In a 125 litre tank, how many could I have in a tank.
The tank will be a Roma 125 with a 2213 eheim filter etc, heavily planted. The plan for this tank is for it to go into my office.
I feel like people over estimate what size tanks rams really need. There super inactive most of the time. If you just want a show tank species and don't care about breeding you could do at least 10. There very clean and don't really eat a ton I'm constantly pulling uneaten food out of the tank. If you want to breed id go something more like an mbuna set up 1:4 male to female ratio. You will see some aggression with the larger groups but I have yet to have any losses with mine. Although I'm about to break down my ram tank tomarrow they just don't do it for me any more.
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I feel like people over estimate what size tanks rams really need. There super inactive most of the time. If you just want a show tank species and don't care about breeding you could do at least 10. There very clean and don't really eat a ton I'm constantly pulling uneaten food out of the tank. If you want to breed id go something more like an mbuna set up 1:4 male to female ratio. You will see some aggression with the larger groups but I have yet to have any losses with mine. Although I'm about to break down my ram tank tomarrow they just don't do it for me any more.
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I don't have any direct experience but have been researching rams too. I have read that the footprint is much more important to them because they are territorial fish. So swimming space matters less due to their behavior. Even if they don't move much they need to be able to feel like they have a territory large enough for them, and this will get more important when they are breeding. Each male is said to claim a territory of up to 3 square feet (or about 0.25 square m) when breeding and it's best if there is even more room than that for the non-breeding females to get out of that area to help tone down the aggression. So it sounds to me like you would want 1M and at least 2 but up to 4 F depending on your footprint; certainly if you were trying to do two males + a greater number of females I would be very sure to break up sightlines and give two areas with rocks and wood tangles etc. I have read differing info on how much the total number of females factor, it seems like some are territorial and some are not. I have also read accounts like djlamonicas of keeping them in more of a schoal, but I don't really understand the rules of how you make that work successfully vs. allowing for territory defense and breeding (maybe djlamonica can elaborate?). In the tank I am currently planning I'm going to stock my rams a bit light because following the logic above it seems like I'd be lightly stocked with 1 M and a small harem but would be asking for territory issues with 2M and a larger harem.
So you have almost exactly 3 square feet of space in your tank - what I have read is the max size for a breeding territory. Again, I don't understand well about the schoal vs. breeding, but I would think 1M and 2 or 3 F if you do plan on wanting/allowing/not being able to stop breeding.
