Bully Electric Blue Ram

[Dawn Dare]

👋 I need an opinion. Which one do I move to another tank?
Last November I noticed my electric blue rams spawned, in my community tank.😃 Yeah! Of coarse next morning all eggs were gone. 😧 This happened twice. So I decided to give the happy couple their own 29 gal tank. It is set up bare bottom with plants wood and two clay pots with many hiding places. Six months later still nothing. Just chasing the poor female around stressing her out!  So I added 3 new baby electric blues. He chased them as well as his mate. But it must have given her some relief. Because....
    Bam! Spawned two days later. Those eggs were eaten as well by the next morning. 
    He continued to chase everyone. Long story short the three newbies did not survive. I feel horrible. The pair have not spawned since. He continues to chase the poor female. She is really stressed out. He has a bright orange head. Hers is dark and grey, never seems to relax.

    I really want to breed these fish. But it’s clear not with this pair. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am going to move one of the pair back to the community tetra tank.

I am unsure, which one goes into the community tank? 
 

Any thoughts???

[Brian K]

So in my experience in some of the fish I've bred, I noticed that I needed dither fish to help fish breed. The dither fish help make them feel more comfortable and in some cases, much like yours, help ease aggression towards the female. The tetra and baby rams were that and that is why you were able to have spawns. So what I would do is either get them a few dither fish that are fast swimming like the tetras so they can escape abuse or move them back to the community tank with the tetras. You will have faster breeding by putting dither fish in their current tank, because if you move them it will take a day or two for them to get comfortable again. Best of luck to you! 

[Dawn Dare]

Thank you Brian for your reply. I’ll give that a try. I love neon tetras. 

[Brian K]

You're welcome! Good luck!