Setting up 75 Gallon Ram Tank - got any Tips???

Hummmm - I think I found a guy in Florida who breads the Blues but No idea where to find the others? Do we know of any breaders here???
 
To those of you that said Bolivians and blues can't be kept together or shouldn't be kept together, you must not have any experience with rams because they are perfectly compatible. As already mentioned, pH doesn't play a huge role in water chemsitry. I've kept and bred blue rams that were wilds, half wilds, and others as well (F5's, etc.), and I can tell you Arkangel that pH plays a very insignificant role in the setup of a tank. My wilds were spawning in a pH of 8.0 and a GH of 300+ ppm and fertility was 90-95% or more for my pairs. Doing regular water changes and keeping the water fresh is more important than an acidic pH. My wilds thrived in those conditions. My discus and angels are fairing just as well.

I wouldn't keep the temps of the tank higher than 84 degrees. Any higher than that and you will notice that your rams will start to turn pale (sign of stress) from the higher heat. Not to mention, if you want plants the temps should be on the cooler side of their range anyway.
 
sweet! That will work well for me then!
 
I also want to add that an acidic pH is preferred for ram keeping, though not completely necessary. The reason that I would shoot for for an acidic pH in the range of 5.5-6.8 is because more ammonia (NH3), will be converted to ammonium ion (NH4+) the lower the pH shifts. Ammonium ion is far less toxic to fish than ammonia, and as already mentioned, rams (especially blues) can be sensitive to poor water conditions. Also, many aquarium plants tend to grow better in slightly acidic conditions, especially the swords that I would stock a ram tank with.

If you can't establish a tank with an acidic pH it isn't an issue as the larger water changes will be doing will remove a good portion of anything like ammonia or nitrites that you might encounter if you ever have a "mini cycle" in your tank. Nothing to worry about if you can't get an acidic pH though.

A substrate that I use in my high grade CRS/CBS tanks is ADA Amazonia II. This substrate is clay based and it keeps the pH lower than 6.0 and it removes hardness from the water as well. This would be a perfect substrate for a ram tank if you didn't already have one in mind.
 
Thanks for the info- I was thinking sand BUT I will look into this as an option.
 
Good tips, thanks peeps!
 
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