Bolivian ram pair

[Mercury]

I'm pretty sure that my two rams are a pair (One is a bit larger, has longer tips on fins), but the male is very aggressive to the female. No fin shredding or scratches, but lots of chasing. The female is very timid, even in her own tank. How do I coax them to pair? I heard that when breeding many fish, you introduce the male into the female's territory. Are rams like this too, or are they actually a 'pair', while the fish more of the 'hit-and-run' type? Also, the male pokes at other non-rams when they get in the way, but only after I added the female.

 

[Helena21]

If the male and female are together in the same tank, its likely that they are a pair. If the male is chasing her its probably because he wants her to breed with him. If he gets too aggressive and starts beating her up then you should move her, otherwise she will get too stressed and die.
Feed them well and the female will probably fatten up with eggs and then they will spawn

 

[Mercury]

Yeah, the vendor told me to get the female fat, but she isn't a very vigorous eater. Pokes at stuff on the ground, mostly. When I had her isolated in a 10G, she was always like that. How do I improve this?

 

[Helena21]

Hmm, maybe she is stressed. Get some live foods like bloodworms, if you can. They love those.

 

[Mercury]

I have frozen bloodworms, which she is much more interested in than flakes. Should I isolate her again? This time I'd be putting her in a 20G rather than 10. Also, her belly is quite sunken. How can I get her to eat enough to correct that and how long will it take?

 

[Helena21]

If her belly is sunken then yes put her in another tank. Just feed little and often and vary her diet. Hopefully she will recover

 

[Orion]

I'm not sure putting her in another tank would be the best option. If you totally remove the female from the male, they may 'forget' each other, and you might have a more difficult time reintroducing them later on once she fattens up a bit. If they are the only fish in the tank, I would think about a tank divider, with the female on one side and the male on the other. This way they can still see each other, but the female has all the room and saftey she needs while recovering. If she is emaciated, then breeding her in that state is likely to cause a lot of undue stress on her.

 

[Mercury]

Hm... I already separated them for a week them joined them again 2 days ago. Will they have forgotten each other?

 

[Orion]

Hard to say. I've always found that any time a pair is forming, both can be rather temperamental when it comes to keeping the pair going and it often doesn't take much to break a weak pair. Best chances would be too keep the breeding conditions right to help keep them 'in the mood' so to speak.

 

[Mercury]

The female is recovering very rapidly now. She eats a lot more, and hovers near the top waiting for it rather than picking at the gravel. Her stomach is still sunken, though. Should I keep feeding her bloodworms? They make up most of her diet at the moment.

 

[Orion]

If her belly is sunken in, it's going to take more than a week to recover well, and that's why I suggested the tank divider. Good to hear she is eating better!

Some live Baby Brine Shrimp would also be good, but frozen would be better than nothing. It's important to mix up the diet with different foods. Mysis Shrimp would be another good one.

 

[Mercury]

The male seems less bothered by her presence, and isn't chasing her. I built a divider, and have it ready if I need to put it in. The female will eat bloodworms, but still won't eat flakes very often. I'll try getting other foods. Until then, how many bloodworms should she be eating a day?

 

[Mercury]

Also, today I saw the male poke at the female, and she threw it right back at him and he went away, so the female is clearly recovering. To pairs do this sometimes?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Oh yes just like humans they have their moments. Good to hear she is on the track to recovery.

 

[Mercury]

I feed my fish a little a few times throughout the day when I'm home. But I'm going out of town in a few days and the neighbor who is coming to take care of the zoo I live in is only coming once a day. I'm not worried about the other fish, but how many bloodworms should the female eat at once if fed once a day?

And people say bloodworms should be fed once a week. Well she's eating worms every day. Is this ok until she's fat or should I give fewer bloodworms?

 

[Mercury]

I read that to induce spawning raise temp to 85. How will this effect guppies and cories?

 

[Mercury]

I read that you can tell a pair if they are cleaning a spawning site. But will they only do this if the female has eggs? I still don't see them doing this and the female is still thin.

 

[Mercury]

I know I have a lot of questions, but somebody must have something to say about one of them.

 

[sweetpickles7]

Sometimes they will dig holes and clean stuff alot until they find the exact spot the female wants to lay them. Not sure how the guppies will react to the temp, i assume they will be fine but to get my bolivians to spawn i didnt really do anything, they pretty much spawned when they were ready.

 

[Mercury]

Recently the male has been chasing the female much more, and no sign of cleaning anything. So I'm getting the impression that they aren't a pair. If you let a male and female live together long enough, will they usually pair?