weren't just a nuisance to you from bringing worms into your tank. I am so happy! Her name was Lady like in the Lady and the Tramp, but I don't know what you named her as of now.

I actually hadn’t named her yet, so Lady it is! The male doesn’t have a name either, so I suppose it’s only fitting to call him Tramp.

 

Looks like about half the wigglers may have died overnight

I have not tried taking eggs and raising or used the MB.
Maybe coralbandit has some info he can share.
Good Luck!

 

The parents will probably get more protective with subsequent spawnings, if this happens it may be easier to take the fry out when they are already free swimming.

 

The parents will probably get more protective with subsequent spawnings, if this happens it may be easier to take the fry out when they are already free swimming.

This is what I’ve done with GBR fry. Very carefully and gently with a turkey baster on the first day of free swimming.

 

This is what I’ve done with GBR fry. Very carefully and gently with a turkey baster on the first day of free swimming.

Yes, I have done this with my Laetacara araguaiae, only I used a siphon to get them out.

 

Looks like about half the wigglers may have died overnight.

I checked the thermometer and the temp appeared to drop to 76F or so overnight - could that have been enough of a swing to kill the wigglers? Otherwise, any idea what could be causing it?

It really could have been a weak spawn .
Even if both are mature they are not experienced..
Things should get better for you and them IMO .

 

It really could have been a weak spawn .
Even if both are mature they are not experienced..
Things should get better for you and them IMO .

Thanks, that’s good to hear! Hopefully the next round or so will be an improvement!

This is what I’ve done with GBR fry. Very carefully and gently with a turkey baster on the first day of free swimming.

Yes, I have done this with my Laetacara araguaiae, only I used a siphon to get them out.

If they get better at protecting the nest in the community tank, I’ll certainly try that!
—-

I officially lost the rest of that spawn. I had two survivors as of yesterday, sadly done to zero today. Never quite made it to free swimming. Still, a learning experience! And hopefully the pair will spawn again and it will be stronger.

It also appears that 2 of my 4 QT rams are pairing up, so I may leave those 2 in that tank when I move the other 2 out in a few days. Fingers crossed they decide to spawn! If not, I’ll eventually try putting the established pair there instead.

 

I've had two additional pairs form since I last posted. The first pair is the two I mentioned from QT last time. The other pair is in my 75 gallon community, and i believe were the other two rams from QT. Both pairs have laid eggs once. The ones in QT nearly made it to wiggling before they were consumed by the parents, whereas the ones in the 75 gallon were eaten that night. Still, I'm hopeful that they'll try again. Nothing further (yet) from the original pair that spawned in August, but the two newer pairs are promising.

Fingers crossed that the pair in the 10 gal QT tank have a successful spawn, since that would be the easiest place to start raising fry!

 

Well, the pair in my 10 gal tank have now spawned for the third time. They spawned for the second time a couple weeks ago, but immediately ate that set.

It's a small batch this time, but I'm hoping third time's the charm! Time will tell...

 

Well, the pair in my 10 gal tank have now spawned for the third time. They spawned for the second time a couple weeks ago, but immediately ate that set.

It's a small batch this time, but I'm hoping third time's the charm! Time will tell...

View attachment 817342

The eggs look fertilized. Good luck! Anything else in the tank with the pair?

 

The eggs look fertilized. Good luck! Anything else in the tank with the pair?

The eggs have looked fertilized every time, so I'm chalking it up to inexperienced parents - hopefully should change in time.

The pair of Bolivians are the only ones in the tank, other than a pond snail or two. I've kept it to be a breeding tank for now, in the hopes of being able to raise some rams eventually.

 

Fingers-crossed for you and the pair, they should eventually get it right.

Good Luck!

 

Eaten yet again (shortly after my last post).

Perhaps next time they’ll get it right…

 

Argh! The pair just laid fertilized eggs again yesterday, and then proceeded to eat them almost immediately. Given the length of time since my last post, I’m guessing this has happened multiple times.

Deciding whether to try to wait for one more batch and then immediately move the parents, or if I’m calling it quits on this pair. If I do call it quits, I have a BN pleco nest that I can move to this tank in the next week. Decisions, decisions…

 

Argh! The pair just laid fertilized eggs again yesterday, and then proceeded to eat them almost immediately. Given the length of time since my last post, I’m guessing this has happened multiple times.

Deciding whether to try to wait for one more batch and then immediately move the parents, or if I’m calling it quits on this pair. If I do call it quits, I have a BN pleco nest that I can move to this tank in the next week. Decisions, decisions…

Depending on where they lay them, have you thought about moving the eggs, not the parents?

 

Depending on where they lay them, have you thought about moving the eggs, not the parents?

I could move the eggs to a 5 gallon next time, but thought I’d avoid shocking them if possible. I’ve been planning to eventually move the pair of rams to my 75 gallon anyway, but had been hoping to at least get one batch of fry to rear from them.

 

I could move the eggs to a 5 gallon next time, but thought I’d avoid shocking them if possible. I’ve been planning to eventually move the pair of rams to my 75 gallon anyway, but had been hoping to at least get one batch of fry to rear from them.

As one more option, a breeder box in the same tank would also work. And should avoid your concern for shocking them.

 

I moved the 10 gallon ram spawning tank today, since I was organizing my three fry tanks all onto one stand together. To move it, I ended up doing about a 75% water changed (moved tank only 25% full). Ram tank is now on the right; the two on the left currently have BN pleco fry and a few juvenile Gertrude's rainbowfish.




Anyway, lo and behold the pair decided to spawn after settling into the new location for a couple of hours! It's been a few hours and they've yet to eat the eggs, so perhaps I'll have more luck this time. The tank is now in a lower traffic area, so perhaps they feel more secure. Time will tell.

 

Eggs haven’t been eaten yet, and definitely look fertilized! Woohoo - already an improvement over the last few attempts. Fingers crossed that they successfully reach the wiggler stage in the next couple of days!

 

I have wigglers today!!!

….though as I was watching, the parents started grabbing a bunch in their mouths. Really hoping they’re just moving the nest, not eating them.

 

I have wigglers today!!!

….though as I was watching, the parents started grabbing a bunch in their mouths. Really hoping they’re just moving the nest, not eating them.

Congrats! But we need pictures!

 

Congrats! Yes we will need pics.

 

Well you can’t really tell they’re wiggling in this, but here’s a pic I just took.

 

Oh wow! I’m so jealous. I have 2 females so it’s not going to happen. Lol

 

Some of the fry are just finally starting to get a brief lift-off! Hoping I’ll have some free swimmers soon!

 

I finally have swimmers! Such a difference compared to when I checked them this morning and they were still mostly wigglers.

 

The parents decided to move the fry to a more “secure” location. I guess they didn’t like me putting a pipette near the fry to feed them BBS. Got some nice orange bellies though!

 

The joy of watching and assisting Mother Nature.

Congrats!

 

Daily photo of cuteness. I can already tell they're getting bigger!

 

Fry are approximately 9 days old, if you count from when they hatched into wigglers.

It’s getting harder to take photos of the swarm, since they’re spreading out around the tank a lot more but still so tiny. The parents seem more comfortable letting them loose, probably since they’re the only fishy inhabitants, though they do like to warn me away if I stay too close for too long. And they’ve pushed back pesky snails, which are CLEARLY still a risk to their free swimming fry.

 

I used to keep my pairs in tanks by themselves, well except for some Mystery snails. If the snails got too close they would actually ram them, they were like bowling balls. LOL
Even when one pair spawned in a tank with Angels, they showed "No" fear even though the Angels were 5x their size. "Great" parents.
Maybe come Springtime I may want a 1/2 dozen if you are selling them.

Continued "Success" to you.