# German Blue Ram Breeding Excursion!



## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Well, I decided to get rid of my leopard ctenopoma and start up a breeding project with German Blue Rams. 

It's a 10 gallon densely planted tank -










It just has a stock HOB right now but I will be putting a 80gph canister on it when I have the cash. I will be doing 50% water changes twice a week and dosing ferts for the plants every 3-4 days as I usually do. The water is really yellow in the pic because all I have is a 1" ctenopoma and two otos in it right now and I've been neglecting WCs so the ferts stained the water. I ordered a bonded pair from germanbluerams.com so they should be here within the week. I have read amazing reviews about them so I am pretty confident in my decision. 

The first few batches of fry will be left in the tank while I get a fry tank set up. I should be getting a 10 gallon this weekend to QT some snails in and once I get a heater and set up for live food cultures, I'll start pulling eggs. I would like the parents to have a chance to get settled and have some high-protien snacks as well while they do so anyways. I will be feeding frozen bloodworms and high quality flakes. I may even go get some NLS at some point.

Flora -
Java Fern
Crypt Wendtii
Downoi
Rotala Indica
Water Wisteria
Java Fern

Fauna-
2 Otocinclus Cats
2 German Blue Rams (bonded pair)

Tap Parameters -
PH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
GH 14-16
KH 14-16

This tank has been cycled and running stocked for 4 months.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Good luck, they're terrible parents lol. Keep your Nitrates very low and they should be good ^_^


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

50% twice a week in that mess of plants should do them well regarding nitrates, right?


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

You may want to lower your ph if you can. It will help encourage them to breed. Tank looks good! What is the plant on the left, rotala indica or rotundifolia?
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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

I'm not messing with my pH. It will make it way too unstable. I may end up getting some RO/DI from the LFS but I'm undecided on that. Fry will definately have 50% RO/DI.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Depending on where they grew up, that pH will be fine. Yunite on AquaBid raises his rams in 7.4 I think it was. But I do agree that 8.4 is a bit high for rams honestly, be sure to acclimate a long time! No less than an hour of course!

You might not need 50% but test often so you can just do a change when you need to. You don't want to clean too much because you'll take the nutrients out that the plants need, even if you do dose ferts and whatnot.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

He raises them at 7.6-7.8 according to his website (he is the owner of GBR.com) so I don't think it'll be too big of an issue. I usually drip but I can't find my airline hosing so I am going to do it by hand - 1 medicine cup at a time every 15 minutes until we go from whatever is in the bag to 1 gallon. Nice and slow.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay, good luck! I'm sure they'll be fine  I'm not sure if the higher pH will effect any like temperature can influence sexes depending on the fish...hmm, might be a worth to look into! Sorry, I'm rambling a bit! lol too tired on my end!.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

I'm tired, too, De'Anna it's okay! lol That will be interesting to find out. I am thinking about keeping three fry tanks - I can obseve two batches and move potential pairs to the empty tank to make sure they're a pair.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Sounds like a good plan to me! :-D


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

I looked into a low-pH spring water to use instead of RO. I tested it and the pH is awesome at 6 but the kh and gh were off the charts (I stopped at 60 drops and still no change) so does that mean this isn't good water to use?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Are you sure it's not just incredibly soft? I know when I test for my GH it's so darn difficult to see the change but it happens after one drop. My dKH is at least 3 which means my tanks are mostly stable. You want plenty of KH to hold your parameters stable but the GH can be soft, Rams prefer soft water as I'm sure you know. I won't really be able to tell the GH though, did you try looking down the tube rather than from the side? I believe it suggests that if you are using the API testing kit.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Neither of them changed from their base color.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Got my rams today a day early while in the middle of draining their tank and rearranging the house! :roll:

They are alive and in good health, just finished acclimation in a separate container, doing temp acclimation now. I acllimated 10oz at a time every 20 min or so until there was about 8-8.5 cups of water (including about 1/8 gallon of their bag water) and they are floating around in a betta cup with rotala trimmings for security. I'm about to add the ramshorn snails I got today and I'll give the rams a good hour in the cup while I clean before topping off the tank, scooping them out and releasing them.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)




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## Super4Ever (Apr 3, 2014)

Very nice. Very blue too, look almost like they're electric blues. Hope they do well for you :-D


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Here are some from yesterday. I know they are blurry but they're pigs and want to be fed lol. At least it shows their colors well.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Cuties! I absolutely love that large driftwood in there too!


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

It's really not that large, I had it in Pongo's tank for FOREVER lol. It looks much nicer in the 10, though. I paid $10 for it if I remember correctly.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Meh, still looks nice and big :-D I think it just compliments everything nice though


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Yep, I love it! I'm thinking about removing the elephant and putting their pot there, it's currently inbetween the driftwood and the elephant.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

They laid eggs ALL DAY yesterday. I'm really happy they chose the pot over the driftwood Jack wanted to use. That thing is still covered in cherry barb eggs. :rolls: I'd approximate 50-75 eggs. It's hard to get a photo but I will post the few I took in a minute. This morning all the eggs are still there and look healthy. Jack is still doing his job gaurding them. 
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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Cool! Are they all fertilized? Did you buy them as a pair?
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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Yes, they are all fertilized and were purchased as a pair.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Oh so this isnt their first spawn, correct?
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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

First spawn with me. I'm not sure if it's their first spawn or not.


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)




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## Agent13 (Apr 23, 2013)

Super4Ever said:


> Very nice. Very blue too, look almost like they're electric blues. Hope they do well for you :-D



That was the first thing that came to mind when I first saw them.. Far more blue then my GBRs .. Almost a little electric blue . I really want one if their babies 


Sent from Petguide.com App


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

You have first dibs, Agemt. Lol They're gorgeous. I'm so happy with them.
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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

I moved the pot to a Tupperware floating in the tank for temp reasons. I ghetto-rigged a filter in it for flow. We should have wigglers tomorrow! I also have a nice shot of the eggs for tomorrow.
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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

I moved the pot back into the tank because a lot of the eggs started dying and getting nasty. They are currently eating them. I'm going to let them keep the next batch and see how they do.


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