Evil-lyn

[basia]

My husband bought his much longed-for rams yesterday. On the advice of the fish shop a male & 2 females. The male sees off both females a bit, the one female doesn't seem to be aggressive at all. The largest female is evil! She chases the other male and female constantly but also my glowlight tetras and even my poor little pygmy cories are getting a good ramming, she actively seeks the other fish out. She completely stressed my 3 female bettas yesterday but they have decided they have had enough today and she is leaving them alone now. Will she settle down? I though Rams were peaceful!!

 

[Katchan]

Rams are cichlids and while the dwarf species can be more peacful when not mating than other cichlids they are still cichlids and can be very aggressive/territorial though from my understanding/experience this is more common in males though not limited to them. Once she has marked out HER territory it should settle down, dont quote on this though. Also in my tank where I have 3 bolivian rams the pecking order goes M-F-M which also goes Largest to Smallest respectivley so if she is the the bigger of the 3 this is probably comming into play as well.

Katchan

 

[basia]

Thanks Katchan - yes she is the biggest.

 

[Ben]

i think you should remove the aggresive female and take her back or give her away
Rams like to be in pairs. Simple as that. 1 male, 1 female.
Your lfs probably go mixed up with the Apistogramma species (also dwarf cichlid) which like to be in a 1m:2f ratio.

HTH

DD