Great seller and extremely helpful with any information that you need. Have brought Ram's of Justin & with continue to buy more varieties of him because of the quality of his fish. Thanks for your help & guidance in raising fry Justin..
Hello I watch many of Nicks videos. And I noticed that you and Nick do videos together. But now I came across your videos and was so happy to see them I truly enjoy watching you and Nicks videos I have learned so much from you Guys. I wish the bes tfor you. Thank you.
@Justin's Fishroom ive noticed my German blues have had babies I'm feeding them egg yolk whilst hatching BBS Should I segregate them from mum and dad, they're heaps aggressive if I go anywhere near their babies
I’ve just found my way back into fish-keeping after years away from the hobby. Your and Nick’s videos were so inspirational that within two months I got a 480L tank, 2 x 250L tanks and ten small 35L tanks, with about 10 Dark Night Rams, Ten Electric Blues, 15 GBRs and five Golden rams 😂 I curse you and salute you at the same time! Anyway, today I had two pairs of electric blues start spawning after a water change… what was the first thing I did? … Went straight back to your guy’s videos for advice and next steps. It’s 8pm now… fingers crossed for eggs in the morning. Thanks for all the amazing content guys, I’m having fun 😎💪🏼
That’s awesome!! Glad we could spark that for you and it’s great to hear that you are so successful keeping Rams already😃👍 Thank you for watching the videos!
I like the idea of not giving live food for a first feed to avoiding Any harm for the fry. Keep it up and don't forget to update on the black ram babys.
Thank you so much Justin! I was able to get the fry out today.. Hopefully will be able to grow them with the tips that you have given.. Great video! Love from India!
Awesome advice and video on hatching ram eggs.👍👍👍 I've a few questions if you can help answering. 1. How can you be certain that the pair has finished laying eggs? 2. How long do you leave the eggs with pair to ensure maximum fertilization before removed to artificially hatch? 3. When you add eggs to the bowl do you change any water before it hatches? 4. Can you feed powderized fry foods or even infusoria as 1st foods are they need the egg yolk emulsion? 5. You mentioned that you do 80% water changes daily when do you start doing this? From hatching or only free swimming stage? 6. How to you replace the new water? Drip acclimate? 7. How often daily do you feed the free swimmers? 8. If possible could you do a series on raising the fry at different stages of growth and when you switch to other foods etc??? 9. Can you share what's your water parameters for breeding rams? Like ph, temp, tds , tannins etc Thank you Sir. Keep up the Excellent work. 👏👏👏
1. They will have stopped laying their eggs and focus more on protecting the spawning site. 2. I leaved them for up to 1 hour after fertilization is complete 3. I top up the water if need be 4. You can use any fry food that is small enough for them to eat (egg yolk is great!) 5. Only at the free swimming stage and this is due to feeding the fry food 6. No, I take all the water out with an air hose and replace the water by gently putting 1/2 cured tap water and 1/2 community tank water 7. I feed three times a day as a bare minimum (When on BBS) 8. Yeah I can do that eventually - I have a few more video suggestions to get through with the rams but more than happy to add it to the list :) 9. I've got a video explaining all of that so keep an eye out :) Thanks for all your amazing questions! Let me know if this was helpful at all.
@@JustinsFishRoom Thank you Sir. Appreciated info and replies. Yes I've few additional comments on question 3 how much water do to artificially hatch in and do you adjust air flow from airstone from start to when hatched or swimming? Also just to confirm is it only 1 time you add the methylene blue and no water changes till fully free swimming? Do topped up if only evaporated? If possible could you give me a shout in your next video? Appreciated advice. Thanks again.👍👍👍👍👍
THANK YOU!! I followed all of your videos (and some of Nick's) exactly to a T and now have an army of almost 100 two week old healthy Rams. First fish I've ever bred and I owe it all to your amazing videos detailing out the entire process. I watched a bunch of Dean's (Aquarium CoOp) videos but he only really goes into getting the Rams to spawn...which is the insanely easy part. Man...those 2-3 days of free swimming was a VERY trying few days. I kept comparing my egg yolk mixture to the viscosity of yours and think I finally got it right. They took to it no problem. I was WAY overfeeding at first and cleaning that fry box is a total bitch (also thank you for the video on that, very helpful as well). I think I finally got the nack for not sucking up fry and returned some of my sanity back. I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me, when you have the chance: 1. For maximum growth, should I be feeding BBS for every meal? I work from home so I've been feeding them every 4 hours and their growth seems to be booming. I've been mixing in Golden Pearls into their diet, will this limit their growth compared to all BBS diet? I try to feed the pearls first thing in the morning when they're most hungry and alternate throughout the day and they seem to go for it just as aggressively as the live BBS. I'm thinking with the egg yolk starter food method you taught me to use, they're already used to non-live foods so maybe this isn't as important? Hoping to cut down on the BBS I hatch to save money but also wondering if, after 2 weeks, I could cut out BBS entirely and feed only high protein foods. Also, I have other high protein food I'm hoping to feed them but the smallest size it comes in is 0.1mm (1000 micron). Do you know how old they'd have to be before I could get them on 1000 micron food? I have them on 100-200 micron golden pearls at 2 weeks old. 2. I had the fry in a tupperware container for the first two weeks, doing 2-3 80% water changes per day. Siphoning that out through a 1/4" airtube is the worst and the first piece I'd love to cut out of this experience. After the 2 weeks, I moved the fry to a hang on breeder box like the one partially shown in your video. Any reason I couldn't put them in their right after the methelyene blue stage when they first start wriggling? Make a quick transfer of the rock. Or maybe when they first start free swimming? Also, any good tips on transfering the small Ram fry from container to container. I just literally poured them from the tupper ware directly into the breeder box and...all is good. Used your turkey baster method to wash out the stagglers stuck to the bottom. I figure if they can survive getting sucked down an airtube when cleaning, this shouldn't bother them. Thank you so so much again. I wouldn't have been so successful without your help. Also, thank Nick for me too. Feel free to answer none or all of the above questions, I'm sure it's all stuff I can guess and test with myself. Just really glad to have the leg up you guys are giving me.
Hi there! Thank you so much for your comment and I am over joyed that you were able to breed these very misunderstood fish. To answer your questions as simply as possible I will try give you very to the point answers… Q1) ANSWER: I would recommend only feeding BBS (freshly hatched) for the first three weeks and then feed both BBS and pellets until two months of age. Then you can wean them off BBS all together. BBS is the most ideal food for fry growth so don’t take them off it too soon. Q2) ANSWER: I just use the large pipette method and just create a light vortex of water in the round container as this makes them congregate in a tight ball. I then suck them all up in one go and transfer them. Hope these answer your questions. Let me know if I can help with anything else🙂👍
Hi Justin, heard about your channel through Nick. I'm a neon tetra breeder but am giving breeding GBR's a try. My first spawn are wrigglers that will be free swimmers in about 24hrs and I was really unsure what to feed before BBS, thanks for making this video as I have learnt that egg yoke works. So big thank you for sharing your experience!!
@@JustinsFishRoom I fed the fry egg yoke once they became free swimmers for few few days and now have about 40-50 on BBS which for a first spawn I consider a major success, so thanks again Justin!!!:-)
My Bolivian rams just laid their first batch of eggs. Im so excited! However since im moving tomorrow i will have to take the eggs out of the tank or they'll die haha. Thanks for this video! Very useful information :)
Congratulations!!! That is great to hear and I am glad you have plans to move them and keep them all safe! All the best with this exciting breeding venture:)
Hi Justin .... It's Mike from Orange county New York... I have very hard water and I'm curious if you use water with a water softener will that work... Also would like to see a video of you making the egg yolk food for feeding the wigglers...
Thanks for the great video suggestion Mike! I will take this one into consideration for one of the uploads coming out in the near future! I don’t use any water softeners 🙂👍
My pair of rams layed eggs past friday for the 1st time. I removed the eggs and did everything like you showed in the video. This morning (around 60 hours after the spawn) I found wrigglers on the bottom of the container. Some hardly move but others already swim to the top. When should I start feeding egg yolk? Also have an airstone in the container, but I wonder if it makes to much turbulence in the water for the wrigglers... Thank you for sharing this awesome video!
Hi there Elder. That is GREAT news! I would put the air stone only reach half way up the container to reduce turbulence. Usually you start feeding as soon as they start swimming. Thank you for your awesome questions! Please let me know how you go. Happy Ram breeding:)
I am new in have Blue Ram in a tank I like your youtube videos on the Ram I like you to keep doing more youtube videos on what size tank you keep them in once they get big I have 1 Ram in a 10g tank and I like to no what other fish can you keep with them and the pH you keep them and what Temp is best for them I have 1 and I keep it at 80 to 79 is that ok can you help me with this
Yeah, I have taken down your suggestion and will definitely do a video explaining all of that. Your temperature is good for rams but your tank size may be on the small size. I would say at least a 20 gallon tank for a rams as it helps with water and temp stability. Hope this helped!!
I don't have Room for a 20g tank I live on the top floor and my landlord Don't want me to put a 20g tank I can only have a 10g so I had to get a 10g and what other fish can I put in the tank with my Ram let me no in your youtube videos next and thank for your help
Justin,,, can you tell me the best way of water changing when the fry are only days to weeks old..if using spirulina x eggs feed? I freak out on doing this as I’m scared of sucking up baby’s or ? Do you pipette mucky egg water out or ? I think this is where iv lost fry of diff species in the past by not enough water changes, Im told every couple of days but I leave it for weeks as I’m scared todo it (when fry are just days old I will soooo careful pipette each n every one out and gently place them into a new one gainer to straight back in tank floating on surface or using a fry holder suctioned inside on glass. (usually I have never had hundreds like you lol, so it’s not a massive job) what’s an easier way of water changes with out fear of losing fry but also good enough to get rid of any debri/food muck ,….Lisa
Hey Justin, thanks for informative video. My first 300 fry of blue black rams died after they were free swimming because the food I give them still too large. I like the boiled egg yolk food. Can you tell me on how long the egg yolk last? Or do you make fresh one every feeding? Also, how often do you feed them the egg yolk and for how many days before introducing them to BBS? I hope to hear your answer soon as I have eggs now with GBR, BBR and EBR. By the way, is it normal for rams to lay their eggs on substrate rather than a black pebble? Thanks for your time and I appreciate a response. Thanks.
Yes, that is completely normal. You can keep the egg yolk in the fridge or freezer. It doesn’t last too long. You feed them egg yolk for the first couple of days and then introduce BBS
I do a water change whenever the water looks like it needs changing. You don't need to change the water on the wrigglers as the water does not have any ammonia at this point building up to dangerous levels:)
Do you also feed hikairi first bites? I have my first batch of long finned gold rams wrigglers hatched today. Getting ready to hard boil an egg. Thanks for the tips. Do I need to keep the water over 80 degrees? or just room temp 78-80? I had no methylene blue so used a small Indian almond leaf for antibacterial. thanks so much for vid.
Yes I do! But only if they will take it. It's actually quite funny. Sometimes I give the first bites and they will take it and other times they won't! BBS and egg yolk are definitely the safest options...but is nice if you get a spawn that gorge themselves on artificial fry food:) I would aim for at least 26 Celsius but the higher towards the 30 mark the better. The Indian almond leaf is always good. I hope this helps:)
So you skipped the whole part of how you get the eggs out? My black rams are literally spawning right now, and I’m not really sure how to get them off the driftwood without damaging the eggs. Thoughts? Do you just gently brush them or something into a separate container?
Please check out the video about removing eggs. In terms of getting eggs off larger structures you can use your finger and gently skim them off. a finger is better if you have a steady hand as you can make sure you are more gentle with the eggs:)
You do have to keep water changes up when they are on egg yolk as it can go off after a few hours 🙂👍 I don’t have that issue due to the frequent water changes 👍
This is great video! I just started trying to breed Black rams and I’m using your hard boiled egg as a first food! How many times a day do you feed the egg yolk?
That's great! Glad you could learn something from the video:) I feed them two to three times a day. One thing to take into consideration, is when you feed egg yolk, you should change the water about an hour after adding. This way you maintain good water quality. Thanks for the comment!!
Trying to get my Rams too pair off is impossible I have 2 males and 2 females in a 71L planted tank with sand substrate iv I can get a pair I have another tank to take away the remaining 2 fish. The bulling is terrible though. Any advice on what I could do ?
This a very educational video for beginners like me. I just wondering how you set up all those fry bowls and containers on the top of your tank and where you found them?
I have a black ram pair that have laid eggs 3 times. The first time on a leaf. They hatched and then they ate them. The last 2 times they laid them in the substrate and then ate then within 2 days. I was gonna remove them and hatch then myself but I'm not sure about gathering them from the substrate. Do you have any pointers? I really want to get some fry from them.
Hi Justin, I appreciate you putting this info up to help us out in the hobby! I have a few questions. Is it ok to keep multiple breeding pairs of black rams in a 40 breeder? or just a single pair? Once they lay eggs, I'd like to let the parents do their thing but I imagine them not doing too well with multiple other fish in there. If it's better to take the eggs out; we plan to put them in a large external breeder box attached to the side of the tank. what are your thoughts?
Hi there Glenn! You can either do one pair or more than two pairs. If you have more than one pair it is fine to allow the parents to hatch their eggs but it is better to pull the wrigglers out prior to when they first start free swimming. The breeder box will be great. Just make sure the mesh or gaps in the box aren’t too big for the fry to escape out of
Just found some eggs, and your videos are very helpful. Can too much methylene blue be dangerous to the eggs? I think I put too much in the dip and pour, so I diluted it as best I could.
Hi there, Simon! It depends on each spawn but generally about 2-3 days on egg yolk and then after that BBS and EY and then only BBS when they don’t need the EY anymore 😀👍
My German blue rams have laid eggs on gravel for the first time how would I go about removing them since they gravel is just big enough to hold one or two eggs
I personally don't use RO and I don't like the idea of having to out minerals back into the water to prevent deficiencies in the fish. It also depends on the parameters out of your tap water. My municipal water can be high in metals but in terms of hardness the water is perfectly fine:)
Hello. 1. When they are eggs yet, do I need to water change everyday? I added metheyline blue. 2. When they are wigglers and free swimmers,do i still need to water change? How? I’m afraid to drop them all to the sink.
Hi there, Jerome. These are great question my friend and I will answer in order... 1. You can, it's not necessary and I would recommend doing a water change between one and two times before they free swim. 2. Yes, this is the most critical time to do water changes as they will start eating and you need to dilute as much of that ammonia in their water as possible:) Hope this helps:)
How often you water change after giving them egg yolks when theyre free swimming already? Do i need big containers? Is it okay in the water tank for changing water?
An hour after every feeding I do a 80-100% water change to prevent ammonia spikes. A 1 Litre container should suffice. If you mean a rain-water tank, I would say no. Stick to using community tank water:)
I have a question regarding most types of sensitive fry that are a lot smaller than GBR. So far i have been able to breed danios, barbs, angel fish, corry's etc, but real problem kicks in with tetras. For some reason, i get complete fry die offs at arround 2-3 weeks mark. Before that, they eat, swimm and look very healthy. In some rare cases i got 4-5 odd fry that survived to adulthood, but all the other ones didnt. I tried raising fry in 5 gallon tanks, in 10 gallon tanks, floating them in a tub that is in 30 gallon tank (holes on a side of container so they share water), heater / no heater, dozen types of food including bbs, microworms, infusoria, powdered pellets etc. No matter what i changed, outcome was always the same. They hatch, they start free swimming, they start eating and swimming completely normally then at the 2-3 weeks mark all of them die. Couldnt be amonia spikes since i used filters, shared water with 30g tanks, daily water changes, etc. so im really in the dark here.... Do you have any clue on what might be going on? Im just shooting my shot here, since none of the FB / reddit groups have been able to figure out whats going on :/
Hey! Sorry to hear about your efforts. You seem to be doing everything right. The only thing I can think of is perhaps some sort of parasite like a gill fluke. I know discus fry start dropping off at about the same time due to this. It may be worth trying again, making sure to treat for parasites and worms. If you have had some survive and some die, I tend to put this down to genetics as well. You could have a closely related pair or the particular rams where you are from are probably very bottle-necked. I believe you should try source a pair from different breeders and see if this makes a difference.
@@JustinsFishRoom Thanks for the reply. I actually just did that. Got a pair from different breeder in different part of country. Hope that works this time. Also i started using Malachite Green and dropping some off as soon as i remove the eggs, then wait about 4 days untill i start doing water changes. First batch i used it on have a lot of belly sliders (around 80%). Not sure if it's related, but now i have a fresh batch of wrigglers from new pair, hope they turn better. I will post an update in a week or 2.
@@nightfear1996 All good! Glad you went and did that. I don't think it should have an effect on the survivability of the fry as long as you stick within the correct dosage. Keep me updated on your progress:)
I am artificially hatching my ram eggs. Have you ever experienced ram fry huddling at the surface of the tank? My free-swimming fry clump up at the surface of the water. Mine make it pass the wiggler stage and when it comes time to free swim they all huddle at the surface and eventually die.. They won't come mid-water or stay near the bottom of the tank to hunt for food. Is this due to them being scared? I hatch my fry in a clear breeder box.. I see that you use a white non-see-through container. Is this for reducing stress levels?
Hmmm...that is an interesting predicament but fortunately, not one that I haven't heard of before. I believe you may have either really high flow in the fry box (in the form of high air output) or slightly too high ammonia levels. In both these scenarios you may see fry huddling at the surface. However, in say that, this is also a natural and habitual behavior that is typical for the rams as a species. I would recommend slowing down the air output and testing for ammonia regularly as well as doing very regular water changes. I hope this helps:)
i just started to spawn my GBRs and they are in the wriggler stage. Im planning to adopt some of your methods for future spawns. But for now i have my wrigglers in a 4 gal tank. I put a heater on it. my question is. is it a heater needed? Im in the Philippines its typhoon season and temps go down to 26 deg c around 78 deg F. or its ok.
Great info, my German ram breed couple of weeks ago I isolated the breeding pair in my aquarium corner before The eggs hatched and they started wiggling on the third day, literally 95%hatch rate. The 4th day I checked them out and found nothing :( this is the 3rd time breeding for this pair so what could have happened?
Is that a normal behavior when a day or two free-swimming fry always stays on the top of the water? And how old before you transfer the fry to a bigger tank/container?
@@JustinsFishRoom any reason why they stay on the top of the container? Im able to spawn them, wigglers turn to free swimmers, but when 2nd or 3rd day of free swimming they start dying. Im only able to save 10 out of two batch. First batch I try the egg yolk and second batch i try infusoria. I water change everyday using a turkey baster maybe change 15-20% of the water.
Hi Justin, would you mind to help? I had a few batches of fry having the same issue when they to free swimming stage. They pretty much just hang around in the surface once they started free swimming and ended up died a few days later. I had airstone turned on the whole time, methalyne blue added , temperature 28 degree Celsius. Do you know what’s the issues? Cheers
Hey Wilson! So sorry to hear that man. Don't worry - you are an AWESOME GBR breeder, we just need to tweak some things. So, you are doing everything right bro. You just need to make sure that you do frequent 80-100% water changes. Are you feeding them egg yolk as a first food? This could be the reason why they are dying too. Keep me updated and we can figure this out:)
@@JustinsFishRoom Thanks for your message. 😊They had freshly hatched bbs as their first food and I did water change( same temperature) few hours after feeding . Would WC be the issue ? I have a better surviving rate for my second batch of fry which raised by the parent for almost a week. The only different is one stay in the same water while another ( artificially hatched batch) don’t.
I have a spawn of GBR and most of them are sliding around on their sides...they are nearly a month old. I'm reading that feeding BBS to them is the cause? Has this ever happened to you? It's really distressing.
do you separate the gold fry from the black? all my dark nights seem to die and the golds and a few blue rams i think survive. some people say the golds are more agressive eaters? any tips
@@JustinsFishRoom when i hatch them out the blacks or dark nights seem to always die first. most of the golds survived and a few blues or blueblack. any tips?
@@JustinsFishRoom not sure. maybe the guy i got them from inbred them to much? im still new to breeding these guys. i wish they laid eggs more. how often do yours lay?
Mine lay every week or two when conditioned but they go on breaks where I try minimise water changes so they don’t get sparked to breed as regularly. I would say that make the most sense
Day three of my GBR fry! Still alive! Parents are currently doing a great job. I have them in my 38 gallon with their parents, only. Feeding First Bites ok? I did egg yolk once and got too many chunks in. Any tips? I have no access to live anything.
Great job Michael! First bites are good, however, watch them and see if they are eating them. If not, go get some live BBS from the petshop or order some online and do a simple hatchery to get them to start eating. When using egg yolk, use old stockings or a strainer cloth to squish the yolk into some tank water in a bowl. This way you get very fine particles that you can feed.
@@michaelmachos8969 That's a tough one. Only because each pair is different. But what I can tell you, is that if you give them enough goes at raising their own fry they will eventually become very good parents:)
@@JustinsFishRoom I bought an extra 10 gallon and put Play Sand in it. I wanted to try sand for the first time and maybe put the parents in there. Problem is I didn't realize it takes up to a WEEK to clear?! Also, turn off filter for a week?! Isn't stagnant water bad?
@@michaelmachos8969 I would just take the sand and wash it out as many times as it takes so that there is clear water. I wouldn't let the water go stagnant because your beneficial bacteria will suffer. I hope this helps:)
Have a few follow up questions: How often do you change the water between getting the eggs in, to when they are free swimming? Do you remove the white eggs? If so, how? Haven't had luck with a pipette due to their small size.
Hi there Darryl! Great questions, my friend. You don't have to do any water changes in that period. I will always do a water change the day that they hatch into wrigglers. I will then do a 80-100% water change every day. I don't remove the white eggs as this will potentially damage viable ones. I just let the methylene blue or multicure prevent an outbreak of fungus and just manage it that way. I would try continuing with a pipette for general servicing of the wrigglers (e.g. getting critters out of their bowl or organic debris etc.). The pipette is my most useful tool in the Ram breeding arena:)
I see that you're pretty good about answering comments...i'm almost ready to breed some rams....was curious about the possibility of getting a pair or group from you...my only source is petco and have no idea how or where they were raised...i hoped that we may be able to work something out...i sure hope so...just pm me or email me @ guitardavelr@gmail.com thanks..
Hi there David! I will be selling rams soon. However, it sounds like you are in the US based off Petco. Unfortunately I can't ship overseas, my friend. But I really wish I could help you out:)
Thanks fer da shout out bro...i subbed and watched seversl of yer videos and finally realized you werean aussie...my bad...i've been to your lovely country twice years ago, loved it!
