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I personally have not bred rams, but I have heard and read that rams have good instinctive parental abilities. You may have already seen both the male and female fanning the eggs (as opposed to most Apistos. where the female attends the clutch locally and the male creates a perimeter defense)...

Snails beware, I would definitely have to go clown loach.

A very valid concern. Here's some suggestions: you can net the fry in a breeder net, cover the filter intake with a piece of a stocking (reduces the effectiveness of the filter and this doesn't that great- they can still be caught by the suction almost as easy and you risk getting the stocking...

If it doesn't settle, it's possible that it is a swim bladder infection.

But a Syno., even a petricola might end up nibbling scales off of the discuss' side. And bunjiweb is right, the ideal water conditions for discuss and synos are basically opposites.

I am adding two pictures of our Syno. petricola, one looks to be about the same size as yours, maybe it will help give a wider picture of what is normal developmentally. Your Synos don't really look like full petricola to me either, but they usually do have stripes instead of spots in early...

My girl and I had 3 midsized young (about 6 inches each, midsized for young) Iridescents in a 135g. Shortly after they were given to us, we had to medicate them in a 40g. The poor guys couldn't adjust and ended up bumping into the walls of the tank. We have alot of small fish in the 135, so...

Yeah, I agree. To me it looks like gold rams have gone through the same selective breeding processes (again, the first time being the breeding to yield gold color mutations) that the blue rams went through to yield the "common" balloon ram.

It sounds like you'll do just fine. Good luck with the tank.

Your inquiry made me interested, is it possible that an angel and ram were crossed? I would have to say, "It doesn't seem possible." You sort of described a "Balloon Ram" which is a strain of the common Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (German Blue Ram) which was inbred to excentruate body proportions...

The tank looks great. I hate to sound really redundant if you have heard these little explanation and warnings (which I bet you have) but just in case you havent: (1) The use of any substance that reduces ammonia, like your nitra zorb bag, should be used sparingly, especially while setting up...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your are correct, the 18000k bulb is too "hot" in terms of color temperature, if you can go back and exchange the bulb or unit for one that has a 5600k bulb or so, you might reduce the algae growth a little (even 10,000k is usually more for marine tanks)...

Instead of using a cultured sponge, you can also (in the case of undergravel filtered tanks especially) place a large portion (maybe even up to 50% of the substrate if you arent going to have hardly any fish in the old tank now) of the substrate from your old tank and place it into the new one...

Hey cometcattle, how well does your Jebo work? Has it given you any problems, is it loud, does it run hot, ect? I am debating on whether or not to get two of the 36" 192 Watt ballasts. Any reply would be greatly appreciated, and if anyone else has a Jebo who is reading this thread it would be...

Your right on the money Wolf, "fluval = bmx" doesn't say much, my girl and I have two 404s and they have given us alot of problems since we bought them (about a 1 1/2 ago)- the embeller shafts are especially touchy. But I would say scrap the idea of a canister filter and go with a powerhead...

Africans are fast growers, not as fast as oscars (which I can see you have alot of experience with). 10 gallons is, I hate to say, a little too small for any Africans (most definitely) but Malawians and Lake Tangs. like around 7.6 to 8.2 pH. There are water conditioners which stabilize the...

Heres the story: I went camping for a three day weekend, and left my fish (1 Paratilapia Polleni, 2 Paratilapia Bleekeri, 1 Tiger Oscar, 2 Clown Loaches, 1 Atabapo Pleco, and 1 Midnight Pleco) to be fed by my brother primarily. My brother fed them plenty and they still have plenty of room...

MattM you said that you are using a stress coat dechlorinator, but whenever I read the labels on them, non say that they break chlormine bonds. Chlormine leaves behind ammonia after it breaks down naturly and during summer you water provider may be buying water from sources that use this (but...

I have one paratilapia polleni, and two paratilapia bleekeri. The polleni is sexed and is around 3 inches, Ive had him since he was about (or a little under 1 inch) and unsexed, all in a 100g. I had the same problem you have probably been experiencing, THERES NO INFO OUT THERE ON THEM (or at...

Africans create strange situations, for one, the 1 gallon = 1 inch of fish rule doesnt really work for them. Depending on the food you feed your fish with, you could end up with extreme ammonia levels, but at the same time overstocking the tank could reduce aggression. But I recommend getting...

If you kept your black belt cichlid, your first oscar, and ect. in that 20 gallon tank that would explain the reason why the black belt killed all your other fish. As you asked for, I will relate a story, but it is concerning over crowding: When my girl friend began to get interested in fish...

One constant problem with oscars in small tanks, is the ammonia content of the water. I've heard of people overstocking cichlid tanks to reduce aggression, but actually only mbuna tanks, and not new world tanks. Even if someone has been keeping alot of oscars in a relatively small tank with no...

Instead of using dechlorination liquid, you can instead just let your water sit in clean buckets for a week or so. This will allow the chlorine in the tap water to disapate, as well as other harmful chemicals (fluoride, ect.) and pH levels will eventually stablize. Artificial stablizing...

If they are ramming then that is normal sparring (a sort of middle step in aggression intensity), but what you described as "kissing" could be something much worse. For many cichlids (South American and Africans alike, but especially South American dwarf cichlids) the last step of aggression is...

Rams start off very shy when introduced to a new tank (especially if there are already other dwarf cichlids in the tank). After a few weeks they will become more familiar with their settings. Initially pairs of rams usually swim together (even if they are of the same sex) when introduced to a...

Go with the blue german rams! They like special water conditions but are really great fish.

My girlfriend's first tank had a yellow electric in it (at the time she had no idea about mbuna disposition). The little yellow son of a gun (he was only an inch long), killed 2 neon tetra, 1 black angel fish, 1 glass fish, 1 tiger barb, 1 molly and bullied a pleco. All of the fish were its...

-African Cichlids from Lake Malawi grow to around 4 or 5 inches usually (the common ones, like yellow labs/electrics or red zebras), but are very aggressive towards other fish, even if they arent going to consume them in any way. -Africans from Lake Tanganyikan grow about the same size or...

Sometimes blue rams seem as though they are very aggressive but they are all show. Rams like to make themselves look larger and if they actually come into contact with larger, more aggressive fish they will quickly lose most or all of their color and may very well starve themselves to death. I...

Golden Rams like specific tank conditions (just like most new world dwarf cichlids): temperature should be in the mid to high 70's (F), pH 5.0-7.0, dH 5-12. Some dwarf cichlid owners consider it a necessity to stay away from tap water, rather using ionized water or distilled water. Since rams...

You were on the right track to call your mystery cichlid a double red, but actually its a triple red Apistogramma cacatuoides. Although beautiful they are difficult to care for sometimes. Most other apistogrammas, as well as german blue rams, have a notorious reputation for dropping dead...