German Blue Ram Fry!!

My German Blue Rams from coralbandit (aquabid) have been spawning regularly almost since I got them. I noticed they tend to eat their fry after they start free swimming, so this time around I removed the parents and left the fry in the tank for now. It's my 10 gallon QT tank that's become a breeding tank, apparently. (It's heavily planted with hornwort, and with algae on the glass walls). I rearranged the mattenfilter so it could divide the tank in two, so I could move the parents to the other half of the tank. in the process I released all sorts of gunk and mulm into the water column and onto the substrate... this morning I fed some golden pearls to the fry which seem to be free swimming (or maybe still wriggling around? can't tell). They are TINY, like the size of grain of coarse sand, so sometimes it is hard to tell which ones are alive and which have died.

I have a guppy fry in there that somehow escaped my guppy purge, I'll have to remove him/her tonight. I am feeding Golden Pearls (5-50micron size), fed it first time this morning, didn't really see them eating it.. then again GP at 5 microns is microscopic, not sure I woudl have been able to see them eat it anyway. I'm hoping the tank is established enough for the fry to survive. My guppy fry seemed to grow quickly without feeding them much, I think they ate all the infusoria around the tank.

Any tips?

* I know it's easier to do raise the fry in a barebottom tank, but that's not an option this time around.
* Should I remove the dead fry (assuming I'm right that they're dead and not still developing)?
* Will pond snails eat dead fry?
* How do people make it easier to feed the fry multiple times a day with a busy work schedule? automatic feeders aren't really an option I don't think. I probably can't do more than 2x a day.. maybe 3x if I feed them very late night.

I'll post pictures tonight.

On an separate note, I found a guppy fry / juvenile in my Aquaclear 20 filter in the same tank. I never clean out the basket (as in maybe once a year??) since I use prefilters.. however I removed the prefilter since it kept clogging on me about a month ago. so, this guppy has been in the filter for possibly a month? and grew up in there? I don't know how it survived the impeller... that said, I found what looked like shredded shrimp (like the kind we eat, not red cherry shrimp) in the tank last night, which made me think.. did some fish have an unfortunate encounter with the impeller that I am just learning about now?? not sure where that mushy meaty thing came from. It was pretty gross. Guppy got rehomed into another one of my tanks.

 

Congrats on the new fry I don't have a ton of advice because I am still learning how to raise rams myself. I have raised angels, acaras and plecos with no problems. But the rams are proving to be more of a challenge. So I would love to follow along and see how it goes for you.

The biggest hurdle so far has been getting them to eat. They are too little to even eat baby brine shrimp which was always my go-to for newborn fish. I had to get a microworm culture going as a result. My fry have not been in a heavily planted established tank. So they didn't have much for microorganisms. I set up a bare bottom 15 gallon for them with floating plants and anubias and java fern and stuff.

I have chosen to remove the dead fry. Which has proven to be very tedious. Because like you said, it is hard to find the dead ones mixed in with the good ones. And you have substrate making it even harder. I am willing to bet the pond snails might eat them...they are little enough for a pond snail to suck on.

 

Glad to hear the rams are doing their thing for you.
I artificially hatch all eggs in a separate container.
Once the fry are free swimming I feed freshly hatched live BBS.They are not too small to eat them right away.
The golden pearls are a great food choice but unfortunately the fish needs to know how and what to eat. Fry are not smart enough to recognize food yet so the live BBS is the needed method IMO.
It is the movement of the shrimp that attract the fry and encourage them to learn how to hunt and eat.
I have never had much luck feeding anything else for the first 2 weeks ,which is the toughest part of raising them after you get them to hatch and swim .
Good luck !

Tom

 

When separating the eggs to another container do you use a air stone to move the water or some other method?

 

Glad to hear the rams are doing their thing for you.
I artificially hatch all eggs in a separate container.
Once the fry are free swimming I feed freshly hatched live BBS.They are not too small to eat them right away.
The golden pearls are a great food choice but unfortunately the fish needs to know how and what to eat. Fry are not smart enough to recognize food yet so the live BBS is the needed method IMO.
It is the movement of the shrimp that attract the fry and encourage them to learn how to hunt and eat.
I have never had much luck feeding anything else for the first 2 weeks ,which is the toughest part of raising them after you get them to hatch and swim .
Good luck !

Tom

Thank for the info . I have these two in my 10 gallon tank for now . I may move them to my 55 gallon tank where the other 4 rams are and a bunch of other fish to keep maintenance easier. Need to get bbs setup going, and realistically won't have time or space for a while. I am tempted to try one last time and just move the fry to the sump. I keep finding juvenile sized lemon tetras in there... The eggs make their way into the sump and the fry eat the infusoria I guess.

 

When separating the eggs to another container do you use a air stone to move the water or some other method?

Yea I use the disposable air stone with eggs and fry until they are big enough to have a small sponge filter.

 

When you say disposable air stone do you mean just a cheap stone.

 

Yea Lees plastic white cheapos..The fine not course.

 

Hello. I just bought some German Blue Rams from Coralbandit. I can't wait to get them!!!