Nervous Rams

[Deano]

Ive recently bought 2 blue Rams but they are extremely nervous. At feed time my neons and fighting fish will come up to the surface to eat but the Rams stay hidden amongst the plants at the bottom of the tank. Im getting worried as they may not be getting enough food. The neons and the fighting fish eat all the food quickly not giving the Rams a chance to eat.

I have a 50 litre tank with 5 neons, 1 fighter, 1 catfish and 1 plecostomus.

 

[smb]

How long have you had them? I would give them time to readjust to their new surroundings. When they get hungry enough, they will eat and those other fish won't be a problem as the rams will chase them away from the food.

Try turning out the lights and then feeding or feeding in the morning before you turn the lights out.

When cichlids are overly hungry they'll get what they want.

 

[Deano]

Ive only had them for 2 days, thats probably why they are so nervous...cheers for the advice anyway

 

[smb]

YW. Let us know if they still aren't eating in another day or 2. What are you feeding? You might have to switch up their food.

 

[Deano]

At the moment im just feeding them flake food. Ive noticed that they spend most of thier time on the bottom of the tank. Would sinking food be better for them?? Ive seen freeze dried bloodworm in a local pet store, this any good??

 

[smb]

Frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp would be good to try and get them to eat.

 

[Moe]

I had the same problem when I first introduced my rams. They just stayed at the bottom. I had some really fish that were really quick at feeding time so I just kept adding more to try to make sure they got some. Someone here I think it was SMB told me this was not a good idea because they would never get used to coming to the surface to feed and the other fish were totally being overfed. It was good advice. I stopped overfeeding and within a week the rams were coming to the top to feed. Now they are one of my friendliest fish. They come to the top whenever I walk by the tank. I stopped feeding mine flakes because the rams make a real mess of the flakes. Now I use micropellets, blood worms, frozen brine shrimp and shrimp pellets. The rams will eat these off the bottom. I only feed flakes on clean the tank day now. Good luck with your rams, they are a great fish!

 

[Deano]

cheers, yeah i think they are one of the prettiest fish ive seen. Had mine for 3 days but they are still staying at the back of the tank behind the plants. I will give them a week and see if they will start coming up to the surface to feed.