Rams And Bettas

irvs

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can i keep a pair of german blue rams togeather with a betta??? would love these as my center piece fish.

thanks neil.
 
NOOOOOOO Don't dooo itttt! *dives in front of you*

His fins will get eaten off for sure. In fact, a lot of fish will nip at a betta's long fins so do your homework before choosing a tankmate! Also, aren't they both centrepiece fish?
 
Woops was typing as i was reading duh!!!, different water chemistry, bettas prefer neutral to hard rams more of a soft water prefered.

Could i add a pair of kribensis instead.

Regards to fin nipping, my tank is planted with lots of java ferns and hiding places in and around the bog wood so my betta has chance to get away fom the nippers. i keep my betta with a showl of neons and they never bothered each other. maybe just lucky i guess.lol.
 
Woops was typing as i was reading duh!!!, different water chemistry, bettas prefer neutral to hard rams more of a soft water prefered.

Could i add a pair of kribensis instead.

Regards to fin nipping, my tank is planted with lots of java ferns and hiding places in and around the bog wood so my betta has chance to get away fom the nippers. i keep my betta with a showl of neons and they never bothered each other. maybe just lucky i guess.lol.
rams and kribs are both territorial. You could do it if you tank is big enough with enough hiding spots scattered around your tank. Although, you would be better off picking one or the other and just adding some dither fish.
 
Yeah. Cichlids and bettas are just a recipe for disaster... we are talking about a fish that can get beaten up by neons.
 
You know what I have done it. And it worked fine for me. The rams live on the bottom part of the tank bettas on the top part they don't go much into eachothers areas. A breeding pair of rams not a good idea but one would be fine.

I kept 8 female bettas with 2 balloon rams with no problems.

I had to put my male betta in my 36 gal tank with 2 bolviana rams and a keyhole. After a week of hiding my betta came out and is doing just fine. The only reason I put him in there was I needed his tank for tiny fry. He will get his own tank back.

But it can work the 2 fish are so different they don't even bother eachother. I don't recomend it for other reasons. But it can work so if you want try it. Rams are well behaved fish for the most part.
 
I am with snowflake on this one. I don't see it being too much of a problem. I have never kept the two together, but when I did have rams they never went after any other fish. I guess there is a chance always a chance it might not work out though.
 
That's the problem with bettas, they are unpredictable. Some people can mix all kinds of fish with them, yet others can't keep them with anything else.
 
Yupp every case is different. What concerns me is that male bettas (not plakat or females) probably have the longest, largest finnage out of all domestic fish, presenting a great temptation for nipping. Also, if your betta is more on the territorial side he could easily confuse any bright fish (similar in size to him) for another male and pick a fight.

So this will need to be a well-supervised en#37###er lol.

Another huge factor is whether bettas and rams/kribs prefer the same water params... I am inclined to think that they don't.
 
Cichlids and bettas are just a recipe for disaster.
What a sweeping statement! have you ever had personal experience with rams and bettas being kept together? rams are earth eaters so will filter feed sand (another essential when keeping them) in the many years i have kept rams i have never witnessed any form of fin nipping whatsoever!
we are talking about a fish that can get beaten up by neons.
Yet again another sweeping statement. I must have kept 40+ neons even with bettas and other fish with flowing fins and never yet have i had fin nipping between the two, others will back me up on this also.

this hobby is made up of to many out lined rules, to see if things work you have to try them.

Also blue rams need to be kept at 28-32 oC and the GH below 10, also a sand substrate is needed.
so they could both be kept at 28oC (i understand that bettas should be kept at this anyway)
 
thanks for the replys everyone. well im going to go with the people who ACTUALLY kept the breeds together and get a pair of rams. i did a bit more research and all things seem good. as snowflake said "The rams live on the bottom part of the tank bettas on the top part they don't go much into eachothers areas" plus my tank is well planted and has a good few hiding places and a new addition of a coconut cave ;)

Again it is also down to the chacteristics of the fish, the betta in question is very docile and has been in the tank with a large showl of neons for a few weeks now without the slightest issue.

I'll update when i do pershace the rams and introduce them to the tank.
neil.
 
Cichlids and bettas are just a recipe for disaster.
rams are earth eaters so will filter feed sand (another essential when keeping them)

I have to disagree with you Truck that sand is essential, i have gravel in my tank and my rams are fine they still pick around at the bottom with no problems.
 
Good luck and if your plant is well planted I think you will be fine. I'm looking forward to seeing your new fish.
 
GOT THEM
Rams that is, got a blue ram female and a half bread blue/gold ram male. They seemed quite happy together in the shop and once i properly introduced them into the tank the betta in question just swam around them. Then got back to his usual business of checking everything out in the tank over and over again.lol.
I also got an apple snale, though that freaked out the betta, dont think he ever seen one he kept swimming up and swimming away like a scared dog.lol. But he is fine with that also now.

The colouring of the rams really has come up over night as they settled into the new tank, look more like a marine fish to be honest. i added a coconut cave a few days ago in preperation for getting rams but they dont seem to notice it just like to swim around the leaves of the ferns. Maybe just give them more time to completly settle in???
I'll get pics up of them soon, thanks neil.
 

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