Long finned blue rams and regular blue rams?

[Raechal]

Okay so I have a male long finned german blue ram. He is rather lonely and hides out a lot ever since his buddy died so I decided I would go out and get him some friends and a girlfriend as well. I don't know if they will have anymore long finned blue rams, so would it be okay if I just got normal german blue rams (they are cheaper anyway). Would they play together and pair up? Could a longfinned male breed with a regular female?

Also do blue rams eat ghost shrimp?

 

[nc_nutcase]

Long finned fish are the same species as regular fish of the same kind (be they Rams or Oscars or whatever). Sometimes they seem to be less aggressive and sometimes more delicate, but these are by products of breeding them for longer fins. That being understood, yes long finned Rams can mate with and otherwise get along with regular Rams.

As far as ghost shrimp... never tried it but don't see any reason why they wouldn't...

 

[ramesses]

Hi Raechal,adding to what nc_nutcase has said,not only long with regulars finned,but also the gold and blues will pair up.

About the ghost shrimp,I don't see any problems with that;I had different types of shrimp b4 and never had a problem.Ramis are not that aggressive.

 

[Raechal]

Well I bought 2 long finned rams and one of them died only a couple days after bringing him home. The other one has been lonely ever since because I didn't think I had room for another one in the 29 gallon as the molly had babies and she was pregnant again. Now that he is in the 120 gallon I think he deserves to have a few friends and a girlfriend. Maybe 3 girlfriends!


Anyways I will probably be picking up 3 more rams, 4 glass cats and a few cories. Adopting some female bettas from wuvmybetta. And then I will start building up the neon and glo-lite schools.

I was only worried about my current ram eating the shrimp as he has become kind of aggressive once put it the 120 gallon. He hides out during most of the day in a planted corner of the tank but when he comes out he chases the tetras all around the tank. He never nips at them or hurts them, just chases them around for a few minutes then hides again. Hopefully he will be too busy chasing the females when I get them rather than the tetras.

I am thinking of getting 30-50 ghost shrimp to clean up the leftover flakes that sink to the bottom. I had like 5 in my betta's 10 gallon and they did a really good job with keeping the gravel clean. And since I don't feel like vacuuming the sand everyother day I may as well buy a bunch of ghost shrimp. I have one in there now that I was given and I can barely find him at times. He is so small plus he kind of blends in with the sand.

 

[nc_nutcase]

I very much like the idea of getting your Ram 3 girlfriends. No logical reason why it would be good for the fish, I just like the sound of it.

My initial response in this thread I mentioned that it seems and is said often long finned fish are somewhat more delicate than regular ones. Wells Rams seem delicate to begin with. So it doesn't surprise me (although it still sucks!) that one of yours died. Getting him a female (or two or three) and even adding an additional pair (or threesome or foursome) would give your current Ram 'something to do' to prevent him from getting bored and chasing the smaller fish. Since the smaller fish are too big to eat, yet not a threat, they probably will be far less interesting than matable (is that a word?) females or a competitive male. Also when you buy the new Rams it may be best that your new male (if you get one) is slightly smaller than your long finned. Long finned fish tend to be slightly less aggressive so you want them to be close to equal in aggressiveness / strength. Not to mention any fish established as the ruler of a tank may take it hard getting bumped down to number two.

Personally I think 3 females and one male slightly (less than a half inch) smaller male would be the perfect Ram community. May even want to consider getting different kinds of Rams (i.e. Blue, Bolivian, German). If you do this, to prevent interracial relationships (not that that’s bad, I’m white and my girlfriend is Cuban) put the female in the 120 with the long finned that you want to 'hook up' with him (or two females... or three!) and then put the other two+ Rams you want to 'hook up' in the 29 gallon and let them all 'get familiar' with each other. Once bonds have been established (shouldn't take but a week, two at the most. If it doesn't happen in 2 weeks it probably won't) they can all be put in the 120 Gal and the bonds will not only survive the aquarium transfer but will most likely make it easier on the fish (mostly because the long finned Ram will be quite preoccupied with his female(s). Will make the opportune for one or two small harsh battles but if you create inviting environments on opposite sides of the aquarium they will probably spend most of their time flirting with their females and making arrangements for mating.)

(please forgive the paragraph long inserts in parenthesis but my mind seems to wonder even while contemplating a point so the grammatical flow tends to be disrupted (hey look! A quarter!))

 

[Raechal]

Funny. Yea, I will see what they have at the LFS I am not 100% sure they will even have any rams there at all. I sure do hope so.