Adding Rams with Discus

[Ariel Saxon]

UPDATE:

All went suprisingly well. The rams were acclimated and added at the same time. I did add food to the aquarium first to deter the discus. The rams were amazingly relaxed and immediately started eating. The discus nipped once but the german blue ram turned sideways and started flashing. The discus went on his way and is often seen scavenging for food with them.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Discus has very small mouth. It's perfectly safe to add your Rams.
Only small fish like Neon or Cardinal Tetras that might be at risk.

Also, don't worry about your Balloon Rams.
They are as aggressive as the normal Rams.
In fact, I had some mature/adult balloon Rams that tried to beat up my Discus in the past.
In the end, I gave away my balloon Rams to a friend.

My only worry is quarantining your Rams.
How long did you quarantine your Rams?
My local fish stores' Rams tend to carry diseases.
Monitor your Rams for any symptoms of gill flukes infections that will cause your fish to scratch against objects and breathing heavily/fast.

Since it's a 6 foot tank, you don't want to bring any disease into your tank.
Else, you will have a hard time to treat such a big tank.

 

[Ariel Saxon]

Discus has very small mouth. It's perfectly safe to add your Rams.
Only small fish like Neon or Cardinal Tetras that might be at risk.

Also, don't worry about your Balloon Rams.
They are as aggressive as the normal Rams.
In fact, I had some mature/adult balloon Rams that tried to beat up my Discus in the past.
In the end, I gave away my balloon Rams to a friend.

My only worry is quarantining your Rams.
How long did you quarantine your Rams?
My local fish stores' Rams tend to carry diseases.
Monitor your Rams for any symptoms of gill flukes infections that will cause your fish to scratch against objects and breathing heavily/fast.

Since it's a 6 foot tank, you don't want to bring any disease into your tank.
Else, you will have a hard time to treat such a big tank.

You were correct about the balloons as they seem to be more territorial than the others. I have noticed one of the balloons and one of the german blues have been a bit aggressive towards the bolivians. I wasn't sure if they would eventually leave them alone for the most part.
As for quarantine, it was a little over 2 weeks. Surprisingly they were all really healthy. Not to mention they arrived much younger than I expected but I have another aquarium full of my feeder snails that I was prepared to use as a grow out tank if one was needed. They were about to go into that aquarium until I got a lot of personal experience advice on here.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

If you have alpha male Rams, they will be very aggressive.
But they are usually more beautiful than the rest and they are often at the front of the tank.

I used to have some alpha male that are very aggressive and they are very beautiful and striking in colours.
But they will kill other less aggressive Rams if the tank is not big enough or if there is no other bigger fish to stop them.
Anyway, your 6 feet tank is big enough for them.

By the way, be careful of snails that may bring parasites into your tank.
What do you mean by "feeder" snails?

 

[Ariel Saxon]

If you have alpha male Rams, they will be very aggressive.
But they are usually more beautiful than the rest and they are often at the front of the tank.

I used to have some alpha male that are very aggressive and they are very beautiful and striking in colours.
But they will kill other less aggressive Rams if the tank is not big enough or if there is no other bigger fish to stop them.
Anyway, your 6 feet tank is big enough for them.

By the way, be careful of snails that may bring parasites into your tank.
What do you mean by "feeder" snails?

I believe 1 of the balloon rams has taken that responsibility, but apparently the aggressive blue German ram had other things in mind. Yesterday, I discovered both blue germans laying and fertilizing eggs on one of the large swords leaf in the aquarium. He seems busy with that at the moment but I could imagine if the eggs do hatch there will be some stronger aggression towards the other fish.

I call them feeder snails because I add them to some of the aquariums with loaches and a random pea puffer in one. They are actually ramshorn snails the blue leopard and pink that I have in most of my planted aquariums for a cleanup crew. About a year ago I took a couple extra aquariums I had and turned one into a tank specifically for ramshorns and another for the mystery snail egg clusters I collect from the top of the 220 the rams are in. They have been in the planted aquariums for years and the ramshorns had multiplied to the point to where I had to start using some for feeders as well as removing some from planted aquariums and adding into the one specifically for the ramshorns. Sounds like a hassle but they are really pretty snails for smaller aquariums and seem to do a really great job at cleaning them.

 

[utahfish]

There are 2 german blue, 2 electric, 2 gold balloon, and 2 bolivians. I was worried about putting anymore to calm down on aggression. I've never had more than a pair in an aquarium before and I heard they can be territorial.

Bolivians wont do well in the warm water that discus and german rams prefer. Bolivian Rams need under 80 degrees and germans and discus above 80degrees