german blue ram and ph

ttan

AC Members
Apr 6, 2005
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Boston
Im just curious as I am getting more interested in blue rams, what is the highest pH someone has kept them at? I have a high pH right now last time I check it was around 8 and higher out of the tap, I live in boston. Also I have a cummunity tank, with 5 cherry barbs, 5 harlequins, and a golden killie, I heard that they can mix with these kind of fish, can anyone confirm or deny? I just order MTS and Red ramshorns as well. My tank is a 29 gallon planted.
 
I have a pair of german blue rams in a 29 with two dwarf gouramis and a couple of female guppies...(to get them away from the males, and I figure the rams and gouramis can take care of the fry for me)...

My PH generally runs high...I've gotten readings from 7.8 to 8.2 and they are doing fine. Breeding every few weeks in fact. But...I have pretty soft water...runs about 80ppm. I don't know if that has anything to do with my success with them or not..but I sure haven't had issues with the PH where they are concerned.

Here's a pic of them I took just last night...spawning...click on the pic for a larger view...



I'm not that familiar with the fish you mentioned and how they would do with rams. I do know that mine are generally pretty good with any other fish I've had in with them. They get a little aggressive when spawning and careing for eggs and fry, but not so bad that the other fish can't handle it.
 
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Rams can thrive in a pH above 8 fairly well. The tank mates you have should be fine, the only thing I would suggest is bumping your water temp up to 82 for the rams. They come from areas with very warm water and do MUCH better in the warmer water. Other than that just keep the water clean, with that bioload I'd do a 50% change weekly.
 
I also have a high pH, 8.2 (live in Tampa, FL). Naturally our water is verrry hard, but I have a softener on the house so from the tap it's very soft.

I bought 1 Ram a few weeks ago, and other than a persistant case of Ich I'm working on getting rid of he seems to be doing well.

In the tank with him: 1 molly, 5 harlequin rasbora's, 2 panda cat fish, 2 platys, 2 strawberry tetras, 1 glass fish.

I have had no luck with neon tetra's though. Bought 3 one week, all dead in 3 days. Next week bought 5, all dead in 3 days; I've given up on them for now.
 
My rams are doing very well in my tap water which runs about 7.4. They are just getting ready to breed for the first time now (see my thread in the cichlid forum). The only problem with rams, that I have heard of, is their source. Sometimes, the store gets in a batch that has been heavily treated with hormones to increase their coloration, but has a side effect of tremendously shortening their life span. One way to tell if a LFS has hormone treated fish, is that all of the rams will be male.

My rams came from Florida, and they seem quite healthy. I've been told both Czech and German captive strains are well-bred, and wild ones are obviously the same. Though wild rams may take longer to adjust to your tank and foods. It took mine about a week to get comfortable and be willing to eat some flake food (Omega Marine Flakes - high in meat content).
 
thanks everyone for your input, Which I get back from class I will read through all the posts more thoroughly, but it looking good, as far as getting rams. How much did you pay for your rams? thanks again everyone
 
Mine were $10US each also at a LFS here in MA. Private message me if you want, and I'll let you know who I went to, since I'm only about 25 minutes away from you.
 
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