Rams in my tank

[ANIM4L]

I am interested in getting a few rams, i like the german blue, the bolivian, and the gold ram, and i was wondering, since i can never fine females of any of them, woudl they be ok, just one of each, or would 2 males of each be ok too? Are the males aggressive towards eachtoher? I dont want them to get hurt, but i was just curious, i have a 60 gallon tank, nothing much in it right now, just little fish

 

[Weaver]

I bought 2 bolivian rams a few months ago and it turned out that they were 2 males.I had to seperate them within a few hours as one bullied the other non stop.I dont know whether the bullying would have stopped or not but I felt it was safer just to keep them seperate and they have been in different tanks since

 

[ANIM4L]

ok so may be a no on two males, but what about one male, or one female, being alone i mean, would they be unhappy?

 

[Weaver]

Well mine have been on their own for 6 months and been fine--no paleness or loss of appetite etc.Please remember this is just my experience with male Bolivian rams and someone elses may be completely different

 

[ANIM4L]

anyone else have stories to tell or help for me? I want one definitely, but where i buy the bolivians, they send you two (unidentified as male or female) so i may get 2 females, 2 males, or 1 of each, so i wanna see if it would matter, and where i get the German Blue rams, they NEVER have females, but always males, and the gold rams i want i ca identify, i know where they are

 

[@ombomb]

If you still have Gouramis I would advise strongly about putting Rams in there, particulary if you still have Dwarf Gouramis.

 

[ANIM4L]

how come? can you explain. I have 2 gourami males (dwrf blue, and dwarf red) and 1 female honey gourami, thats it.

 

[@ombomb]

They don't get on.

Both are territorial, potentially agressive and swim in the same part of the tank.

 

[ANIM4L]

rams are aggressive when mating, not when normal, rams are one of the most peaceful cichlids available. male dwarf gouramis are aggressive towards other Male dwarf gouramis, nothing else in my tank gets picked on at all

 

[@ombomb]

Rams are aggressive when mating, not when normal, rams are one of the most peaceful cichlids available

Sorry didn't realise you were an expert.

I assumed that you had never kept Rams before and were asking for advice from people that do. 8)

Rams may be less agressive that other Cichlids, but they are still Cichlids.

male dwarf gouramis are aggressive towards other Male dwarf gouramis, nothing else in my tank gets picked on at all

Ok, but don't you think that may react differently to different fish? I'm telling you this from experience, add Rams and the Dwarf Gouramis will go after them.

 

[Matt_Didg]

would that be the same with rams and opaline gouramis? i'm guessing so..

 

[@ombomb]

I'd have thought so, but can't say for sure.

 

[scrappy]

Heres my experience of Rams. I have one large Male Dutch Ram & one Bolivian Juvenile (as of yet unsure of sex, although looks to be a male due to colour definitions appearing)

My Rams are kept with a lot of other fish in a large tank, mostly small fish, but include various gouramis, various tetras, a few loaches, some catfish and a few other fish.

I have watched their behaviour for a long time and when i first put them in the tank my Red Tailed Black Shark took an instant disliking to them (however im lucky enough to have more than one decent sized tank and therefore promtly removed the shark into one of my other tanks).

Since then they have been quite happy in the tank and are fine together. I have seen the larger one on very rare occasions chase the red honey gouramis (normally at feeding time) but hasnt attacked them (and believe me the rams are super quick in comparison to any gouramis)

This is just my example of Rams behaviour, but believe me it does depend on the individual fish, there are no set rules as far as rams are concerned in my opinion as ive heard and read so many different stories about them...

Best plan is to just give it a try, make sure your lfs will take the fish back off your hands if they dont get on in your tank (unless you have more than one tank and can segregate certain fish)

Good Luck

 

[@ombomb]

Do you various Gouramis include Dwarf Gouramis?

The problem isn't the Rams attaching the Gouramis, it's the Gouramis attacking the Rams. I have mine in with two Honeys and, like yours, the Rams don't particularly like them and will chase them off if they come near them, they don't go out of their way to attack them. Dwarf Gouramis, in my experience, will go out of their way to attack the Rams though, they're much more aggressive than the Honeys and spend most of their time at a lower level in the tank than the Honeys.

EDIT:

If you REALLY want Rams why don't you get another tank (10G minimum for Blue Rams, 20 for Bolivian) which you could keep them in if (when) they don't get on with the Gouramis.

 

[abstract]

i donno about your dwarf gouramis @ombomb, but from my experience they hang out near the top a lot (just like any other gourami)...rams are very much bottom dwellers that may venture to the top to get food...

in a 60 gallon tank i do not see a problem with adding rams in with the dwarf gouramis...the tank is large enough that each will have plenty of territory...

it is def. safe to add 1 ram by itself...they will act completely normal..if you are not sure you are getting a male/female pair, stick with one...if you happen to get two males, the less dominant WILL be bullied usually until death

EDIT: oh yea, and 10g minimum for blue rams is bogus..sure they can live fine in it, but won't necessarily thrive - not to mention they are sensitive to parameter changes which is more likely to happen the smaller the tank is...they should have at LEAST a 20 g, preferably a 30" tank +