I'm giving GBRs another try

[wot_fan]

I have always liked German Blue Rams.  Throughout the years have I have tried to keep them in my community tank but they never seem to last very long.  I am sure I wasn't paying close enough attention to the WPs.

 

This time I set up a 29G tank just for them.  I added 2 small females 3 days ago and today I added a male.  Hopefully I will have more luck with them this time.

 

Thought I would share a few pictures starting with a couple of the dominant female followed by a couple of group shots.

[kizshrimp]

Lovely fish, one of my all-time favorites. If you get them going well they breed easily and grow up fast. 

 

In my experience, your success depends more on the health and quality of the stock you obtain than anything else - bearing in mind that they are a bit delicate and do need good water quality. 

Usually the German-bred stock is very good, although fish distributed as "German bred" are not always so. 

[neo-2FX]

I used to breed GBR's years ago.

 

I literally just purchased one male and one female put them in the same tank and they bred constantly.

 

The first few times they laid eggs but they ate them, understandably. But after a few goes they were good parents.

 

I even have some old, crappy quality, videos if you want to see 

 

A bit of driftwood and plants will make for a good breeding environment. They will lay wherever though really (even in the substrate).

 

I used to feed the young ones a powder formula that you mix into water and put in the tank - can't remember the name now.

 

I also had a lot of success separating the parents from the babies after they had hatched and were swimming.

 

Just give it a go, you'll learn as you go as well.

[newbreed]

They are amazing little fish with such BIG character!! Good luck on getting lots of fry soon!!

[wot_fan]

Thanks for the comments.

 

I would love to raise a batch of GBR fry.  I have heard that keeping the fry alive is harder than getting them to breed.  It is nice to here success stories.  I have done everything I know to do to give them an environment that they will like.  The rest is up to them

 

I love having fry.  It is one of the reasons I am giving shrimp a go.  Right now I have a couple batches of krib and bristlenose fry in my community tank.  I look forward to checking out the little guys every day.  

 

Here is a picture I took yesterday of my male bristlenose and one of his newest fry

Here is one of the older bristlenose fry

Here are my kribs with new fry

Finally, here is one of the older krib fry

[BOLT]

I use to keep GBR but i had to decide if i wanted them or shrimp... shrimp all the way, but GBR are a great colourful fish. 

[Squiggle]

I like all dwarf cichlids, they are all very cool & colourful!

[inverted]

Great pictures wot_fan ...... All the best with breeding the GBRs

Edited January 29, 2015 by inverted

[wot_fan]

Great pictures wot_fan ...... All the best with breeding the GBRs

Thanks inverted.  

 

Unfortunately I have had a little set back.  The male died a few days after I took the picture.  I am not sure what happened.  It could have been the stress of a new tank/acclimation or maybe I should have waited longer after the tank finished cycling to add GBRs.  

 

I decided to wait a couple weeks a watch the female.  The good news is that she is doing great.  I also swapped in a canister with a UV filter in place of one of the HOBs.  I think I am ready to get another male.  I'll post more pics if I have any success with him.