Re: spawning blue rams

["Helen Burns" <helen.burns@bigwig.net>]

John,
I would suggest lowering your pH within the range of pH 5.5-6.5.  Filtering
through peat will help to lower your pH.
Raise your temperature 82-85 range. Flat smooth spawning site i.e. a small
piece of slate, rounded stone/pebble or a broken clay flowerpot lying flat.
When and if they spawn play it by ear and leave both parents in the tank. If
they do it once they will do it again and then you can take appropriate
action.
Helen

> I'm looking for advice on spawning blue rams. I have a very fine and
> healthy looking pair, still quite young but hopefully big enough now to
> breed. They've been in a community tank and have now been installed in a
30
> inch heavily planted tank with plenty of upright stone and eight
pencilfish
> as dithers. Parameters are RO water cut with a dash of tap, pH 7, KH 1, GH
> 1, zero nasties, 26 degrees C. They are being fed mosquito larva and
> daphnia from my fish-free pond.
> My main question is should I adjust the temperature and pH - and does peat
> help? Some sources I have seen have suggested a low pH while others say 7
> should be OK. Likewise temperature recommendations vary. I'm also a little
> unsure about the correct size for breeding. Size has seemed a little
> immaterial for my other dwarfs. Do blue rams get as big as bolivians?
> Then if they do spawn, do most people leave the parents together as a pair
> or routinely yank the male? And do you take out the male immediately or
> wait until the fry hatch?




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