# Bolivian Rams Spawning



## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

I had a group of 8 F2 Bolivian Rams which I had recently moved from one planted 75 to another planted 75. It looked like I had at least 2 pairs that showed interest in each other. No action for the first month or 2, then I put a small flat round river stone in the front corner and whammo, eggs! The eggs disappeared within a couple of days. I quickly caught and isolated the pair in their own 20H, well there is a pair of young guppies cohabitating with them which will hopefully one day provide live food. Before introducing the fish, I put the same kind of stone in the 20H and covered it with 3M black sand. That was about 2 weeks ago...

Over the past few days, I noticed the sand on the rock getting brushed away, exposing the stone a little bit more each day. Then they pulled the old Jedi Mind Trick on me and spawned on the substrate instead! They've always spawned on stones for me, so this was quite a surprise and seemed picture worthy. Probably not such a big deal for Cichlid-o-philes, but is a big deal for a Characin & Egg Scatterers-o-phile. See for yourself.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

awesome!


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## gravy9 (Aug 28, 2008)

I had my two German Rams spawn twice in the substrate (3M Colorquartz). They cleaned the place up and kind of made a hemispherical bowl shaped area and laid the eggs there. That said, they ate them all.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Congrats! Nice looking Ram. 

Let us know how it goes.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

good god! those eggs are HUGE.

Congrats!


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## Wet Pet (Mar 9, 2009)

Good luck with them !
" Then they pulled the old Jedi Mind Trick on me and spawned on the substrate instead! "
Was that Darth Bolivia LOL


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## vha7777 (Mar 4, 2009)

did the babies made it?


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Nope, they all got chomped before hatching.  This was their second batch. They should spawn again today. Third time is a charm (fingers crossed). I had another pair spawn in my main show tank last week and the Ancistrus got to them. I'll just pull the rock next time I see eggs on it. I'll get a batch to make it before long. I've had success in the past. Persistence.


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## anhtu402 (Jan 11, 2009)

Are you pulling the parents after it drop the eggs? Or pull all livestocks to prevent them from being eaten?


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

No I haven't. The parents do a good job of protecting the eggs and I want them to raise a batch naturally. I believe the eggs are getting eaten because they are fungusing. I either need to get some RO water in the tank so the eggs can hatch or pull the eggs and put them in RO water. I have 2 pairs spawning right now, so I'll give both methods a try.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

A batch of eggs was laid on a rock yesterday. Then I saw a large ancistrus on top of them this morning. I got impatient after watching 4 batches of eggs fungusing and getting chomped, so I pull them and put them in a 10 gallon RO water tank. The water is "very soft" discus water, according to the label on the Kent's RO Right bottle. 

Why did I do this? For 2 reasons, one is to eliminate all predators including the parents and two is because the other times I've had success RO water was part of the equation. I'm hoping the RO water will minimize the fungusing. There is a sponge filter on my AV-50 that is kicking, so there's excellent water circulation.

I've never pulled the eggs from the parents before, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. ray:


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## Karebear (Oct 6, 2008)

Good luck with them, keep us posted.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Will do. I tried to take a pic of the eggs after I moved them this morning, but my digital camera was in my car and there was humidity on the lense. I'll post a pic this evening and then hopefully more after they hatch. (fingers crossed)


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)




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## 1aqumfish (Jul 28, 2008)

Cool I hope this works out.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Well, by yesterday the eggs were about 2/3 fungused over. Now I see why it's a good idea to keep the parents with the eggs. However, I was able to watch the other 1/3 hatch! I used a turkey baster to suck the wrigglers out of the fungus this morning and counted about 40. Not too bad, but I've done better. I treated the water with methylene blue and H2O2 early in the game, but that didn't seem to make a difference on the fungus. This batch will be free swimming in 5 days & should survive.

Now that I know I have 2 pairs that spawn on opposite weeks and they should just about have figured out what they are supposed to be doing, it's time to give them ideal conditions. By this I mean no predators & softer water. One pair in a 10 & the other in a 20H with half tap, half RO water. These setups should allow:

1) the eggs do hatch due to the soft water
2) the parents to eat the infertile and/or fungused which will result in higher yields
3) the parents to raise their young

I'll keep posting updates for this batch and future batches.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Well, it looks like all of the fry are dead as of today. Sigh! This is why I believe the parents need to raise them. They constantly seem to suck the fry up and clean them off in their mouths the first week. That's OK, another pair should spawn in a day or so and the tank conditions are prime this time. I'm going to keep trying!


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Well, I have another new batch of babies. They were born over the weekend and I think they hatched today. After I got home from work this evening, I noticed that the parents moved the babies to a different pit from this morning. I replaced half the water with RO water the last water change. I have a pretty good feeling it's going to work out this time.


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## max23 (Mar 13, 2008)

have you ever try pulling the egg out when the parents laid them and put some anti fungus liquor and a air bubble next to the egg? That what I did for the angle fish and very good success rate


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

When we pull rainbow eggs we add an alder cone (pine cones from an alder tree)- it's said to have anti fungal properties though I have not seen miracles or done any experiments. It does seem to help. 

As for the parents- some fish just need practice parenting. Give them time- it looks like they are catching on fast. GL!


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## Knotty Bitz (Mar 11, 2009)

I have also heard that shrimp will help clean eggs but not eat them. This is true for lyretail killifish eggs. I wonder if it would work for ram eggs. it may be worth a shot. Use cherry shrimp or crs


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