German Blue Ram Wigglers Die Before Free Swimming

When I need BBS I use 2 hatchery's. Start one then another the next day then always have plenty.

 

I definitely will set-up another BBS hatchery for redundancy, lessons learned. Do you guys think a 40 Breeder will be large enough for 70-100 fry to grow (assuming that many will make it) or would I need two 40B for that many ?

 

I will defer to the "Ram" guy coralbandit
Of the spawns I have had I eventually end up with 4-5 dozen. Right now I have close to 5 dozen about 12 weeks young with another batch approx. 80 about 3 weeks young.
I leave them with the parent(s) for about 5-6 weeks. Then I move about 2/3 of them to a 33L and the remaining to a 20L. I give them 50% water changes every 2 days or so, continue to feed 2-3x per day. I keep them until they are about 4-6 months then sell/trade to the LFS's, Local Auctions and even some members here.
Good Luck!

 

Well, today marks 2 weeks since the ram fry has been free swimming. If they continue to grow this fast I am afraid I need to move them twice. (in a 15Gal I have and then later into one "or two" 40 Breeder) since I am waiting for the $/Gal Sale to come on. I am happy overall since I have only lost 1 fish the last three days. Overall I have between 130-135 "difficult to get clear pictures to count". Thanks again for all the help. I guess the next big milestone is 6 weeks and moving into larger tanks. Crazy how much difference there is in size between the fry. When will fry develop colors ?

 

You may see colors coming around 8 weeks maybe ?
Some will be sexable by 4 months possibly .
You have done great and make it look way easier then it is !
Hats off to you sir ~!

 

Thank you. Definitely takes a lot of attention , feeding , cleaning , planning and adjusting. Going through this and now imagining the amount of tanks you have to tend too, I got even more respect for your knowledge and dedication in the hobby. As I mentioned in my previous post, without your fish and tips I would not have made it this far and I appreciate all the knowledgeable people contributing and helping others in this forum. I will continue to post in here reporting on progress when hitting milestones.

 

Well, tomorrow will mark 5 weeks and as it seems some of the fry start to get a few stripes and black fins. By next weekend I will try to move them into a 40 Breeder and let them grow from there. I have about 120 Fry left , but about 10 look very skinny/small and I doubt they will catch up in development and probably die. (all the ones dying over the last two weeks "about 10 or so" were extremely small compared to the others. I still feed BBS in addition to Ken's #00 at this point in time and moved to three Water Changes per week (50% each).

We'll see how the move to the 40 Breeder goes next week ........
Below a few shabby Pictures of the fry

 

They look good !
You seem to be doing great . You are seeing why there is not a lot of culling with rams as they seem to make it or not on there own .
That and even if the stragglers don't die off you are correct they will never catch up to a normally grown ram .

 

Hello , 7 weeks and Fry got transferred into a 40 Breeder last Wednesday, giving them plenty room to roam around. Unfortunately do 7 of the fish roll around uncontrolled (looking like they are drunk if you so will). It's not continues jerking movements , but rather them drifting of position forwards or sideways and then trying to get right way around. I fished them out into a 5 Gal quarantine tank. Ammonia, Nitrite are 0 , Nitrate is 5. Sponge Filter was transferred into the 40B with the Fry ,as well as 5 Gal. of the Water from smaller tank. I saw similar behavior on one or two fry in the 5 Gal as well, but since I did not see it again assumed they might have had air or digestion issues or these were the ones which later died. Could this be an issue because of the Protein rich diet or more likely a disease in your opinion? Does not really look like swim bladder disorder and they do not look bloated, but I am not sure.
THX in advance

 

I have seen this and it does pop up every now and then .
I think it is swim bladder but I have not found a treatment that cures it .
I do believe however painful it is to watch that it just goes away after the fish grows as I have not one adult that does that ?

 

Thanks for the feedback. I separated them into a 5 Gal Tank and feed them only brine shrimp , while feeding the others primarily Crumbles and some brine shrimp after main feeding is over. If it clears up in 2 days or so, nutrition (high protein diet) could be a cause I assume. We'll see what happens. I know its too early for them to color up , but some almost look like gold rams, while others get stripes and black accents. Can't wait to see how they look by 4-6 Month.

 

Fish are 8 or 9 weeks old I guess. (I should go back and verify....) Wow.... time flies.... unfortunately are there still 4-5 fish flip flopping around and like 8 which just stopped growing. The majority is doing well though. I guess I will have to start culling. A few look already spectacular. A few look like gold rams , some are white and I am curious to see how the change growing up. I guess I will need to start culling the odd balls soon. Do you euthanize or let your “culls” be in another tank? Painful to watch the once with swim bladder issues .......

 

They look great !
If the they look to never stop spinning I just send fish to the freezer after a quick drop in ice cube chilled water .It is like 2 seconds for fry to pass..
Even if I thought I did or could cure the fish I would not want to be selling or breeding them ..I give them a month or so and make my choices.. It is very few batches with this this and I would not suspect it has to occur again even with same pair ..I got no explanation when it pops up for me ?They look really good ? You got golds in there huh ? that means those rams had black genes..Nice !

 

@Pierre O
Tank full of fry. Congrats! I have never culled. But I am a rookie breeder, 95% of them go to the LFS's.
Eventually, I will when I get serious like coralbandit
LOL
Good Luck!