I set up a 10 gallon ram breeder about 2 weeks ago and threw my already spawning in my comunity tank in there. They had there first spawn in the breeder tonight. My question is can the male be infertal? It looked like he was trying but i didnt see any jizz. Is it possible he is shooting blanks or just not shooting at all?
Spawning rams ?
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The milt is clear, you can't see it. There is always a possibility that the male is infertile. There are a lot of things to rule out before you should come to this conclusion though.
How many times have they spawned? It usually takes several "Dry runs" before a pair is able to produce a fertile spawning.
What kind of foods are you feeding them? A lack of a rich diet low in proteins can result in weak sperm as well as eggs.
What's the water params? temp? Spawning soft water fish in harder water beomes problematic because sperm is weakened and can be killed in harder water before the eggs can be fertilized. Even if fertilization does occur, harder water can damage eggs and embryos as well.
So here is what I'd do. let them do there thing, if nthing happens in say the next 3 spawnings, take out the eggs and try to hatch them artificially. place the eggs (still attached to the stone or whatever they layed them on) into a small tank (2.5g) or something similar. I use plastic shoeboxes found at walmart. Use 100% RO or distilled water and add very little acriflavine (enough to tint the water a pale yellow like watered down... [use your imagination])
If you don't get any viable fry, keep trying, but be sure to give the fish a variety of live foods. (mosquito larvae, ants and termites make excellent foods for conditioning dwarfs.)
STILL if nothing happens, than you could conclude your fish MIGHT be sterile.
Rams are not the easiest dwarf to breed, even though they are probably the most available SA Dwarf out there.
How many times have they spawned? It usually takes several "Dry runs" before a pair is able to produce a fertile spawning.
What kind of foods are you feeding them? A lack of a rich diet low in proteins can result in weak sperm as well as eggs.
What's the water params? temp? Spawning soft water fish in harder water beomes problematic because sperm is weakened and can be killed in harder water before the eggs can be fertilized. Even if fertilization does occur, harder water can damage eggs and embryos as well.
So here is what I'd do. let them do there thing, if nthing happens in say the next 3 spawnings, take out the eggs and try to hatch them artificially. place the eggs (still attached to the stone or whatever they layed them on) into a small tank (2.5g) or something similar. I use plastic shoeboxes found at walmart. Use 100% RO or distilled water and add very little acriflavine (enough to tint the water a pale yellow like watered down... [use your imagination])
If you don't get any viable fry, keep trying, but be sure to give the fish a variety of live foods. (mosquito larvae, ants and termites make excellent foods for conditioning dwarfs.)
STILL if nothing happens, than you could conclude your fish MIGHT be sterile.
Rams are not the easiest dwarf to breed, even though they are probably the most available SA Dwarf out there.
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