Pitch Black Rams

[jeep]

I have about 300 now that are around 1/2". Since the male seemed to be eating previous spawns, I moved the eggs to a different tank and just raised them for about 4 days on Hikari First Bites followed by bbs for another 10 days. They were a little timid at first but are now devouring blackworm flake and my shrimp mix in a 75g.

Since I don't have tank space for more rams, I've been giving a friend the dish full of eggs and they've been hatching out at his place.

[jwcarlson]

Brian's issue is also another reason I don't want to regularly raise spawns is I, too, do not have room for hundreds of rams. I've only kept them very recently after getting them from Liz and I can see how you could get absolutely swamped with fry as they seem to spawn frequently and in volume. Truthfully, if all I got was 6-10 fry towards adulthood that probably MORE than enough, I also think parents provide good selective pressure on their young, especially in an aquarium environment.

[jeep]

Exactly! Last year I got into serious trouble when I had 3 different spawns of rams and 3 spawns of discus. I was way over stocked and doing sometimes 3 water changes per day.

I hate fry eating discus, but in this case it's a welcome site. I know I can begin a new spawn of rams at any time but won't be inundated again unless I chose to, lol... I have 4 pairs of black rams all in community tanks so no chance there either...

[brewmaster15]

I currently have fry from multiple spawns of rams.. They can definitely over power tank space. But I'd rather breed them than A lot of discus right now.. Summers are hard here with camping and travel. Rams mature so much faster than discus that it's just a better fish for me to breed the next few months. But I can see where I can be knee deep in rams in no time.