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GBR breeding competition


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At the end of January I received 2 male and 2 female German blue rams, they arrived on the coldest day of the year. Due to an excellent job of packing and insulating by the breeder  they all were healthy and seemingly not too stressed out. 8ED679E7-2474-4058-AB92-90247E5AC25A.jpeg.58dce039e037e3f7d32d33cc939324e3.jpeg

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you can see both males are showing decent color. After a few days they easily settled into the QT. 116ABC30-CC25-4AD7-9DB2-8755B9503CFA.jpeg.5158f38929b09d1e902f8452d446b822.jpeg
 

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after a couple weeks I moved them to a 20G high.35393918-73F4-4948-AA54-540AD33452CE.jpeg.c2a68fcd2fb9582fc499721cfdf8be9d.jpeg

the 4 GBR are the only fish in here so really they are still in quarantine. They became real comfy real quick, after 4 days there was FRY! I am not ready for them to breed yet but if they make it great but I was not ready to pull adults/ fry and nurture them. Unfortunately none made it.A56FAFA4-6875-49DF-8E92-9A9BB3A0D715.jpeg.d427d4b14e7f1ff24fb7781a89edbb89.jpeg

Positive take, one of the females has some experience now. I am not sure which female it was but the female that will be in group 2 was guarding them and being aggressive so I’m fairly confident she is the mother. Pic is with the father also group 2. And because of this aggression I had to separate them before I wanted too but only by 5-ish days. They have been quarantined for a lil over 3 weeks now.
 

So, the competition begins!

I have separated the two pairs into mostly different environments. Group 1 will be in a 125G community tank. Rummynose/ cardinal/ glowlight tetras, salt and pepper corys, peppered corys, bristlenose plecos, otocinlus, and a large colony of cherry shrimp. They will be fed as the tank gets fed, a variety of krill flakes, pellets, crushed algae wafers, and what I call “dank” (a good version of stank) it’s a mixture of the list above and a few other dry foods (very guarded recipe) I also feed this tank live blackworms and frozen bloodworms, shrimp, and daphnia. I do target feed the GBR when feeding these. There are no “caves” in this tank but a few cave like spots and it has a lot of medium sized flat rocks. The PH in this tank runs about 7.6-7.8.7300489F-85B8-4AD2-9541-E7667CB00D07.jpeg.fdb2a797e92f3abc83bf96906781ff6d.jpeg

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Group 2 will be in a species only tank. Will probably add some snails for a clean up crew when needed. This tank on initial set up (for these rams this tank has been running for over a year with other inhabitants) was seeded with a large portion of black worms. They were in the tank alone for 2-ish weeks before rams introduced.The feeding schedule will be exact same but these two won’t have any competition for food. This tank has a few caves and guarded areas, only a couple medium sized flat rocks will be added. The rocks will be placed in what I think to be good for them and still be visible and easily accessible. I cut the water in this tank with about 1/3 distilled water so the PH ranges 6.8-7.0

I think these tanks are both good conditions for the rams to breed. I’m interested to see if G1 in a much bigger environment can protect the fry but still co exist with the community. G2 will they learn to be good parents and raise the fry? In either tank the parents must raise the fry. If neither are successful I will change plans but I think both will be successful.

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@Fish Folk @Beardedbillygoat1975 In today’s match up we have the Rams v the Ram’s ? 
 

It seems with both pairs the female is the boss. G1 male follows her like a loyal pup. Occasionally wandering off but for most part is right behind, letting her lead the way where to graze and what not. G2 they seem to be bickering a bit charging at each other but never making contact. She does most of the charging then he backs down. I can’t tell if he is subordinate or playing it cool and gonna make a play when she tires out?

im really in no hurry for them to breed but I am prepared if they do. I m looking forward to caring and raising the fry as well as the parents. I have set the wheels in motion…

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On 3/21/2022 at 8:23 PM, Fish Folk said:

I find that if they gorge together on freshly hatched BBS, it helps them get along better. They’ll peck furiously together at a spot once they’re ready to spawn. 

I am starting a batch in the morning so I can hatch Wednesday evening (36 hours for best hatch rate for me) Also in the morning I’m gonna start increasing the temps gonna take them up to 84-ish. Thursday morning I’m gonna do a 25% water change on both tanks using 78-80F water. While I’m doing this I’m gonna do a couple things in the 125G and take another run at getting my rummynose and or the cardinal tetra to breed. 

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I forgot to post pics of group 2 in original post.

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On 3/21/2022 at 8:35 PM, Patrick_G said:

I think the species only tank should be an easy win, but the community tank might cover the spread. @Fish Folkcan you handicap this match? 

I agree, I’m just interested in if both pairs can be successful in such different environments. And in the end, unless I lose I will be a winner. 

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Just like most were guessing the rams won!!!

Also the favorites won, the single species tank has free swimming fry! I don’t have a clue where the eggs were laid. Ive been searching  this tank a lot but the way it’s set up there are a few blind spots. As much as I wanna pull the fry into a breeder box, I want to see the parents raise them. I believe this batch has a much better chance at survival. 
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the male is definitely the protector he keeps them grouped close to the plant cover and runs the female off.

 

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