German Blue Ram male spawning with two females?

[BCherdingthefish]

A few weeks back I bought two German Blue Rams under the pretense that they were a mated pair. Well, they laid eggs alright, and were definitely a pair...but it was two females.
So I got a male, and put him in. Within a week one of the females laid eggs, and they both she and the male guarded them..and ate them over the next day or two..I'm not too worried about that though, since I've heard it takes them a few tries to get it right.
I was going to take the female he didn't pair with and put her in my 35, because she was being harassed. Not too bad, because I gave her a nice hiding spot on the opposite side of the tank, but still...But then my 35 got ich and I opted to not risk putting her in there yet.
So about a week later, two days ago, I noticed she wasn't backing down when the other female tried to harass her, and when I looked closer I noticed she has dug a pit in the sand and laid eggs there, and she and the male were guarding them.
So, this male has spawned with two different females. Is that normal? I've never heard of it happening before..


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[BCherdingthefish]

Bump?


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[Jmart159]

Sure, cichlids will sometimes switch partners due to strength, dominance, and receptiveness. I've had several different fish do this.

 

[ryansmith83]

It's definitely normal. I have several male cichlids who breed with multiple females. I keep my Bolivian rams as a trio and the male routinely spawns with both females, usually within days of one another. I also have a wild male notatus severum who spawned with two different females a day apart. I'd leave them together and see if he ends up being more compatible with one over the other.

 

[BCherdingthefish]

Well, I guess I just learned something new

That's a good idea, seeing if he'll be more compatible with one over the other..
Two times the females, two times the practice..hopefully they'll stop eating the eggs soon. The last of this batch just disappeared!


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[ryansmith83]

My Bolivian eggs always disappear if I leave the trio together. I think the male constantly eats them in anticipation of spawning with the alternate female. If he seems to be more compatible with one over the other, you can remove the third fish and give the pair a try by themselves. Maybe they'd do better in the absence of a third fish. I tried that and my pair became ultra shy and stopped spawning. I added the third female back and voila! eggs within days. But they always get eaten.

Rams have a reputation for being slacker parents. People say they always eat the eggs or fry. The pairs I've dealt with in the past haven't so much been egg-eaters, but they're really passive about guarding the spawning site, leaving the eggs to get eaten by other tankmates.

 

[BCherdingthefish]

My Bolivian eggs always disappear if I leave the trio together. I think the male constantly eats them in anticipation of spawning with the alternate female. If he seems to be more compatible with one over the other, you can remove the third fish and give the pair a try by themselves. Maybe they'd do better in the absence of a third fish. I tried that and my pair became ultra shy and stopped spawning. I added the third female back and voila! eggs within days. But they always get eaten.

Rams have a reputation for being slacker parents. People say they always eat the eggs or fry. The pairs I've dealt with in the past haven't so much been egg-eaters, but they're really passive about guarding the spawning site, leaving the eggs to get eaten by other tankmates.

I never thought of it like that - it does seem to be mostly the male that's eating the eggs.

If they don't get the hang of it, what if I were to remove the eggs and put them in a breeding trap at the top of the tank?


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[ryansmith83]

If they don't get the hang of it, what if I were to remove the eggs and put them in a breeding trap at the top of the tank?

Sure, you could always pull the eggs. Are they laying them on a pot/slate/rock? If so, that makes it really easy. You want to keep some current moving over them to simulate the fanning of the parents, so usually an airstone placed just above the eggs does the trick. Keep in mind that if they hatch and the wrigglers roll off into the breeding net (if you use the mesh kind), the parents can and will eat the fry right through the net. I didn't think it was possible until I saw my Laetacara dorsigera suck fry right out of the breeding net!

Got room for another 10 gallon? You could just set it up with a simple bare bottom configuration (small heater and sponge filter) and move the eggs out of the tank completely if that's an option.

 

[BCherdingthefish]

Sure, you could always pull the eggs. Are they laying them on a pot/slate/rock? If so, that makes it really easy. You want to keep some current moving over them to simulate the fanning of the parents, so usually an airstone placed just above the eggs does the trick. Keep in mind that if they hatch and the wrigglers roll off into the breeding net (if you use the mesh kind), the parents can and will eat the fry right through the net. I didn't think it was possible until I saw my Laetacara dorsigera suck fry right out of the breeding net!

Got room for another 10 gallon? You could just set it up with a simple bare bottom configuration (small heater and sponge filter) and move the eggs out of the tank completely if that's an option.

I got a 20 long today(for free!) and I'm going to use that as a grow-out tank for Molly and GBR fry. But I need to figure out how to divide it so that they can't get through. I could always divide it and keep the GBR in there in a breeders net till they're big enough to not get through the divider...
Oh my god, that's a pretty good idea!! I feel so smart!

And no, they don't lay on a flat surface. I put in a very nice rock for them, but they dug a pit right BEHIND the rock...So how would I get the eggs off the sand?


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[ryansmith83]

And no, they don't lay on a flat surface. I put in a very nice rock for them, but they dug a pit right BEHIND the rock...So how would I get the eggs off the sand?

Eek! You probably won't. Put a bunch of little flat rocks or stones in there and hopefully they'll get the hint. Mine always dig up the sand and spawn on the glass bottom, though.