More than one ram?

[EMdina]

Had two blue rams in tank together and one of them kept attacking the other...always with the same one being the aggressor...I took the 'victim' out and put it in my daughter's tank...I bought them as a pair- which is how they're sold at the this particular store...and I've read that you can keep a lot of these fish together...is this aggression normal? did I have two males and that is why they were aggressive? I have a 10g tank - with 6 rummy noses and 3 bumble bees...I LOVE the rams and would love to have another, but I won't add another if they're going to fight...what are some others' experiences with these fish? Would love to know...thanks a bunch...
E

 

[Chenz]

Mmm Tough one without any pictures of the fish involved, but my guess is that you probably did have two fish of the same sex & the more dominant was staking the whole tank as his teritory.
I have had over twenty rams in a 180 litre tank & although squabbles over teritory were common there was never any bullying.... infact Rams show off their best displays when facing off over teritory.
I think possibly the answer to your problem is to have more than just two rams.... try six then no one individual would be bullied & you may even have a couple pair up.

Chenz.

 

[Alia]

I have a 10g tank - with 6 rummy noses and 3 bumble bees...I LOVE the rams and would love to have another, but I won't add another if they're going to fight...

possibly the answer to your problem is to have more than just two rams.... try six then no one individual would be bullied & you may even have a couple pair up.

Okay, maybe you missed that this was a ten gallon tank with 10 fish in it already (and none of them going to be one inch adults), so I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I think the issue here might be not enough territory.

Rams are cichlids, after all. And what kind of bumble bees are we talking about? Are they gobies or cichlids or ??? Bumble bee gobies are actually a brackish water fish. They will survive in freshwater, but do much better with a little salt. Here is a link where you can read profiles of your fish:
Badman's Tropical Fish Profiles

By pretty much any calculation, you have way too much fish for your tank. I'd have either the gobies, and add a little salt, or the tetras, or the rams in a tank that size, but not all of them together.

 

[Chenz]

Okay, maybe you missed that this was a ten gallon tank with 10 fish in it already (and none of them going to be one inch adults), so I will give you the benefit of the doubt.  I think the issue here might be not enough territory.

Well spotted Alia.... didn't make myself very clear did i.
Got sidetracked a bit just dealing with the Ram issue.
The point that i was trying to make is that two Rams left alone with each other in any size tank will result in the less dominant of the two being bullied if they are both males.
I have in the past experienced this in a 120 litre tank with only a few danio's in there for company.
Take for example pet shops... some have tanks smaller than 10g on display packed with about 30+ Rams & they dont have bullying problems.
But it's a sure bet that if they had the same size tank with just 2 male rams in there... one would be more dominant & bully the other.
If there are numerous fish of the same type in the tank the problem of one being bullied should be nulified as in the case with discus.

Rams can be very teritorial & a male will often claim the whole tank no matter how small or large it is if there is no or little competition.... if for example there were 4 males in the tank... then each would claim a smaller domain as each fish would be too busy keeping an eye on the others & ready to stop them wandering onto his patch 1 against three means that he has to choose a patch & guard it.... won't have time to cruise around bullying an individual.

Hope this clears things up for you.
Chenz.

 

[EMdina]

I have a 10g tank - with 6 rummy noses and 3 bumble bees...I LOVE the rams and would love to have another, but I won't add another if they're going to fight...

possibly the answer to your problem is to have more than just two rams.... try six then no one individual would be bullied & you may even have a couple pair up.

Okay, maybe you missed that this was a ten gallon tank with 10 fish in it already (and none of them going to be one inch adults), so I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I think the issue here might be not enough territory.

Rams are cichlids, after all. And what kind of bumble bees are we talking about? Are they gobies or cichlids or ??? Bumble bee gobies are actually a brackish water fish. They will survive in freshwater, but do much better with a little salt. Here is a link where you can read profiles of your fish:
Badman's Tropical Fish Profiles

By pretty much any calculation, you have way too much fish for your tank. I'd have either the gobies, and add a little salt, or the tetras, or the rams in a tank that size, but not all of them together.

By pretty much any calculation, you have way too much fish for your tank. I'd have either the gobies, and add a little salt, or the tetras, or the rams in a tank that size, but not all of them together.

Well, first off, thank you for your replies...
Ram problem has been solved...confirred with 2 lfs owners regarding the problem...as for the bumble bee 'gobies', they're doing great in my freshwater tank...their color is great and they swim with the other fish all of the time! One of them came from a brackish tank at one store and two from freshwater at another store and all are thriving...but, thank you for the input regarding the gobies in addition to the Ram advice that I solicited...much appreciated...
E