My 30gallon RAM stocking help

[AndrewMack]

So far for my 30 gallon has three goldfish but they are going to a new home. Tank has Five pieces of limestone wich is propping up Slate. Good amount of hiding area. The stock i would like so far is
4- emerald cories
2-4 Ottocniculus
4-8 red eye tetras
and as many rams as i can fit in my 30... give me a number?
Filtration is 265GPH PH/ UGF. and gravel vac every two weeks.
ALSO can Angels be in the same tank as Rams?

[sexymumma]

I have read angels can be in the same tank.

I will be getting some rams this weekend, and they will be housed with my angel.

[Cathy G]

I'm wondering about the limestone? I believe it will add hardness to the water over time. You might double check that...

Rams and angels are fine, but I'd only put in 1 pair of rams. (I assume your foot space is 30 inches?) When the angels get big and if they spawn there might be trouble, but both fish like warm and soft water.

Cathy

P.S. You might consider 1 pair blue and 1 pair bolivians if you have hiding places on each side of the tank. Oh, just saw that you want cories. Skip the bolivians, there will be enough competition on the floor.

[AndrewMack]

Ok. Cories are just great cleaners for extra food and i have a habit of over feeding.... the tank is 36x12x16. Yes the limestone will add hardness and raise the PH overtime, but i think that it will happen so slowly the fish will acclimate to the change, and its a pretty minor amount of Limestone, about 6lbs.

[AndrewMack]

Was also thinking about two blues, two golds and two other ones. there was a diffrent ram at the LFS, forgot the name, two of them.

[GirlieGirl8521]

I'd stick to 1 or 2 pairs of Rams. If you want an angel, I suggest only getting one. :)

[odannyboy]

id bin the limestone if i were you.unless your water is really soft/acid.

[jm1212]

i say you should get 1 male and 2 or 3 females of your favorite variety (german blue, gold, or bolivian BTW)

i agree that you should take the limestone out because rams are very picky with water quality, especially blues and golds.

[wataugachicken]

South American cichlids prefer soft acidic water. if you want them to breed, you should give them the proper water conditions. I've seen several sites that say rams might breed in harder water but the eggs don't develop properly and no fry hatch out.

you will have to do water changes more often than every 2 weeks, the nitrates need to be kept low and water quality needs to be near perfect. the blue rams are really sensitive to any kind of waste buildup.

[AndrewMack]

i do weekly water changes but i only gravel vac every two weeks. i change about 4-5gallongs weekly on both tanks

[AndrewMack]

Can i get like one male blue ram, and a famale gold and female bolivian?

[jm1212]

first- if you want to keep rams, you are going to need to start vacuuming your gravel at least once a week AND start changing more water. yea, you could get a male blue, female gold, and a female bolivian. if the blue and gold breed, the female bolivian will most likely be picked on by them, opposed to her helping out because she is part of the harem if she was a blue or gold.

[AndrewMack]

Ok rams seem like their too hard to take care of. sounds like a SW tank. maybe ill just do a pair of angels. i never had a problem keeping them and i did monthly gravel vac and bi weekly water changes

[Star_Rider]

I would still suggest changing 30-40% water at a minimum once per week.

any less and you can run the nitrates up and get yourself very quickly to OTS.

check your nitrates(in non planted tank)

if they climb above 40ppm..you need to seriously consider more water changes.

the angels are no worse to care for than the rams and will benefit with frequent or large water changes.

mulm builds up in the gravel this is the fish poo..


and a Sw tank set up correctly is just as easy to care for as a fw and maybe even easier. as in a Sw tank you can set it up to complete the nitrogen cycle.


rams are not difficult to keep as long as you are willing to do a bit of work.

I use the python water changer..and can change water in all my tanks(7) (30-40%)

in about 2 hrs max.

that includes dinking with the plants.

[Emg]

Your water change schedule should be fine........I would give two pair of german blues a try as long as there are plenty of plants and hiding places.

Rams aren't that difficult, at least in my experience they aren't.......but I am a water changeaholic and keep my tanks very tidy. I don't think I would mix gold and blue rams though...I believe they'd interbreed..unless you aren't planning on raising any fry.

Two angels would be ok in a 30, but then if they paired and bred you may have trouble with aggression issues. I have two angels in a 29 with a pair of rams and all seems to be going along nicely. They've been sharing the same tank for about 2 years now....and it's actually a very peaceful little tank all things considered. They share it with 5 pristella tetra and a kuhli loach.

Not sure about the limestone in there though.......I have great success with rams...breeding them and raising them, they do very well in my water but it's very soft......high PH though... Don't see any reason not to give it a try and see how it works out if you're heart is set on the scape you have setup now.

Post a pic if you can ! :D

:)

[AndrewMack]

im going to post pics of the 30 ASAP. gotta get a new USB for the camera. I guess i will give the rams a try. Dont plan on raising the fry..... one angel and 3 rams sounds good to me. one blue and two golds

[severum mama]

the female bolivian will most likely be picked on by them, opposed to her helping out because she is part of the harem if she was a blue or gold.
Rams are not harem spawners.

I'd go with one angel and a pair of rams. The blue ones are easier to sex than the gold ones, IMO. The female's belly should look pink, and the male should otherwise be more colorful, and have an elongated anal fin as compared to the female. I agree that you should remove the limestone.