Rams Or Similar Highly Coloured Fish ?

[moochy13]

again, apologies for another stocking thread, but i feel my tank is missing something still. so before i venture to a great fish shop in a little bit, i need to know a few things like if im pushing my stocking (which i suspect) or if there are better options for me.

im after something of a centrepiece fish and rams get mentioned a helluva lot on here, from what ive read theyre nice community fish. i wouldnt mind some, but i'd prefer to have something similar size, temperament and price, but more colourful i.e less silver and more colour. the tank is 4ft long 130L/33ish gallons. i change 25L every other day through hoovering poo up, and about 50L once a week. current fish

1 small black angel
1 large syno featherfin
1 small syno cuckoo
1 3-4 inch sailfin plec
6 cory
4 red eye tetra
5 cherry barb
rusty plec (5-6 inch)
1 small headstander

rams are easy to get hold of round here and they do look nice, hence them being an option im thinking of. im always put off by their lack of colour in shops though, which is why im searching for something really bright.

 

[ZoddyZod]

what are the full dimensions of the tank? Sounds quite shallow if it is 4ft but only 130L

 

[moochy13]

its 12 deep and 15 high.

excuse the crap lid it went mouldy and has been replaced with a proper one.

you can see the size of the angel there he is unfortunately stunted and has been that size for a year.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I think Rams would be fine in there, but I am clueless about the personalties of your syno's and dont know if they would be a threat to them.

Rams in shops always look washed out, they colour up nicely once in a tank they are happy with.

 

[moochy13]

thats good news because i went down the fish shop and brought one. there were 4 fish i fancied getting. an orange and black syno that stays quite small, some sort of loach that looked great, the GBR, or a gold coloured apisto viejita with red speckles on its face. the apisto looked amazing. choice was between the GBR and aposti, but in the end price won out, the gbr was 6 quid the aposti 12. the ram is quite small, only just under 2 inches, but its more colourful than any others ive seen, and was one of the msot colourful in the tank. unfortunately i only had enough cash on me to get 1, but i'll go back and get another one soon as. they guy said it'd be fine on its own though ?

put it in and it settled instantly, probably the quickest any of my fish have. straight away started feeding and exploring. the only fish that gave it any attention was the angel, gave it a little chase, then gave up. so all looks good.

i love that shop, they even had proper Julli cory's in, and huge davidsoni ones, or whatever they're called.

cheers

 

[Carlovel1]

Can I say your tank looks excellent, I nominate you for the TOTM comp (december)
Any pictuers of the GBR?

 

[BethK]

GBR's are harder to keep, than apistos, make sure your stats are perfect and they really do thrive better in a lower Ph. Where as apistos will tolerate a higher ph and live fine.

 

[moochy13]

Carlovel1 - thanks for your comments. thats a picture from when i first set the tank up, hence only 1 or 2 fish in it. it looks slightly different now, some of my plants are unfortunately looking a bit off and need replacing.

as for my PH, i dont have a test for it at the moment, but from reading this forum the bogwood ive got and possibly the sand should have helped bring it down a bit from my tapwater level at least ? i'll try and get some pics of the ram later.

 

[moochy13]

heres some pics of my new beastie, and a few others. i finally found a camera mode that works pretty well.

 

[dayzofspeed]

sorry to hijack the thread, the ram looks good are they suitable with mixed tetras including neons

 

[fluttermoth]

Usually, yes, they are, but I have a female ram that killed 9 neons before I caught her at it; I have another two that are still with the tetras and are fine; it's just the odd one that creates mayhem.

 

[UNV_Rasta]

Rams are so gorgeous. Too bad I've never seen one here in Trinidad

 

[Doc7]

That is a beautiful tank. What is the exact name of your substrate materials?

Thank you

 

[moochy13]

thanks for the comments. my substrate is just plain old argos playsand, 3 quid for 20kg. with a little bit of gravel thrown in at the end of the tank. i got this from my lfs. i dont know what it was as they bagged it up for me from the bucket of gravel they use for their shop tanks as they had none pre bagged in the size i wanted. the rocks came off the beach that im lucky enough to live 10 minutes from, and obviously wood from lfs. although the middle lighter bit which im pretty sure is a different species of wood came from P@H. its much cheaper and lighter in appearance than lfs typical stuff.

the ram and everybody else are pretty happy, i turned the tank light on late last night when i got in to check on the ram. he was fine, but amusingly i had 5 little cherry red heads poking up from out of the moss where my barbs were sleeping for the night !

 

[Carlovel1]

Really nice Rams
WHat species of Cory do you have