blue ram died

[choc 1]

Hi all,

I got home last night to find that my favourite fish my blue ram had died i have two other rams in my tank which are golden rams and they've been fine but when i put the blue ram in the larger of the two golden rams has been chasing him away for about a week now and i'm not to sure if the blue has died of shock, Are gold rams normally aggresive or is it just a territorial thing?? i also read that rams chase other fish away when they breed, cus this be why??

 

[jaywings19]

It definitely sounds like a territorial death to me. You added a new ram into the mix where two established rams had their territory marked. The new one was considered an invader and subsequently terrorized by the existing ones.

I have 4 rams (2 bolivian and 2 golden), but my tank size is 72G US... which provides sufficient territory for all.

What was your tank size?

 

[canarsie11]

How big was the tank?

 

[choc 1]

not to sure in gallons, its 3ft by 12" by 18", it holds about 100 litres so what ever that is in gallons

 

[jaywings19]

Sounds like it's about a 46G US tank... but not exactly sure.

That should have been sufficient territory for 3 rams... but it probably was based on the fact you introduced the 3rd ram after the other two claimed their territory already.

Keep that in mind going forward when you get territorial fish like most NW Cichlids. I find it better to buy/introduce similar fish at the same time and give everyone a fair shot at territory.

Also... 3 is usually not a good number since it might become a 2-on-1 situation.

Either way, I'm sorry for your loss.