cgmac Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Well they did it again! The first time these fish spawned was in my Q tank three weeks ago. They spawned early last week in my main tank (33 gal planted) on a java fern leaf. I cut the leaf off at the base and slowly acclimated it, to my Q tank. It was set up and had some plants in it which I removed from the main tank. I do every other day water changes, just using Calgary tap water and Seachem Prime for conditioning. The tank is 5 gallons and has a gravel bottom, which seems to be giving the little fry a place to hide and maybe (I am hoping) a microscopic food source. I saw one just 5 minutes ago swimming freely about 4 inches above the bottom of the tank. I bought some Wardley food for fry, but am wondering if anyone can please tell me if I can buy vinegar worms or small enough food for these little guys? The liquid fry food seems to be too big yet for them. I have New Life Spectrum flake food for my other fish. Can I grind this up and put some in there for them? Any advice or thoughts about these questions, or any other ideas that some of you may have would be much appreciated. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ram Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 You could try frozen baby brine shrimp. That's what I fed my baby kribs. You can buy it at Riverfront. I would wait until the cube melted, suck the contents up into a pipet (sp??) and then squeeze it out where the fry are in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neely Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 congrats, from what i hear not an easy fish to breed- put me down for some of the juvies when they get big enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgmac Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 (edited) Will do Neely! I do hope that I can get them to the stage that they can be passed on to other hobbyists! That would make me very happy! I am going to continue with the best in care that I can give. Today's mission is finding the appropriate food for them. I have seen them again just this morning and they are wigglin' around down near the gravel. I removed the java fern leaf last night that the eggs hatched on, as there were a few eggs that were unfertilized and unhatched. I have no idea how many are living, but a rough count on the eggs that were laid is around 90 - 100. Blue Ram: thanks for the tip on where to get the baby brine shrimp, I'll whip down there later today. Thanks all ! Corinne Edited February 6, 2006 by cgmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgmac Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 In the filter of my fry tank I have only sponges for media, should I put some carbon in there? Anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Sounds like everything's under control, so I'd leave it how you have it. You may want to add plants from the parent tank, as they'll have microbes that the fry can nibble on 'til they're big enough for other foods. Go ahead and crush up that flake food as much as you can. They'll love it if they can eat it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Buy a pepper mill from Walmart, and use that to finely grind up the flake food... gets it VERY consistant and extremely fine. A spice mill will hit you about $5. Once you have some food ground up, take just a pinch and add it to a little tank water. Let sit for a minute (doesn't take long) and then use a pipet to suck it up and then pu the mixture into the tank. Pre-soaking the food lets it sink to where the fry are. They'll eat it as it falls and then spend the next couple hours digging it out of the rocks. I feed my fry a mix of three different floods all ground up together... simply load up the spice mill with the desired blend and crank away. I run it through twice, just to get the finest powder possible. Good luck, and congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ram Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 As soon as the fry start swimming more actively, make sure you block off the intake of your filter with a sponge or pantyhose so they won't get sucked up into the filter. Also, I tended to overfeed my babies (to be sure they were getting enough) and as they were in a 10 gal, I did a water change twice a week. Hope they do well. I've never gotten past the spawning part with my rams although I always left the eggs with with the parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgmac Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 (edited) Thanks everyone! I just fed them some ground up flake food. I got a plastic kitchen scoop/spoon and put the food in that and then used a wide handle of a pizza cutter to do the grinding! My version of a mortar and pestal. I mixed it with a small amt of tank water and then used a pipette to take it down to the bottom of the tank. The fish seem to be all over the substrate so I added a little every so often. I can see that it would be very easy to overfeed them, so next feeding will be less. I did a water change last night and plan to do one tomorrow night also.... I'm thinking every second day. I am going to try the spice grinder idea as that seems alot more convenient than getting out the spoons etc! I put a sponge over the filter intake on Saturday and I have the filter flow rate turned down as low as I can get it. (AC mini) Should I still put a nylon over the sponge? Edited February 6, 2006 by cgmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Just nick your spouses coffeee grinder but................................ don't get caught. Something else may wind up in the grinder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9outfit Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Congrats! You're a bit ahead of me on this one! Anyway, it was suggested I feed microworms to my Blue Ram fry, so I've got 4 cultures growing. Now I just have to keep the adults from snacking on the eggs as they're hopping around.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 So you got your ram eggs to hatch in regular calgary tap water? I thought that the eggs were very hard to hatch because they need really soft water. Very cool, congrats :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgmac Posted February 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 (edited) Yeah, you will have to watch closely if the parents start to snack. The first time this pair spawned the male ate the eggs that he so carefully guarded for two days, they didn't even get a chance to start to hatch. So when I saw these eggs in my tank on a plant leaf I got things ready and moved them the same day. This is only the first opportunity that I have had to try this, but my feeling is that fry would never last in a community tank. This is so cool to watch. I have spent way too much time watching this tank to see how the fry are doing. They are really getting around now, swimming all over the place but still going down to the gravel to rest and probably eat. I added a stem of pennywort from my main tank and have some anubias in there as well, they will be able to pick at the plants for food. I would estimate their size at about half a centimeter in length. I will keep you posted with results and hopefully a pic when they get big enough! Hi Degrassi ! Yes these eggs did hatch in Calgary tap water. My main tank is supplemented with co2, and when the eggs were laid the ph was about 6.8 but I didn't have a reading on the gh, my guess is that the kh was around 5. I very slowly acclimated the leaf with the eggs on it to the q tank, carefully making sure that the eggs were always covered with water. My challenge now is to actually raise the fry in Calgary tap water. Edited February 7, 2006 by cgmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgmac Posted February 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 Update: STill not sure how many fry I have, some may have died off. I have an AC mini for a filter and even when I have it on low it seems to create too much movement down on the gravel. I have placed a foam filter insert under the outflow area to buffer the turbulence. Since I did that I saw quite a few more fry swimming above the gravel. I fed BBS this morning for the first time and they seemed to be going after it, although it is tough to see since they are so tiny. They look like little helicopters without the blades on top. Or as my daughter put it ....little mosquitos without the legs and wings ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syno321 Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 [When stuck without microfoods for newly hatched fry who can't take bbs or microworms as a first food, try squeezing a sponge filter into their tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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