german blue ram eggs

Question
hello karen im new to the hobby of fishkeeping..i have a 65 gallon densed planted tank with pressurized co2, built-in wet-dry filter/ phosphate filter/and uv filter...fish species are 18 balloon tetras, 10 leopard danios,10 german blue rams/ about 10 snails and one flat loach of some species about 1 1/2 inch size... plants are microsword on the sides and in front of my tank with 5 anubias attached to a drifwood and one rooted on the substrate ...i also have java ferms on the back and some on the side of a drifwood...i also added java moss about  three ball size spread out on the driftwoods... plant substrate..and using ADA fertilizers with a rate of 3-4 bubbles per second on the co2...t5 HO lighting about three watts per gallon....my water chem at the moment is KH 5/ GH 2.5/ PH 6.7/ total dissolved solids is about 350 ppm( this number is what my tds meter is reading...)my question is that two pairs of my rams has had eggs in the tank but the problem is that no longer than the third or fourth day they are gone...the colors of the eggs were once translucent with a greenish or grayish tint and the other batch were creamy in color almost beige in color...it seems at the soonest  they would lay eggs every other week or so and latest about three to four weeks ..i dont know really whats going on if they are eating them...or if the water is too hard for the eggs to develope...when i see that eggs are laid the temp is increased to about 83-84 degrees farenheit..what can i do if anything than taking the eggs out of the tank because one pair would lay them on a a dig on the substrate and the other on a convex-flat area of the driftwood....one thing ive tried doing is adding alder cones around the tank for their antiseptic properties for bacteria and fungus.....im really confused and hope to find some answers..if any information no matter how detailed it would be please reply back as much information..i would really appreciate the help from a well known person on these types of topics....and if possible you might know some books and resource that would help me with these types of fish in breeding them

Answer
Congrats on the ram spawning! ;-)
The eggs may be disappearing due to the other fish. The snails might even be responsible as they have the nighttime scavenging tendencies. I think the best way for your rams to be successful with spawning is if you moved them to their own established 10 gallon spawning tank. That way no other fish would bother them or threaten their eggs/fry. Its unlikely you'd be able to keep a spawn for very long in a community tank setup. I've heard that rams can adapt and many species of fish do manage to spawn in water that is outside their normal range but it is always said that a bit lower pH in the lower 6's range is better.  

The pairs might be responsible themselves for the egg disappearance because as with many cichlids, it can take them many tries to 'get it right'.  Once they do get the proper technique of spawning down, you usually get many spawns from then on.

This is a great article with spawning info-
http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Microgeophagus_ramirezi.php

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~