Blue Ram Spawning photos

[mattmartindrift]

Eggs were laid about 36hours ago, they're now in a 10g, bare-bottom tank with the decoration on which they were laid.

incubator tank is around 83*F with a HOB topfin 10g filter with a sponge over the intake.

I've decided i'm going to feed them fresh-hatched brine shrimp first, if they're too big, I got some mushed fry-specific food to try as well.

Anyone know if the eggs look viable?

pictures:



Moms:
http://mattmartindrift.com/crap/moms.jpg



Pops:
http://mattmartindrift.com/crap/pops.jpg


Eggs: + high-res picture link
http://mattmartindrift.com/crap/eggsbig.jpg

http://mattmartindrift.com/crap/eggssmall.jpg



10g tank
http://mattmartindrift.com/crap/incubator%20tank.jpg



Brine Shrimp
http://mattmartindrift.com/crap/brinehatchery.jpg

[mountain_webste]

Unfortunately can't answer your q's, but nice pics. good luck

[noodles62]

I thought the parents are needed to fan the eggs? Perhaps this would do better in the cichlid forum?

[mickey]

Congrats on the spawn and great pics.
The eggs look good so far, if they turn white they are infertile,
if they remain off white you should have wrigglers in a few days time.

[rich311k]

Congrats, nice looking rams.

[mattmartindrift]

I thought the parents are needed to fan the eggs? Perhaps this would do better in the cichlid forum?


I asked around, didn't hear anything. They're young parents, so, if this brood doesn't make it they can try again and i'll do things differently, or not at all -- let nature take its course

What does the fanning accomplish? I read a couple places that it reduces the chances of fungal infections by maintaining a small flow of water over them.

I did dose the aquarium with 10mL of 3% H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) per 24 hours. Peroxide is a natural anti-fungal and anti-bacterial and over time (24hours or so) it decomposes to H2O and O2.

[Lexi_D]

The fanning keeps fresh water flowing over the eggs. That's all I know. lol :rolleyes:

[Rbishop]

Nice pics!

[Bk718]

cool. good luck

[H3D]

Nice pics! Congrats on the spawn!

[BrooklynAngel]

Wow! hope they hatch. I have had trouble finding female rams. the lfs usually only gets males. They hold out on the females, I guess to keep you from breeding your own.

[mattmartindrift]

I got mine from our LFS here. I might be selling these as I don't have room for a brood of rams, so if I have females i'd be happy to send them.

[mattmartindrift]

Quick update!!

After looking really closely, I'm fairly certain I see tiny tails randomly twitching here and there.

Brine shrimp have hatched and seem to be ready to go.

[Dangerdoll]

congrats on the spawn, great looking rams there.... what is with the brine shrimp in the plastic bag?

[mattmartindrift]

congrats on the spawn, great looking rams there.... what is with the brine shrimp in the plastic bag?



It's actually a water bottle; but, it's floated because it's a hatchery.


Brine shrimp require, well, brine (salt water). So, to keep the bottle warm, and not mix salt in the incubation tank I just float the bottle with a bubbler inside.

[Dangerdoll]

great idea!

[jm1212]

it make a few tries for the parents to get everything down.

good luck!

[mattmartindrift]

it make a few tries for the parents to get everything down.

good luck!



well, the parents are out of the equation this time, but, next time i'm going to let the all-natural method go down -- minimal to no intervention.

[jjbtexas]

i envy u

[mattmartindrift]

i envy u



Honestly, it's luck.

I've only been into this whole fish thing for a couple of months, and I picked up these rams less than 7 days before they spawned.

my water conditions aren't what most of the websites claim they must be for a success, so, we'll see.

I just checked again and the number of wigglers is exponentially more, and exponentially more active, a couple have wiggled themselves onto the bottom of the tank.

[Temo]

YOU ARE SOO LUCKY!!!!!!!! AND GOOD LUCK!

[Reddog80p]

Congrats!! Be sure to snap some wiggler pics soon :headbang2:

[mattmartindrift]

i need to pick up a faux-macro adapter lens for my camera, I can't focus close enough.


I have a TON of wigglers, some are starting to be free-swimming.

[Blueiz]

Good luck on raising them!! I would love to have some rams, cant find any around here.

[mattmartindrift]

i'll probably be selling them off when they're old enough, I don't have room for 50+ rams. Assuming the majority survive, yikes!



EDIT:

I'd rather sell them here (cheaply) than to craigslist or LFS (if they would even buy them) them

[Lupin]

Pretty rams!

[mattmartindrift]

sad to say, i've only been able to count 4 remaining fry. However, those 4 seem to be growing well, swimming well, and eating regularly.

So, I'm not quite sure what killed them all off. Lack of food? Who knows. I'm going to research it more.

I know my water was quite hard and slighly basic. I now have an RO system so, next time hopefully they'll be better off.

[Rbishop]

Well, that sucks. At least you have a few! I would suggest a bare bottom fry tank for the future.

[mattmartindrift]

some updates on the surviors:



http://mattmartindrift.com/aquarium/fry1.jpg



and my newest endevour
http://mattmartindrift.com/aquarium/FTS1.jpg

[grannylvsfish]

babies require small foods, and somethng they love is Decapsulated Brine Shrimp . all my babies survived and did well eating this and crushedflake, and I mean totally crushed flake food. sorry bout those that did not make it, I am looking forward to you have lots more ( I want some ) :)

[mattmartindrift]

I tried crushed flake, fresh-hatched brine shrimp, Hikari-brand fry food. I think it was partially water conditions.


I didn't get my RO system until post-fry die-off.

[Coler]

great pic thread - wish you luck with the rest of your fry.

[NeonFlux]

good luck matt..

[Alan R]

I love rams. I'd like to breed them one day. what kind of camera are you using?

[mattmartindrift]

Nikon D70 with either a 18-55mm lens or a 55-200mm lens, I forget which ones I used for which pictures.


I need to buy a macro lense really badly though.

[Mgamer20o0]

good luck