Ram eggs

[Seb]

Hi all,
I have been serously concidering taking the eggs away from my rams. The pair are reasonably young, but its no excuse for eating all thier eggs, every single time!!!! It may not be them it could be my corys as they always look suspicious, hmmm. Anyway I was wondering, if I move the eggs next time, should I use methlene blue or any other products?

Also one other thing are apistogramma cacatuoides, keyhole cichlids, kribensis or rams easier to breed and/or better parents?

please help me... all I want are small baby cichlids and parents that love them!!!

 

[depthc]

Well yes the corys could be your problem. They are armored catfish so they dont have a problem snagging eggs. :wink:

Also it may be that they arnt mature enough and they eat the eggs. It takes time for rams to get it right.

What are you water parameters? If you have hard water with a higher pH then the eggs wont hatch, ram eggs need softer water to do so like many other apisto species.

It could also be that the eggs fungus and they eat them because they arnt viable. Many things could cause the eggs to be eaten up, its up to you to figure that out by observation and experimentation. Good luck.

.dc

 

[fishgeek]

this is not an unuaual scenario
young fish are most commmonly implicated

what colour are the egg's , clean white may suggest non viable egg's hence the being eaten

andrew

 

[Z Man]

I myself have NEVER had any Ram pair raise their own fry. I have had a whole lot of spawns too! If you go to my site (WWW) below I have an article on them and Cacatuoides which I believe are the easiest of the fish you mention. Yes, Rams do need very soft water to begin with whereas Cacatuoides will breed in much harder water.

 

[Seb]

Thanks for all the replies, all of the stuff you guys say is helpful.

I did notice to odd white egg among the 50 or so I had, but I'm not sure it is too much of a problem. I think I'm just gonna give the Rams alot of live foods and see what happens.

Oh and I think I will either get apisto's of Kribensis, depending on which I see first.

 

[LyreTail]

I am going to start pulling my eggs as well. They always eat them after defending them very vigorously for one day.

new pictures of my blue rams here
http://groups.msn.com/LyreTailsAquarium/discusandangelfish.msnw?Page=7

 

[aspen]

i looked at the pics of your ram eggs. they seem very white. are you getting any hatched out from them, or are they eating them every time? i don't think the male is doing his job, ime rams eggs are always golden if fertile, white if not.

rick

 

[T_om]

I myself have NEVER had any Ram pair raise their own fry. I have had a whole lot of spawns too! If you go to my site (WWW) below I have an article on them and Cacatuoides which I believe are the easiest of the fish you mention. Yes, Rams do need very soft water to begin with whereas Cacatuoides will breed in much harder water.

Odd. I have never had much of a problem after the pairs settled down a bit.

Here is the latest spawn. About a week since eggs laid. Free swimming now.

Tom

 

[JG]

Love that picture - one big happy family!

What are your water conditions?

J

 

[Seb]

8O wow what a great picture! You must have clever rams.

I was wondering, if I do take the eggs away should I use methlene blue and/or an airstone to help stop fungus. I have a spair tank fully set up, currently containig a few baby guppies and mini corys, would there be any problems?

Also would the Rams recognize thier babies or just eat them if I reunited them after hatching?

 

[LyreTail]

Most of my eggs survived ( the ones in the pictures ) Looks like fry will be free swimming today or the next as their eggs sacs are almost gone now

 

[aspen]

>>'Most of my eggs survived ...'

congrats! now on to the next job, raising the fry.

rick

 

[T_om]

8O wow what a great picture! You must have clever rams.

I was wondering, if I do take the eggs away should I use methlene blue and/or an airstone to help stop fungus. I have a spair tank fully set up, currently containig a few baby guppies and mini corys, would there be any problems?

Also would the Rams recognize thier babies or just eat them if I reunited them after hatching?

Fungus is a problem with Ram eggs if hatched artificially. The standard precautions work well however and you should have no problems in a tank or jar by themselves. I use a Mason jar sitting inside a small aquarium (to regulate the heat) for Angel eggs, Discus too when I raised them.

You cannot add the fry back into the tank with the adults after taking the eggs away. The parents would eat the fry.

Tom

PS: Why are pictures gone? I "image" tag and the picture was displayed properly before the forum changed. Anything new I should know?

 

[T_om]

Most of my eggs survived ( the ones in the pictures ) Looks like fry will be free swimming today or the next as their eggs sacs are almost gone now

Have some decap brine shrimp eggs, Walter worms or Microworms ready. It is amazing how fast the fry die off if food is not immediately available once they are free swimming.

Tom

 

[Gary]

t_om

What do you mean?

[PS: Why are pictures gone? I "image" tag and the picture was displayed properly before the forum changed. Anything new I should know?]

Are there missing images or are you have trouble posting images?

Gary

 

[T_om]

t_om

What do you mean?

[PS: Why are pictures gone? I "image" tag and the picture was displayed properly before the forum changed. Anything new I should know?]

Are there missing images or are you have trouble posting images?

Gary

Images that were there before the forum went south are no longer displaying. I tried re-posting, using the same links that worked in the old forum, to no avail.

Instead of showing as an image, it shows as a link. You can click on the link and get the picture, but it is not showing in the forum any longer.

Here is an example:

The "img" tag was used but it shows as a link instead.

Tom

 

[T_om]

Damn! Now it is working...

Sorry for the false alarm.

Tom

 

[Josh]

No problem, it may have been the same problem as the sig images, hopefull all is working now.

Gary.

 

[T_om]

No problem, it may have been the same problem as the sig images, hopefull all is working now.

Gary.

Working like a champ Gary.

By the way, my compliments for a great forum. I like the new software too.

Tom

 

[Seb]

Thanks for the advice. But I have a problem, my Rams lay thier eggs on the biggest rock in my tank every time!!!

Its annoying, but I might try and add a small divider for the rock or even put them in a suspended tub in the water. It seems as if I might be doing it very soon aswell, it looks like eggs are on the way! Oh and a quick question, does anyone reckon that pygmy corys would eat ram eggs or fry? Oh and another (sorry for all the questions) If I do use methlene blue in an isolated container for any type of eggs, how much should I use?