My Rams Have Laid Eggs

[Deleted member 55926]

Well I've only had them for a couple of weeks but my Ram pair have laid some eggs on a piece of bogwood under a java fern. The male is defending them vehemently, chasing off any other fish that come nearby, including the female Ram it seems. I have also noticed that the female's markings have completely faded (not sure what this means).

I'm not really sure what to do now. Are all the fry doomed as soon as they hatch and begin swimming about? They're up against 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 zebra danios and a dozen neon tetras. I don't have another tank or anything like that, so it's not like separating them is an option.

We are really excited at what's going on in the tank, but is it unrealistic to expect any baby fish to be swimming around eventually?

 

[Rikster23]

Well I've only had them for a couple of weeks but my Ram pair have laid some eggs on a piece of bogwood under a java fern. The male is defending them vehemently, chasing off any other fish that come nearby, including the female Ram it seems. I have also noticed that the female's markings have completely faded (not sure what this means).

I'm not really sure what to do now. Are all the fry doomed as soon as they hatch and begin swimming about? They're up against 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 zebra danios and a dozen neon tetras. I don't have another tank or anything like that, so it's not like separating them is an option.

We are really excited at what's going on in the tank, but is it unrealistic to expect any baby fish to be swimming around eventually?

Depends on the other fish. Usually with community fish its hard to keep any fish eggs to be honest.
I have corys and rams that breed whenever i do a waterchange and its hard to keep track with other 30 other communiy fish in my tank.

before the end of the night, usually over half of the eggs will be eaten.

Best way is to get a tank divider for the rams.

 

[Deleted member 55926]

So would you say it's not even worth bothering then? Shall I just let them be and see if the rams start to breed regularly?

To be honest, I'm not sure what we'd do with the extra rams even if some were to grow to maturity.

 

[K-Holed]

If you didn't get them to see them breed and have no resources to save and raise the fry, I'd just let nature take its course. You will see the male displaying his protective behaviour and if any of them do survive, see it as a bonus.

Just my opinion

Jimi

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with KH, you are not really set up to be a breeder yet and that's ok. It will be interesting seeing this aspect of your fish and it will probably happen again, giving you even more observations and experience. If any of them were to make it to maturity one of your shops would probably take it off your hands, or a friend.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Deleted member 55926]

OK, well I'll just observe for now and enjoy the show while it lasts.

Does it mean they are happy if they are comfortable enough to breed? It would be nice to know that my fish are happy in their environment.

 

[waterdrop]

The rough answer is that usually fish only like to breed when they feel their environment is near perfect, but it varies a lot by species.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Deleted member 55926]

By the way, I just wanted to ask about the male/female interaction, because the male is defending the eggs and has become very hostile to the female. She seems to approach him slowly and deliberately and she will then back off when he stares her down. Every now and then he will charge across the tank and they engage in raging battles. I am a little worried because her tail fin is looking slightly ragged and I'm not sure if it's because of him or if she has caught something.

 

[waterdrop]

He knows that she will try to eat the babies to gain protein and its his job to defend them, so he will treat her in a hostile manner until he has decided this phase is over. I expect he may indeed have managed a few chunks out of her tailfin. Almost none of the tanks we can provide as at-home hobbyists would be large enough to correctly simulate the true natural space in which this drama would be taking place. Normally she would probably have a few thousand gallons of nearby "dashing" room for when he chased her away in the wild. Note that one of the interesting things of course is that they are both playing out their instinctive roles and on some level she is probably judging him to be a better mate the more effectively he defends the eggs/fry!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[philak]

I assume you are positive it's the male guarding the eggs, not the female.

My Bolivians share the duties with the female guarding them about 70% of the time and they swap over very smoothly, one in and one out so the fry are never left alone. There is no fighting between the parents at this stage in my tank, only later once the fry have been free swimming for a few weeks.

Maybe the Blues do it differently all round though.

 

[Deleted member 55926]

Well half the eggs hatched, half remained white (which I assume were infertile). The male ate the white ones first (again, I assume, seeing as they were gone and he wouldn't late any other fish near them), and then just as I saw movement in the eggs and tiny developments of tails, they were gone. I guess he ate them too.

I just hope the two rams bond again as they are on opposite sides of the tank ever since. The male has left the site of the eggs but doesn't seem to be interested in her anymore, where they used to swim around together a lot.