Blue Ram questions.

[JosephMCorbett]

I saw some Blue Rams at my LFS and would like to get some. They seem to be a pretty popular fish, and I've done a search on this forum and read alot about them. However, I have a few questions:

1. How many should I get? I don't want any aggression in my tank and I understand that there can be when they are pairing up.
2. Will they get along with Anglefish? Again, I don't want to buy them if they will be harrassed into the corners.

I had two Dwarf Gouramis in a 55. One harrassed the other into the corner of the tank for so long that it eventually died. Then I moved everyone over to the 125 and added 3 Angelfish. The Angelfish harassed the surviving Dwarf Gourami into the courner until he died. Actually, the Angels didn't bother him that much, but he refused to come out of the corner until he died. So I guess my third question would be:

3. Is this same senario likely to play out with the Blue Rams? How is their temperment? If they do get occasionally chased by an Angel, will it bother them so much that they just go hide in a corner and starve themselves to death? On the flipside, I also do not want anything that nips the fins of the Angels....besides the Angels.

Thank you in advance for your help.
J

 

[lquinsey]

I have two female blue rams and three small angels together in the 75 . So far, they get along fine, sometimes swimming with each other peacefully. In fact, all of the fish in my tank are pals. One of the angels thinks he's a panda cory and hangs out with them sweeping up the bottom of the tank.

 

[TrickyD119]

1. How many should I get? I don't want any aggression in my tank and I understand that there can be when they are pairing up.

The general populating advice I've found is 1 pair per 2ft of tank length. So two adult pairs in a 55g would be about your limit.

2. Will they get along with Anglefish? Again, I don't want to buy them if they will be harrassed into the corners.

Should be alright if you've got pots and plants to keep everybody seperated. My rams love their pots. I don't have my rams with my Anglefish, but I do have Kribs and am planning on putting some Bolivian rams with them and I'm not the least bit worried about it.

I had two Dwarf Gouramis in a 55. One harrassed the other into the corner of the tank for so long that it eventually died. Then I moved everyone over to the 125 and added 3 Angelfish. The Angelfish harassed the surviving Dwarf Gourami into the courner until he died. Actually, the Angels didn't bother him that much, but he refused to come out of the corner until he died. So I guess my third question would be:

3. Is this same senario likely to play out with the Blue Rams? How is their temperment? If they do get occasionally chased by an Angel, will it bother them so much that they just go hide in a corner and starve themselves to death? On the flipside, I also do not want anything that nips the fins of the Angels....besides the Angels.

They aren't really fin nippers. They'll give chase, but back off before actually doing any damage.

Just to give you a point of comparison I have one dwarf Gouramis and a pair of GBR in my 29 and they all have established territories and give eachother chase daily, but never anything serious and they'll be touching fins when I feed them without incident.

I guess I'd buy them with the opportunity to return them if you really want to be safe with the Angels.

 

[JosephMCorbett]

Thanks for the replies guys. So, if I was thinking of say 2 pairs (in the 125g) how would I go about it. Would I bring home more than 4 and observe; when paired off, return the others?

 

[lquinsey]

Hmmmmm. I have only two females on purpose because I didn't want all the pairing off issues, territories, aggression, taking back to the fish store, etc. I have a very peaceful, harmonious tank and don't like to have to take stuff back that I have cared for. Since your tank is much bigger than mine and you may not be lazy like me, maybe some of the other blue ram folks can help with your question. Good luck to ya, it's good you are doing so much research!

 

[TorturedSOUL]

I would see if any have paired off in the LFS...that's how I got my pair.

 

[Emg]

Angels can be pretty aggessive and I would suggest no blue rams with angels....understanding that there can be exceptions to that rule...but my experience with these fish is that they really don't do well with more aggressive fish. They can be in a community with other peaceful community fish, but if one of the fish in there is a pain...the rams probably won't do that well.

They usually leave other fish in the tank alone, unless they are spawning or guarding eggs/babies. Then they will chase other fish away, but not to the point of doing much in the way of physical damage. I have 2 male neon dwarf gourami in with my pair of rams and they seem to get along well.

If you decide to get a pair of rams and try it out....watch them at the LFS for a good while and observe thier behavior. IF you see a male and female that seem to buddy up or at least don't show much aggression towards each other...you could give them a try and see. It is hard to tell male and female apart when they are young though.