Darryl Mcg Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 I have recently brought 3 x blue rams, all seperately. from 2 x different LFS in Auckland. They have joined my 215Lt community, and I am hoping to end up with a pair. However I discovered on purchasing the last one that the all the rams in the tank were probably female. This was based on the fact none of these juvenlile fish displayed a clearly prominant foward dorsal. I chose the first 2 seperately and watched behaviour in the shop tank for attractive but less dominant types. I chose the last beacause the black striping was very stand-out and the behaviour of the fish appeared dominant in the tank (bossy female?). All 3 appear to have the same fin shape, variation in the black markings and a quickly sorted ranking of 12&3. Does anyone out there succesfully breed these little cichlids? I would like a bit of local knowledge if I am so lucky. Even the chance to buy a locally bred speciman, Cheers Darryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 hey daryl i bought 2 blue rams back from auckland in the weekend. did my best to find a male and female in a tank of aprox. 10. they are settling in well. hoping they might breed when they grow up but who knows. if i was serious i would have got six but im not worried.sorry i cant be of more help. good luck **EVIL** :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Hey there, sorry im not a local however i am breeding them. Female blue rams have a nice red belly. Sorry to disappoint but it sounds like you may have three males Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Hi You will need to add some peat to the tank to get the pH down and also increase the temp to 28 degrees C feed them well and if they pair up they will lay lots of eggs. I currently have 2 pairs in a tank by themselves.... now it is just waiting for them to actually raise their own fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Mine layed about 3 hours ago so hopefully ill have some babies I am removing the parents tomorrow and im hatching the eggs without them as they alwasy eat them all on day 3. How small are you rams maybe they are not yet mature and may devope some more? I may be interested in purchasing another female to breed with the line that ive got here down the track so maybe if you haven't found a male by then we can do a deal.. Pics of my pair are as follows (hopefully) female male Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 ok that didn't work ill try again.. Male or Female or Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Sorry about that I didn't expect all of them to work... : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 I to have peat in the filter from the research ive done even if they lay in hard water the eggs requrie soft water for development it sounds believable.. "Soft water is critical for proper egg development. Water that is harder has a lower osmotic pressure, compared to the inside of the eggs. Water will not flow into the eggs and properly harden them, causing the eggs to turn white and possibly fungus. I normally hatch out eggs in straight RO water, with hardness around 5-10ppm. " My temp is only at 26C ive found that the general opinion is between 25 and 29 is fine I would have it at 28 but the heaters old and it sticks if I set it to anything above 26 and they've already been to 35 once in the last week... Apart from that if you've got a pair they seem to lay quite easily but as wok said its getting them to raise the babies thats the problem.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Mcg Posted February 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Thanks for the replies folks, It's nice to know others have a liking for these wee guys-gals. None of mine show any blue markings yet so are obviusly a bit young to sex. In the morning when a bit of direct sunshine passes over the tank, I can definitely see the blue to come, but only in certain light and if their angle is facing away. Thanks RyanJury for the offer to do a trade later. I will definitely keep that in mind, as I think it is good for the strain to mix the bloodlines where possible. I also understand that they only live for about 2.5-3yrs. So breeding some will be the replacement stock later. If behaviour is any indicator, #1 keeps to itself and will chase off either of the other 2. #2 and #3 keep more or less together and swim cautiously around. #1 goes all over the tank boldly. Cheers Darryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Well I hope that they are just too young to sex and you have a prospective pair in there.. I have read that they are mature (and I assume sexable) at an inch how big are yours? I would be very keen to try and get some different stock to breed with, ive seen some very deformed and ugly blue rams in shops (with a high price tag too) that I can only assume is a result of inbreeding my pair will be inbred but I hope to get some at a later stage to mix it up a bit.. Who knows all the fish in all the shops are probably related so theres probably not much point but we can try.. Maybe your fish #1 is just growing to a stage where its confident on its own and 2 and 3 are still a big young and want to hang out together for safety? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 If anyone wants a pair of these I was just in hollywoods albany and there was a pair formed in one of there tanks hiding out in a corner by a plant chasing all the other fish away and it looked like the 2 best fish in the tank too $29 a pair from memory.. They also had some nice looking gold rams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.