German Blue Rams

[Kerryk]

I'm so excited, my shipment of fish is in on monday *yay*

Just wondering if anyone has any pointers for taking care of German Blue Rams.
I've found a couple web sites that say they are "difficult" to take care of, though the short blurbs about them I've found it seems otherwise.

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1084

Any info would be great!

Edit: Have read pinned topic as well, looking more for personal experience pointers

 

[jflowers]

Hi

One of my lfs keeps them in the same system as thier discus (soft acidic) and the rest of my lfs's keep them in the normal water system (on the hard side). I suppose it depends where you get them from. Mine have been with me for about 2 months and are doing very well and I just use water from the tap (DC of course).

How many are you getting? Tank size? Other fish? As they are chiclids, they come with the usual problems, but with enough space and the right tank mates I dont think they are hard to keep, thats only my opinion though.

Jon

 

[Kerryk]

Hi Jon, thx for the reply,

I'm getting a pair (male & female) depending on how well they get along with the panda cories I'll be putting them in my main tank. By the time they come in my main tank will be (20gal) *about 2 weeks quarentine*
2 Gouramis (dwarfs), 2 bleeding hearts, 2 pandas & 2 peppered cories. As I am passing my evil snakeskin gourami (approaching 5 inches) onto a new bigger home down the street .
If territoriality arises I do have a spare tank set up (since it will be "2" extra inches of fish in the tank )
I tend to follow the inch rule of thumb..10 open square inches for one inch of fish...
24X12=288/10=28.8 so between 28.8 inches of fish and 20 inches I figure it's a darned good comprimise.
As with all fish, I'd expect them to be sensitive to Ammonia Nitrite & Nitrate. Though got a little worried when you look up the fish and it says "difficult" and it doesn't tell you why lol

 

[jflowers]

Sounds ok to me, I have similar fish in my tank and my rams dont even look at them, more interested in thier mate. They swim everywhere together so unless you have other cichlids I dont see a problem. They certainly wont look twice at your cory's not IMO anyway. My dwarf gouramis are much more aggresive towards each other, and thats just the odd chase around.

That said, my tank is bigger than yours and cichlids do differ from place to place, tank to tank. Rams are peaceful compared to others (convicts ) So SHOULD be ok with your setup.

If you make sure that there is a nice cave that another has not claimed and that there are some rocks around the cave, go for it.

HTH

Jon

 

[Kerryk]

Thanks Jon, I figure nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll do some tank renovations, move some plants around, schimmie my rocks and see what happens. They are beautiful fish, and I just can't pass up the oppertunity of owning some.
If I can lay my hands on a digital camera I'll have to post some pics
Thanks for all your help

 

[jflowers]

Good luck with them. My pair are in my avatar, they are lovely fish.

Jon

 

[cluster]

i got blue rams myself, my one male is in the 29G Planted project now with 2 ottos and 5 julii cories....he does fine not hard ot take care of i also picked up a juvi blue ram today...not sur eon sex quite yet i didnt know with the first one for a little whiel till he grew

ph at 7.5 has always worked with me on him breeding they might want a lower PH i havent gotten to that stage yet

frontosa taking up time

 

[Aussie_Star]

well i have 6 female blue rams, thats becasue thats all i can found around the LFS and if i see them i buy them lol. ATM they are in a 80 gallon communtiy tank with lots of different kinds of fish, but next weekend im getting a 190gallon, so after it cycles and everything it we be a huge dwarf cichlid tanks, cant wait

I recommend at least at ph of below 7 if u wanna breed them, i know it can be dont higher, but for a more success rate below 7 is the go