German Blue Rams Fighting

Hello Fishlore

I have a 20 gallon tall, fully cycled fish tank. It has been running for almost six months now, and is quite heavily planted with some rocks, driftwood etc. that form quite a few caves.
I currently have a pair of german blue rams living there. They are definitely male and female.
The issue is that my male german blue ram is constantly chasing my female! They have laid eggs several times before, but now my female is so stressed! She is very "pale" and hides whenever she has time to find a good hiding spot. Once or twice I have seen them behave "friendly" with each other, but unfortunately it only lasts for a few hours max.
Currently I have one of them in the biggest breeding box I could find. They even try to fight through the net!
I am getting tired of this constant behaviour. I would love to breed them and then keep a minI community tank with the pair as a focal point. Unfortunately, its not working...

Why is he chasing her? And is there a way to stop it?
Thank you in advance for all answers

(Edit) I got them when they were both quite young. They were much more frequently together, everything being alright.

 

I'm not to sure about rams. Maybe try adding more females?

 

Its common, no physical damage to the female right?

 

Do you have a hospital tank? This girl needs some respite.
Reintroduce them another time.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

 

Just having a male and female does not qualify as a pair with cichlids !
They can be choosy/picky fish and sometimes having a male and female is nothing but headaches ?
They may come around or he may kill her ?Rams are funny if that is how you can look at it ?
I don't think adding females will help ? Maybe he would choose another female but the odd ones out will suffer IMO ? 20 tall is tight for more then two good pairs IMO.

 

Bandit is right, all Cichlids, especially GBR's can be very finicky with their partners. I have bred 6 generations of Rams and have noticed this behaviour often. It seems to happen when the male's advances get 'out of sync' with the female's, often a few days after spawning, especially if they have eaten their previous eggs. 9 times out of 10 it's just tough luv but check to see if the female is eating, if she is I'd leave well alone because inevitably the male will calm down after a while and the pair will spawn again. If the chasing continues and the female gets more and more stressed then try turning the lights off for a couple of days and adding lots of plant cover. As a last resort you may have to take one of them back to your LFS.......good luck!

 

Thank you for all the replies!
The female eats very readily. In my previous post, German Blue Rams Switching Partners, I had the same fish.
My plan was for the male to pick one out of the two females and then put the other one in a spare fish tank etc.
My male german blue ram, everyday was switching who's "side he was on."
Both females spawned several times. The females never even got a chance to eat any eggs! My male ate them all.
After several tries he didn't eat them anymore but just left the eggs. They all got bad and then he ate them.
Twice or thrice I moved the male just leaving the female with the eggs. They were immediately good mums!
One day when my other female and my male spawned; my female died. In the night, when I couldn't separate them the male suddenly turned on the female. In the morning she was pretty much dead. However, the male suddenly turned out to be a great dad! I put him alone with the fry and I saw the typical ram spawning behaviour. Unfortunately, the fry seemed to just melt away days later...
So why is he chasing her now? When before he very often "chose" her?

 

Rams have taught me a new saying …
As soon as you think you can predict mother nature she will surely make a fool of you..
My rams that have raised multiple sets of fry both just ate their fry ! Go figure ? One has laid eggs again already and are just staring me down ….
I steal a lot of eggs but would like to watch them raise fry again ….They just like to challenge me sometimes I think.
Don't give up , they're testing you !

 

I freed the male from the breeding net and for the next few hours there was perfect harmony...
Now he's chasing her again. I can see that she is going to lay eggs very very soon...
Will the male GBR let the female lay eggs in peace?!
I am going to get lots more plants very soon. It will be a very heavily planted "jungle".
Any other ideas?
And coralbandit, when you "steal" the eggs, how do you do it so that the eggs don't get fungi?
Really appreciating all this input!

 

I artificially hatch eggs in 2 quarts tank water and one drop of Methylene blue.

 

coralbandit is there any way we can get you to make a video or two on how you breed your GBR? I just got a pair and am thinking of trying my hand at breeding.

 

I have some videos of different methods I have used over the years .
My thread Albino Dantumn Angels Breeding In Coralbandits Fishroom And More !
Should cover a lot of details .You can definitely ask more questions if I missed something .I try to help and encourage all .
I artificially hatch most rams but this year more then a few pair have helped out and raised fry for me also .

 

coralbandit is there any way we can get you to make a video or two on how you breed your GBR? I just got a pair and am thinking of trying my hand at breeding.

I hit it in my guide Mikrogeophagus RamirezI - Blue Ram Cichlid Guide

Or you can take a short trip down to West Chester and see it in person. I will say though, you’ll need an RO unit with the tap water here

 

AquaticJ do you live in town or out in the country? I'm out in the country and have a well with a filter on it.

I have some videos of different methods I have used over the years .
My thread Albino Dantumn Angels Breeding In Coralbandits Fishroom And More !
Should cover a lot of details .You can definitely ask more questions if I missed something .I try to help and encourage all .
I artificially hatch most rams but this year more then a few pair have helped out and raised fry for me also .

Ok that shows me angels breeding do rams breed the same way?

 

Just checking... why are you sure they’re male and female? Have they laid eggs that hatched?

 

Ok that shows me angels breeding do rams breed the same way?

??? Page 1 ??? There is a little more then angels in the thread ...

 

??? Page 1 ??? There is a little more then angels in the thread ...

oh ok