Blue Rams for a 16 Gallon?

S

slink

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Jan 1, 2008
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I was hoping to get a pair of German Blue Rams to add to this tank:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139861

I think there is enough vegetation and there are hiding places. Yes, it's only 16 gallons but I don't plan on having more than 9-10 fish in there, the Rams included. The real challenge is just how much room they need and where they spend most of their time. I think the cichlid family is by far the most fun and interesting to watch - these fish have personality that I don't think Gourami's have and seem "smarter" than other fish or at least more diverse.

I took a look at some cute Honey Balloon Cichlids and they were pretty small. I was told they don't get much larger and that Blue Rams aren't much larger than those. To the contrary, I saw a pair of Bolivians that looked like they would definitely be too big for a tank like this one and I don't care what the filtration is, they just need the space.

Hoping I could get some feedback from the rest of you cichlid experts as the shipment is coming in supposedly on Wednesday and it would be great to get first pick if they are appropriate. :D
 
Honey Balloon and Blue rams are the same species.

Your tank looks tall so your 'foot' won't be big enough for a pair of rams. They need more space than they appear as they will chase each other around. One will try to dominate the other, even if you get a pair - he will make her life miserable if she can't get away. (You are right about Bolivians, they need a lot more space.)

You could think about apisto borelli though.
Cathy
 
Honey balloon rams are just german gold rams that have been bred to keep their "balloon" mutation. I would get normal rams (german gold, german blue, bolivian), because the "balloon" varieties usually have health problems, and do not live as long.

The bolivian rams you saw are what all normal rams will grow to. 3" is their most common adult size. What are the other fish in the tank? It looks like some "glofish" danios from the pic. What other fish do you plan to add?

Depending on what you want, 9-10 fish may be too many.
 
Thanks for the discussion guys - I never realized that the 4" between the 20 and 24" tank could make so much of a difference regarding everything, including lighting. You are right about the fish in there (autofocus cameras never work with moving objects) and I have as follows:

3 Julii Corydoras, 2 BumbleBee Gobies, 2 Otos and 2 Glo-fish that I plan to give away and the LFS gave me. They are rather cool but there is something synthetic about them that makes me a little uneasy. So essentially I'll have 7 very small fish (gobies and otos are maybe an inch and change at largest). I figured that the Rams have plenty of hiding space and open area to move without the glo-fish. At worst, I'd get rid of my beloved gobies as they are a massive pain to keep, requiring live food for the most part. That would bring me to 7 fish with lots of hiding space. An article I saw says that 10 gallons is just sufficient, usually for temporary breeding. The 16 here does provide noticeably more space, especially with the caves and the wood creating many separate areas.

Obviously, I'll take the advice from you guys as it doesn't pay to stress out the whole tank with them. If it doesn't work out with the Rams.... and I hope it does... what else would you suggest? I'm finding a difficult time identifying such personable fish. The Honey Gouramis are pretty but seem completely boring and lack personality like the Rams. :)
 
slink said:
Thanks for the discussion guys - I never realized that the 4" between the 20 and 24" tank could make so much of a difference regarding everything, including lighting. You are right about the fish in there (autofocus cameras never work with moving objects) and I have as follows:

3 Julii Corydoras, 2 BumbleBee Gobies, 2 Otos and 2 Glo-fish that I plan to give away and the LFS gave me. They are rather cool but there is something synthetic about them that makes me a little uneasy. So essentially I'll have 7 very small fish (gobies and otos are maybe an inch and change at largest). I figured that the Rams have plenty of hiding space and open area to move without the glo-fish. At worst, I'd get rid of my beloved gobies as they are a massive pain to keep, requiring live food for the most part. That would bring me to 7 fish with lots of hiding space. An article I saw says that 10 gallons is just sufficient, usually for temporary breeding. The 16 here does provide noticeably more space, especially with the caves and the wood creating many separate areas.

Obviously, I'll take the advice from you guys as it doesn't pay to stress out the whole tank with them. If it doesn't work out with the Rams.... and I hope it does... what else would you suggest? I'm finding a difficult time identifying such personable fish. The Honey Gouramis are pretty but seem completely boring and lack personality like the Rams. :)
Click to expand...

problem is its not the gallons thats most important. basic stocking comes down to the footprint (bottom area) of a tank and I dont really see much difference from a 10 gallon.

if you want to go in a completely different direction, maybe get rid of all your current fish and put in a few dwarf puffers?
 
The Apistogramma borellii suggestion sounds good but it seems difficult to get a pair for under $100, shipping included. They do seem very small.

jpappy - The 16 gallon is the same width as the 10 and I didn't realize that the 4 inches difference was very much between the 10 and 20 gallon tanks. The dwarf puffers is a nice suggestion but that requires a huge additional investment to convert the tank (and plants) to brackish. Add to the fact that there aren't many fish that really will get along with puffers in that size. I hope I'm not stuck with the Honey Gouramis but that's about as exciting as it gets around here. I'm still debating getting the Rams and ditching most of the other fish, perhaps keeping the Corys and Otos who keep the tank clean.
 
jpappy789 said:
Dwarf puffers arent actually brackish. But you are right that it is a bad idea to mix them with any other fish.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I was actually thinking Green Puffers, which they always have in the LFS but not the dwarf puffers. Good suggestion but those guys seem to tear apart anything that's not a dwarf. And then again, between those guys perhaps they'll tear apart each other! Thanks for the suggestion though. I've got 2 more days to figure this out...
 
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