Blue Rams

[Harlock]

Harlock,

The only fish I have had experience keeping the rams with are neon dwarf gourami, danios and otocinclus. They seem to get along fine with all of these fish....but I did have one in with a female betta for a short time while I waited to set up another tank for it. It didn't do well with the betta. I believe they need to be with other peaceful fish. Mine was all stressed out when the betta kept pestering her.

They do tend to aggression towards each other as they settle property disputes. I had 1 male and 3 females in a 29 gallon and I had to take 2 female out when the male decided which babe he wanted to shack up with...lol...the two of them kept chasing and harrassing the other two until thier colors faded and they were pretty unhappy. I have read that a pair need no less than 2ft of space for thier territory, though you could put one in a smaller tank.

I love these little fish Harlock..they are just beautiful and have a neat personality for a fish. I haven't had any trouble keeping them at all...but I did have an issue with cammallanus nematodes on 3 that I bought from one batch. ONe died but the other two are doing well. None of my other fish have been affected.

I have read that corys are a problem for these rams, especially if you have a pair breeding. The corys get in thier space and annoy them from what I have read from others.

Do get some Harlock, they're great ! I have alot of little babies I'm going to need to find homes for in a few months.....but shipping is expensive ! I do have an LFS who will take them though...

Thanks so much, Emg. I wonder if pygmy cories would be any different than the big ones that just hang around the bottom. I was considering them for the 125 when I get it... One more quick contiuation of my hijack (and I feel bad for hijacking a thread) do the rams, like most cichlids, breed better in harder more alkaline water?

 

[TrickyD119]

do the rams, like most cichlids, breed better in harder more alkaline water?

Nope, rams being South American actually prefer acidic water, the more acidic, the more eggs you will hatch.

My kH<1 and my pH fluctuates between 6.8 and 7.0 and while I’ve had mine lay eggs a few times, I’ve yet to have a hatch although I have read about small hatches in a pH as high as 7.5.

I’ve been reading up quite a bit on breeding them as I’d like to start trying it myself and I came across one experiment once on Google that talked about the hatch rate being very high in a pH in the low 6’s and on down to 0 by the time it hit neutral.

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blue rams.html

That is another decent link I’ve found.

 

[Emg]

Actually....my PH is usually around 8 and the hardness measures around 80ppm and my rams have bred twice and would have a third time but I had to take the female out because I noticed some cammallanus nematodes in her (...along with the other two females I bought at the same time...lost one, the other two are doing fine...)

Anyway...I haven't had a problem at all with my rams breeding. The first batch I lost because I didn't realize I had any. I saw them in there when they were about 1-2 weeks old...just as I was heading out the door for work. When I came home they were all gone... Someone snatched them up as soon as they came out of hiding.

The second batch..(they spawned again the very next day!!)..I took the eggs out and put them in my quarenteen tank. Had to boot out the danios I had in there to keep the tank cycled..(they are in other tanks now).....those fry are now about 4 weeks old and doing fine.