Re: Breeding Rams !?!?!?!

[Ken Laidlaw <K.Laidlaw@roe.ac.uk>]

Hi Steph,

I have tried breeding Rams a couple of times and not had 
success.  Spawns were always eaten and the fish would then 
just die off.  Rams are difficult as it is hard to get good 
stock but you seem to be heading in the right direction.

Yours though sound like the eggs have not been fertilised 
properly as they have turned white.  Ram eggs should start 
off a sort of translucent tan colour and as they approach 
the hatching stage they will darken.  Some of the eggs will 
go white and the parents may pick off the bad ones.  If 
fungus were to blame you would see cotton wool like growth 
on them not just a white colour.

As to why they are not fertilised may be to do with the 
male being too young.  I have read that male fish take 
longer to reach sexual maturity than females.  Often fish 
require a few attempts to get things right.  Another 
possiblilty is that your water is not of the correct 
chemistry.  In some fish if the water is too hard the sperm 
cannot penitrate the eggs easily but this may not be the 
case in Rams which have a long history in the hobby. Or are 
your fish direct from the wild? If so they may require that 
you copy the very soft water/low pH water from their 
habitat.

The eggs probably hatch in about 3 days at 80degF and take 
another 4/5 days to become free swimming.  I think from 
then on they are easy to raise on brine shrimp/micro-worms.

Good luck and keep us posted.
Ken.

*****************************
Ken Laidlaw
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-668 8100
Fax: 0131-668 1130
Web: http://www.roe.ac.uk
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