Blue Rams

[slowlyburn]

ok so i have had these blue rams for about 2 and a half weeks now and they just kinda sit at the bottpm all day? They are very brightly colored and look very healthy. I have seen them eat only once or twice. They dont attack food at all and i only feed them 1 time a day. Most of the time i get bored watching them sit and dont see if they eat. My ph is a little high at 7.0 i think and i do 50% w/c weekly. Water temp is 83f. Is this the nature of the fish? At the lfs I bought them at they were going nuts in there tank.

 

[sarcare]

Mine aren't like that--but I have psycho blue rams. They are evil encarnate and chase each other and other fish around. Mine can be seen at many levels in the tank, hiding in plants or between the top of the driftwood and the plants. Mine also really like to eat.

 

[YoFishboy]

One idea is to make sure they have lots of areas to hide so they feel secure and get 3-5 small dither fish, like silver tip tetras, zebra danios or small pencilfish for example, to make them feel more comfortable.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I have two in a 12 gallon and they are very active and peaceful. And they are both males I believe. I have about 8 lava rocks and two pieces of driftwood to make them comfortable. Without hiding places they usually won't be themselves.

 

[wackydan]

I wanted Blues but went with the bolivian rams as they are not as fragile.

I've been told the Blues like to be in larger groups - ie; not just 1 or 2.

Everytime I've seen them, they've been very active, but the tanks were all males.

They will tend to like the bottom, the bolivians will be like that too. I've had my bolivians for two-three weeks now and they are starting to stray towards the middle from time to time.

Soft water by the way.

Someday, when I can get water condiftions perfect, I'll have blues..

 

[fish_freak]

Do you know the rest of your water parameters? They really need perfect water for them to thrive in. They are really best suited for the experienced aquariest. I have bolivian's as well and it took them about a week to settle into there new suroundings but they are always at the edge of the glass swiming like nuts trying to get my attention to put food in with them. Rams by nauture are not vorocious eaters. They will pick a bit here and there. I put just a tiny pintch of flakes in the tank at a time in two to three minute intervals otherwise it just all falls to the bottom because the dont eat it fast enough. They get a bit more excited for frozen brine shrimp. They will gobble that up a bit quicker but they are still by far the slowest eaters of any fish I have ever kept. If you do get dithers try to make it another fish that isnt a big pig or the Ram's will get out competed for food.

 

[joelfish]

Healthy blue rams will eat like crazy. They also are all over the tank, exploring, picking at things etc. Right now, I have some smaller blue rams that will gobble black worms as long as their body one after the other. They are cichlids and eat like it.

I don't keep them in big groups at all. As a matter of fact, I would recommend one male per tank as dominance is a huge issue. I try to put pairs together to get the nice mating/spawning colors as opposed to the fighting and stress colors (darker).

From what you describe, I'd suspect something is wrong with the nitrites/ammonia/nitrates. Don't worry about ph. My water is very high and I do just fine. It should just be very stable and consistent. Do you have and other fish in there? Blue rams are kind of delicate and stress can lead to disease pretty quickly.

You want very clean - gravel, filter etc.

hth, I will try to post pics of my current pair.

windsurfer.

 

[slowlyburn]

Maybe its because all I have in the tank is gravel and 3 plants... Ill get on the hiding spots right now... Yea I keep clean water. 7-0-0-never more than 10ppm nitrate. I do have slightly hard water but so does the place I got them from... Ill post pics if i can... They are really pretty fish.

 

[joelfish]

Hi slowlyburn,

It sounds like you have everything down pretty well with water parameters.

If their color is still good, maybe they are still healthy, but just really shy for some reason.

A few dithers as yofishboy mentioned would be interesting to try, I've really seen this help some shy fish.

Also, what do you feed them? Mine do better with live black worms and frozen brine shrimp/blood worms. It could also inspire them to come out too.

hth,
windsurfer

 

[slowlyburn]

These pics don't really do the fish justice. I gave them a little flower pot thing with the back drilled out and they seem to like it. They hide behind it. Close enough I guess. They still only eat bloodworms, but I'm gonna keep tryin different things untill they find something else they like. They have changed there behavior lately. Both of the fish's heads get real orange and they get bright red fins and there bodies color up more. I like em like this.

This is the male

This is the female