Re: Hatching Rams and Water Parameters

[Steph & Dave <caligula@tig.com.au>]

Hi Sam

When I first started 'playing' with Rams I was told that the water had
to be under about 80ppm hardness for the eggs to be fertilised.
Apparently if the water is too hard the egg shell hardens ? before the
male can fertilise them.

Regards

Steph


> wingko yung wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone,
>  
> Not exactly apistogramma...but close enough I hope...
>  
> I've been 'playing around' with gold rams for some time now.  They
> spawn exactly every 2 weeks.  I've found that no matter what I do,
> adding meth. blue, water changes, etc. they always fungused within 48
> hours in my tap water.  My water is usually around the following
> parameters (taken with tetra test kits):
> 8 pH; 7 GH; 5 KH; temp. 27-28 C; dont' have a conductivity meter. 
> After a couple months of this, I decided to let the fish spawn in 3
> parts r/o water and 1 part tap, which gave the following parameters
> (again taken with tetra test kits): 7-7.5 pH; 4-5 GH; 2 KH; temp.
> still around 27-28 C.  Finally, most of the eggs hatched (even without
> meth. blue). 
>  
> I know that many apistos and such need soft water to properly
> fertilize their eggs.  However, I would have thought that fish like
> the gold ram that has likely been bred in captivity for many
> generations would be able to have viable babies in normal tap water
> (even my rather disagreable stuff)?  Has anyone else had trouble
> getting baby rams...I know that their extremely easy to breed, but I
> understand that they are often hard to get fry from.  How do you do
> it?
>  
> Sam Yung


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