First time rearing Bolivian Ram fry

Hi everyone.

My Bolivian Ram pair spawned last week Friday. It was such a blessing to witness eggs laid in a depression of a piece of Mopani wood. Very clever spot mom chose in my opinion.



The fry hatched approx. 48hours later, Sunday. I was very excited to get back from church to see what was going on. The parents looked like they were eating the eggs, but instead I think it was some sort of " wake up" for the wrigglers to start moving. It was very interesting to watch them move the wrigglers from the wood depression, and be " spat " out in the soil just next to it. That same evening I saw the mom starting to prepare a depression in the soil in a nice quiet corner of the tank. To my amazement, the next morning all the babies had been transferred to the new spot. She took real good care of her young, as well as dad, taking turns in protecting the wrigglers. They chased off any fish that came close, esp the Corys. Below is some photos of the wrigglers hatching and transporting from the wood.





I moved the fry into their own tank about two days later, and left a few behind for mom and dad to still take care of. This was the point where I decided that I want to do this properly and see how many babies I can keep alive.

I lost about +- 8 fry in the last few days, but no losses for the last two days. All the fry are doing well now and eating LiquiFry 4 times a day, with very frequent water changes.

I am busy setting up a " Grow Out " tank for them today, and will be posting some pics of the whole process going forward.

Please feel free to share any thoughts or advice if you feel you need to.

Current setup:



Week old fry:



New setup that will be cycling for some weeks, but should be ready soon as I will be using an internal filter from my main tank.







Now to get out the soldering iron, fix up some old heaters, fill up tank with prepped water and transfer filter from main tank to grow out tank. I will be using two platys to aid in the Nitrification Cycle.

Cheers for now

 

Very nice to see how successful you and the parents were the first time around. Well done! Why not leave the grow out tank bare bottom as well? It will save you having to vacuum substrate every week.

 

Hi there @Broder. Thank you so much, I try my best. I would love to rear these guys to a big enough size to hopefully sell. I hear you about the bare bottom tank. Thing is I was going to do this, but @Fishwhisperer, told me I should put in some substrate and some plants...so that they can eat miniscule bits of things growing here and there and I guess in my opinion help them feel more secure so they can colour up nicely. I took his advice as this is my first time, and he had bred already as far as I know. I honestly don't mind the vacuum, as I do actually have this battery operated one, but yeah I get where you are coming from. I've already filled the tank anyway. Hoping it will be okay?

 

Man that soft CT water seems to be the best for RAMS ... in JHB people need to fuss with RO - etc, Nice one T3F, very cool that you have fry.

What substrate is that - some have reported that ADA ( not sure what you have) also initially helps to keep the ph down, maybe your substrate plays a part here also.

Later Ferdie

 

Was just a suggestion. Will work fine with substrate.

 

Thanks Ferdie. The substrate is Cal Aqua Black Earth. It is very possible that it could be the soil, what I do know is that last time I checked, the tap water was quite basic here in Oostersee, Parow, about 7.8 on the PH scale. Even before I had the soil, when I had plain river sand some time back the PH used to drop and become nice and acidic. It could also be the one giant piece of Mopani wood helping. The male I have in my pro pic is the dad, he is quite a show off too. I guess the new female I handpicked at an LFS some time ago couldn't resist his charm.

 

Grow out tank complete. Now too acclimate the platys.

 

This is great man, congrats! Definitely following, good luck!

 

Hi everyone. I have some bad news. I lost quite a bit of fry two days ago. I know the reasons and causes and would like to document it now, so that next time, if God wills, there will be another opportunity to put my findings into practice. Good news is that there are still 6 fry left, and they seem to be doing well. Ill explain my conditions.


Basically what happened here is that I was literally 24hours behind schedule in terms of feeding!

When they were wrigglers I thought that I had seven days after the hatching day before I needed to feed them, due to some websites I read, but I dont think its the sites, I think I read wrong and got confused between articles. Then after speaking to @Fishwhisperer, it clicked that when they are free swimming they need to be fed , because obviously their yolk sacs have depleted. For some reason that didnt register in my mind before, and I thought I had more time since they became free swimming to prep foods. But that was wrong of me.

So that same day I bought LiquiFry out of panic, and rushed home to feed them only to discover that I was racing against the odds now, and that some were already showing signs of weakness. To top this all off, I thought that LiquiFry would be all I would need for some time, before I need to feed them anything solid, but that assumption was wrong as I believe 3 days ago they weren't accepting the dissolved substance anymore, it then registered that I should probably have had a BBS hatchery going, and dashed out to get the ingredients. But as I had said, I was too late, because obviously BBS needed a minimum of 18 hours to hatch, and after preparing a batch, with the help of my wife, 18 - 24hours later, when I got home from work, I discovered that there was BBS available for feeding, but quite a few fry had already dropped. I was very discouraged. It was definitely hunger, as I have been doing drip water changes everyday, using Prime as the conditioner. And so, the numbers quickly decreased on Tuesday, but thankfully, it wasn't too late for some...6, who are still alive as I write this, and getting regular feedings of BBS and daily water changes of up to 50%. I can only hope that they will make it.

I know some of you may be disappointed, and trust me I was too, but the fact is I have been doing my best, this is my first time and I have learnt the lessons. All I can do now is hope and pray that I may be able to try again in the near future.

Here is an image of the hatchery I have going at the moment. Its working quite nicely, loads of BBS for feeding, and future fry. I will use LiquiFry for when they are wrigglers already, and then start with BBS as soon as they become free swimming next time!

 

By the way, don't worry about the filter in that image, the fry arent in that tank, as the filter is too strong for them. They are still in a small tank.

 

Don't be so hard on yourself..... We all make mistakes, and we learn! Keep up the good work pal.

 

Gee @BadgerBadger, thanks for the support!

 

Don't mention it We're a community, and being supportive is the point of a forum such as this.

 

+1 , that experience sounds like every single time I do something for the first time! You go to the shop like 5 times in 3 days, haha! And each time in a panic!

 

Haha

 

@Th3Fishman.... I am sorry... you sound heartbroken but don't blame yourself, you tried your best...
I a sure you will soon be rewarded with more babies!!!

 

Hi @MaraiS. I was heartbroken, but I have since changed my attitude. I am hopeful.

 

Here is a tip for next time, get yourself some microworm and banana worm cultures.

Far less effort then brine shrimp and stay alive in the water longer too. Wrigglers can eat them while still very young. Loose the liqu fry stuff. Small fish instinctively hunt moving things and first needs to be taught how to eat other foods.

 

Hi @Vis. Thanks for that practical info. I will do some research on those worms, and keep it in mind.

 

Brine shrimp probably still is the best food for fry but the worms can be your safeguard.