Gbr Pair Not Getting Along Anymore!

[Turguin]

Here's what happened so far:

A couple months ago (I think around February), I bought a pair of GBR's from the petstore for my 10 gallon aquarium. It has been running for around a year.

Water Parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20 - 40 (color looks like its inbetween 20 and 40)
PH: 7.4
Temp: 80F - 84F
Water Change: 25% weekly

The two I bought were paired up at the petstore aquarium (both hung out together in one corner of the tank and chased off other rams). The female died about 2 - 3 weeks after purchase. I'm not really sure why maybe the PH, however the male is still alive and seems to be doing pretty well.

Since the female died (early March), I left the male in the tank alone till the first week of May because: 1) I was afraid he would die too and 2) I didn't want to introduce another female into the tank and have him kill her. I've read from many fish forums and sites that GBR's are monogamous and also pairing should be left to themselves rather than forced. When May rolled around, I decided to take my chances and bought a new female for my lonely male GBR.

After a day or two, I saw the two swimming around together and hanging out in the hole of a rock I have in the back of the tank. I was pretty happy to see that. A week and a half later, they SPAWNED! I was pretty surprised because I didn't expect my tank to be ideal for spawning. Haha I guess I should ask myself what did I expect by putting a girl and a boy together. A couple days later, I see tiny fry wiggling around the rock, although not yet free swimming. Unfortunately, the day after I noticed hatched fry, either the male or female ate the fry.

After the eggs hatched and were eaten, was when my pair starting having problem with each other's company. My male chases my female away whenever he notices her.

Has anyone else ever had their pair of GBR's break off? I'm starting to get a bit worried because it looks like my female is starting to show signs of fin damage (very minor right now).

I tried reintroducing both of them to the tank. I took out the male and female and put them in separate containers. I rearranged my decorations around and put the female back into the tank first to let her establish her territory (since she's a bit smaller than the male). Then, put the male back in, but still the same problem. The male seems to want nothing to do with her (or vice versa).

Is there no hope in them pairing up again?

Please let me know what you think! If there's no hope in them pairing up again, I have to start making plans of getting another tank.

 

[ppipanman]

first of all your lucky they both arent dead nitrAtes should definatly never be over 20 ppm for rams and should be below 10 ideally
secondly i have had this happen before and a bit different my female didnt like her mate and would switch after spawning (i had 2 breeding pairs)

imo your best bet would be to see if your lfs will switch females with you good luck

PS a 10 gallon tank is a bit too small for a pair of GBR's it may be a space issue also

 

[Turguin]

Why can't they just get along! Lol My lfs doesn't exchange fish that are beyond their return policy of 14 days.

I've been looking to get a 40 gallon for my tiger barbs that are in a 20 gallon right now. Time to get the ball rolling on that. I'll have to plan out where I could put a 40 gallon in my house and save some money to get it. I'll need a new stand that will support a bigger tank too. Haha I love getting bigger tanks. I'm excited.

As for now, I'm going to have to bump up my water changes to 2 times a week then to keep the nitrates down. I bought some plants from a member here recently. Hopefully that will help once I receive them and have them planted. I'll have to keep a close eye on the female.