Egg Eating Rams What a Surprise

[NatakuTseng]

Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can get my german blue rams to stop eating their eggs? I have two pair, both which spawn on about a 5 day rotation. The eggs are getting fertilized, and they usually last 2 days, then they get eaten. Granted the rams are young, 4 months I believe, but they have spawned 6 times now and each time the same outcome. No sign of fungus or anything like that on the eggs, I know they normally eat the first few spawns, but 6? lol. I'm afraid they may not have been raised with their parents, thus they never learned the parenting skills, so I really don't want to remove the eggs because that will just continue that vicious cycle. pH of 7.4, gH 8, 83F, no Nitrites or Ammonia, and the tanks are planted. Those conditions are almost Identical to what they were raised in from egg to adult, so I don't think thats the problem. Any suggestions about how to get them to stop eating the eggs would be great!

 

[Tim Bo]

Ah yes! Those Blue Rams do llike munching on their own! The `youngness` factor will play a role though they might very well end up doing the same once they get older. Keep them very well fed and with clean water!
What works well for me is to simply remove the one that seems to be the initiator. If that doesn't work, try replacing the one you first removed in again and take the other one out. And if that doesn't work, take them both out. You can also removed the eggs (do not let them get dry and the water chem must be farily identical). It can be tricky putting them or one of them in the tank again once the fry are up and about. IME they usually go after their fry as a meal after being away from them though I have also experienced the parents taking more care of them once reintroduced. Kribs have been proven to recognize their fry after separation by strong olfactory sense though I don`t know if this goes for Rams as well. Hope this helps some.

If the rams are fungused or dark in color, they will usually get eaten. Are you sure the eggs are healthy?

 

[NatakuTseng]

Yeah the eggs look great, fairly clear in color, they keep getting to the point when you can start to see the fry developing and then they get eaten. Up untill that the pair are great parents, one of them is always there gaurding/fanning/cleaning the eggs. I have the guppies in their tank(40gal breeder) more as dithers and thats working, they don't let the guppies anywhere near the eggs, and vice versa with the Cardinals in the 20gal. I have a feeling I'm gonna just have to remove the eggs if I want any fry. Thanks for the help, and I have tried that, lol. Each half of the pair I removed for a while, put them back in, and they went right back to gaurding the eggs.