Blue Rams

Importskyline22

Importskyline22

www.fraganoob.com
Oct 2, 2006
439
0
0
38
Cary, NC
I just got a pair of rams. Not sure of the sex of either one yet, Hopeing that there male and female. But Anyways.

I put them into my 55g today at about noon. WHen i put them in they hid(like normal) BUt they are also seem to be breathing heavy. THere Gills and mouth are just moving very rapidly.

My question is. IS this normal for cichlids? These are the first cichlids. Do they normally breath this way? Or are they jsut stressed.

Also, they are a greyish color right now, there yellow/blue is just starting to show, IS this also stress. Or is this because there juvi's?

THanks for your input!
 
how did you acclimate them?

they are pretty sensative to water quality, what are your params?

females have a pink belly
 
I acclimated them by floating the bad for awhile. Then adding a bit of my tank water to the bag in like 5-10 min. intervals until the water pretty much over flowed.

My params are as follows.

Ammo: 0
Nitrate:5
Nitrite: 0

I hope they will be ok :(
 
I have a schdualed water change tomorrow. Hopefully that will help.

I also noticed on one the two fins that are under its chest.... one of which on its left side is only half there :(
 
they could still just be acclimating. they are very intolerant of sudden changes, they will most likely warm up soon.
 
fishcatch22 said:
they could still just be acclimating. they are very intolerant of sudden changes, they will most likely warm up soon.
Click to expand...

Ok. im just worried.

These are the fish i have wanted forever. I would hate for something to happen to them :(
 
Blue rams are VERY difficult to take care of and are really sensitive to water parameters. I had my first two die on me after having them around 4 months.
Females have red on their bellies like someone said.
If they start to lose color and don't have the that shiney blue shine to them, your in trouble and have to adjust the water parameters.
They like a lower ph also, in the high 6 range.

Mine hid at first too and that's normal, after a while they'll come out of hiding and swim around regularly. Mine are really social now but hid for the first few days I got them.
Overall just make sure they're eating.
 
Well....

I woke up this morning and they are both dead :(

Thanks for the help thou
 
where did you purchase the fish from?
how long has your tank been set up?
some 'delicate'(I use this loosely as rams can be mean buggers when everything is well in the tank) do better in established tanks.
what is your tanks temp?
rams like warm water 84 seems to work well for them

have you tried bolivian rams? they are not quite as colorful..tho they do have some bright colors when they are ready to spawn.

they tend to be hardier than the blues and more adaptable to water that might be a bit out of spec. the blues do prefer a lower pH or more acidic water.
the bolivian s can stay in cooler water but IME they colorup nicely on warm water..I keep mine in tanks at 82-86 and they stay colored longer.

s in any tank you should be doing water changes weekly..with the blues you may benefit by doing WC twice a week.

I am tempted to try some blue rams with my discus(after quarantine) .......

but I do like my bolivian rams..
 
star_rider said:
where did you purchase the fish from?
how long has your tank been set up?
some 'delicate'(I use this loosely as rams can be mean buggers when everything is well in the tank) do better in established tanks.
what is your tanks temp?
rams like warm water 84 seems to work well for them
Click to expand...

It has been set up since christmas.
I got them from a well respected LFS with people who really know there stuff.
THe temp was at 80

I Think the problem might have been is i noticed they had a case of ich. But i didnt care cause i have wanted blue rams for so long. So i just bought them and when i put them in my 55g. I dosed my ich treatment.

My fish that are in there now just recently recoverd from an ich outbreak so it was techinicly still under treatment.

They problably died bbecause of the ich :(
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom