Breeding German Blue Rams

[ash90]

Hey guy,
I bought 2 pairs of GBR from 2 diffrent places to rule out in breeding as i have done every time i have bought fish to breed as i brred fish for a friends petshop the pair i bought in august is a large male about 3" and a 2"female they have layed eggs twice now and guarded then fiercley and were uber aggressive but the eggs never hatch after about 48hr they will eat the eggs. The other pair are the same size male & female about 1.5" but never layed eggs so far but only got them last week.
Is it just because the have not breed as such yet or are the infertile or jst bad parents

 

[Mikaila31]

were the eggs clear or did the turn white? It could be due to many different factors. Cichlids parenting skills are all innate so they do not always get it right early on. The eggs could be infertile or dieing off causing the parents to stop guarding or eat them. I would think the most common problem is the sensitive eggs falling prey to fungal issues or perhaps water quality causing them to die/turn white. I would assume the pairs are alone in species only tanks, but what is the pH, nitrate, and hardness of the water?

 

[ash90]

the eggs were white but a few were clear all water chemasterys are spot on as always and they are in a community tank that is a work in progress as revampt tthe tank the wrong way added a few fish and 3 plants when i should ave finished planting b4 adding fish

 

[Mikaila31]

It is very difficult to breed GBR in a community tank. Spawning and getting eggs is the easy part. I honestly would not try breeding unless you can provide the pair with their own tank. The issue is that the parents will eat their eggs if they feel that conditions are not right or there is a chance something else will eat their eggs. It is a survival mechanisum, they put a lot of energy into those eggs, if conditions are not ideal they will eat them to provide energy for the next batch of eggs with the hopes that conditions are more ideal then. And like I said before what are the conditions in your tank? Saying they are okay does not help answer your question.

Also please go over your posts before posting. I can normally stand horrible stuff, but the fact is that you are the same age as me. Yet, I assumed by your typing that you were a kid. Its nothing against you its just if I'm going to go to the effort of answering your questions you could at least go to the effort of using periods and spell check .

 

[drobbyb]

Clear eggs are fertile. When they turn white, it just means that they may not have been fertilized or either the male or female may be young. It is not unheard of for the first few batches of eggs to be infertile, but over time as the pair matures they produce more fertile eggs.

Try setting the pair up in a mature 20 gallon set up and condition them with live brine shrimp, daphnia or other rich live foods. If you can't provide live food, frozen can be used. Feeding rich foods such as these can increase egg production and increase the odds that you will have a successful spawning.

 

[Gilli]

Are you sure you have male and female? They are hard to determine the sex as they look very similar sometimes hardly any difference at all. I thought I had a pair - turns out they were 2 females who by the way will act like a bonded pair breeding fertilizing and guarding the eggs!!!

 

[ash90]

ph is always between 6.5-7 and temp is 28 there deffo male and female as the shop were i bought the spawning pair from sells them in pairs of 1m 1f the female mite be a bit youg as she is only about 1.5-2" and male is about 3" i have heard that is can take 3-5 spawns before you actualy get fry with most cichlid
(took 4 spawns for my oscars to raise fry) how long will i take for eggs to hatch as have read can take between 42hrs and 72hrs

 

[mark4785]

Just thought I'd chip in..

Male GBR's have a bold black marking on their body, whereas female GBR's have a bold black marking with bits of blue colouration in and around the blackness. Whether or not you can see this is down to lighting conditions and how close you are looking at them in my opinion.

I agree with Mikaila31 in that environmental stressors may be causing the issues you are having.

By the way Mikaila31, people may be dyslexic or simply find it easier to communicate informally, I really wouldn't have a go at them for that.