Setting up a ram biotope

[Clurin]

Unfortunately, with Apistos and Rams, any other bottom dwelling fish will probably offend them and will either be attacked, or stress out the cichlids. With apistos (and I hope mooman and others verify, or deny this), unless you have a very large tank, you only want 1 male. Apistos are far more territorial than the rams, or at least have a larger territory. Some apistos, like A. Cacautoides, prefer a harem situation (1 male with mutliple females), so you can get a larger number of them by just getting more females.

As for bottom dwellers aside from the cichlids.. I would only go with something that is semi-docile and has good protection - ie, a variety of pleco. If you want your cichlids to breed, however, I would try to minimize the number of things that will eat the eggs/young - and that includes just about any mobile aquatic creature.

It sounds like your GH is fine, but the KH *seems* high to me.. it may not be though. I would suggest either domestic or european rams, bolivian rams, or A. Cacautoides. All of these should probably be fine in your water.

 

[liv2padl]

if you're going to add fluorite to a tank which already has water in it ... i think you're in for a messy time. since you're not going to be growing plants, why not just opt for your basic small grain gravel.

 

[ljse]

I think cories and rams should do fine, my cories get along well with the rams, which stay about two inches above the gravel and sometimes swim in the middle or the top.
The crushed coral migh also be too abrasive for your cories.

 

[Emg]

Lol....well, instead of flourite, I'd go with the Echo-Complete for planted tanks....if you haven't already gotten the flourite that is. I just picked up a bag from BigAlsOnline for 22$...that's with shipping included ! Good price for that stuff...it tends to be expensive. I ordered it on Monday and it was at my house by WEDNESDAY !!!!

The Echo will cloud the water some, but it clears pretty quickly...the BIG plus...you DON"T have to rinse it at all !!! Also, it has some bio stuff in it to help with the cycle....is GREAT for plants and looks good too. It looks like potting soil. I have this stuff in all my planted tanks and have had great success with it. As often as I mention this stuff, someone is going to start thinking I'm
spamming or something...lol....but really, I can't say enough good things about it !

Here's a pic of the tank I JUST put the echo in Thrus evening..click on it for a larger image....

 

[Sully]

The "rams breed every two weeks like clockwork". Just curious, what is survival rate of eggs and fry at the 7.4 pH and 8 gh? Do you notice much calcification of eggs?

The microgeophagus ramirezi come from grassy areas. i would think grassy type plants might work. I think you would also want to have the tank more heavily forested in some areas to provide hiding places for the rams to hang out in. Then provide an open area for them ot come out in when they feel secure.

Microgeophagus sp. are "tiny eartheaters". They sift the substrate for food. To accomodate the behavior of this type of fish one would only assume that you have, by default, a smooth, small grained area of substrate. Maybe sand.

Farm bred, hobby bred, or wild? I think my wild caughts are very hardy. My bred rams (i hav bred rams from other hobbyists, farms and my own tanks) are more colorful. I just provide waters more closely resembling the natural habitat for my wild caughts.

Apistos---unless you have the desire to play serious water games i would personally not go that route. Many of the apisto species will not thrive in most "tap" water conditions. At the same time as liv2pdl pointed out the Rams are a more timid fish--apistos will hurt the tams in many instances at breeding, rearing time.

The microgeophagus altispinosa--Bolivian ram---is very hardy. hit it over he head with a hammer and it ought to do just fine. Water conditions for the bolivians are much more forgiving than the water conditions for a German/Blue ram.

As to cycling a tnk with Germans/Blue rams. One persons, one-time luck, should certainly not be your precedent. The body of knowledge, information, and experience with rams certainly militate against the thought that they are either "hardy", or suitable for cycling a tank.

The Microgeophagus ramirezi is on of the more brittle, fragile species. Water quality is critical to their survival.

 

[Clurin]

The "rams breed every two weeks like clockwork". Just curious, what is survival rate of eggs and fry at the 7.4 pH and 8 gh? Do you notice much calcification of eggs?

The survival rate so far is nil. About 3/4 of the eggs hatch out into wigglers, and then are either eaten by their parents, or by the shrimp. I plan on removing the eggs to a hatchery tank the next time they lay and try to raise them myself.

They haven't bred in the last 3-4 weeks, but I changed the lighting schedule (from 12-13 hours per day to about 5 hours to combat an algae problem), so I think that has something to do with it. Now that my algae is under control, and the swords are doing better, I may gradually increase the lighting again and try to trigger another spawn.

 

[Sully]

i had fry survival issues at any level above 6.8 pH.

Improves substantially at 6.6 or lower pH. My kh was 2 and gh at 5. Mine only spawned about every 20+ days. Water changes was all it seemed to take. If that. They often spawned between water changes. 12 hours of light in low tech planted tank--about 1.5-2 watts per gallon.

 

[Emg]

I have water that is very soft with a high PH (7.8-8.2) At present, both of my rams have a batch of eggs. They spawn regularly and hatch out the eggs. The fry usually get a few weeks old before the parents eat them. Usually after they've been free swimming for about a week.

I did raise one batch to adulthood by removing the eggs to a setup/cycled fry tank. They were beautiful, had over 70 of them.

I'm not sure if the combination of high PH with softer water is why I have such great success spawning these fish at such a high PH. I'm guessing that the softer water helps alot.