Bubble Ram?

tekonus

...meh?
Nov 20, 2008
471
1
16
Long Island, NY
I just picked up a new fish at my LFS that was labeled as a "Bubble Ram". It looks like a small Bolivian Ram and I was told they stay small. Was I fed a crock of @#$%? I will keep him either way and my tank is definetly big enough either way, I'm just curious what I should expect.
 
Do you have pics? "Bubble ram"...I've never heard of this fancy name before. A lot of stores give false information, etc.

Agreed. Does it look anything like a short-bodied blue ram, by chance? Those are bred to be more round and short-bodied, and are often called "angel rams" or "balloon rams" at the lfs. I've not heard of this being done with Bolivian rams, but I wouldn't be surprised. ;)
 
Iv seen Angel blue rams, there more round looking, never heard of bubble rams tho, ya pics would be nice.........:)
 
Agreed. Does it look anything like a short-bodied blue ram, by chance? Those are bred to be more round and short-bodied, and are often called "angel rams" or "balloon rams" at the lfs. I've not heard of this being done with Bolivian rams, but I wouldn't be surprised. ;)

Actually as soon as I read "balloon ram" it clicked with me that I was wrong... they WERE called balloons and not bubbles. I don't have any pics yet but he looks more like a small roundish boliv to me from the pics I've seen. I'm not experienced with rams at all though, so I could be very, very wrong. He is very passive (was chased by my dwarf gourami for a few mins then learned to stay out of his way), but I like him a lot. He does have a cool little personality and I'd love to give him a good home. Any tips?
 
Here's a noticeable physical appearance between blue rams and Bolivian rams. It isn't that difficult.

Blue ram (Microgeophagus ramirezi)
RamBlue.jpg


Bolivian ram (Microgeophagus altispinosa)
Ram-Bolivian.gif


alti.jpg


Balloon ram (shortbodied blue ram)
Ram_balloon%5B2%5D.jpg
 
Actually as soon as I read "balloon ram" it clicked with me that I was wrong... they WERE called balloons and not bubbles. I don't have any pics yet but he looks more like a small roundish boliv to me from the pics I've seen. I'm not experienced with rams at all though, so I could be very, very wrong. He is very passive (was chased by my dwarf gourami for a few mins then learned to stay out of his way), but I like him a lot. He does have a cool little personality and I'd love to give him a good home. Any tips?

He will likely coexist just fine with your DG. They tend to occupy different strata in your tank... the ram will tend to stay in the bottom half, the DG will tend to stay toward the top. Care requirements are just the same as "normal" rams. They like clean water and tend to thrive in planted tanks (real or fake) with lots of cover and hiding places. :) Good luck!
 
Here's a noticeable physical appearance between blue rams and Bolivian rams. It isn't that difficult.



Bolivian ram (Microgeophagus altispinosa)


alti.jpg
He looks the most like this one, I just don't see any red in his fins, and he's around an inch long, maybe very slightly longer.

He will likely coexist just fine with your DG. They tend to occupy different strata in your tank... the ram will tend to stay in the bottom half, the DG will tend to stay toward the top. Care requirements are just the same as "normal" rams. They like clean water and tend to thrive in planted tanks (real or fake) with lots of cover and hiding places. :) Good luck!
lol you obviously haven't met my dwarf gourami. When he realized my cory school gets all the good stuff on the bottom he started hanging out all over the place. He'll quite frequently push them out of the way to get a nibble in on one of their sinking shrimp pellets.
 
Any tips?
My experience with rams, though they were blues, is that they like buddies, and do well when you have a small school of something to act as dither fish, provided you have the room. That way they don't hide as much.
 
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