Why are my Rams STILL shy?

[The FISH made me do it!]

Well I have a 20gal community tank with 5 whiteclouds, 5 corys, 2 Platys, and 2 Rams

My rams are the newest adition and have been in for about 5months.


Why are they still pale from stress and hiding?
Is something in there incompatible?
Do I need lots of plants?
Should I put the Rams in my 10gal guppy tank? (it only has 6 guppies)

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

Im shamelessly bumping my post...

 

[Ben]

it seems fine,
they like hiding places so if you could add caves or plants it would be good. but they dont always go blue, you might have a singaporian bred blue ram which dome times dont have any blue on them.

HTH

 

[blue_ram]

What's the temperature and pH like? Rams like lower pH (6.0 - 7.0) and higher temperature (78 - 84 degrees F). Unforturnately, your white cloud will not appreciate such condition. I used to keep mine with couple of female bettas, corys, zebra danios in a densely planted 30g. The temperature ranged from ~74 in winter to 90 in summer. pH was ~7.2 due to addition of humic acid, and small amount peat moss in the substrate. But I don't recommend that you add stuff like humic acid or peat moss, unless you know what you're doing.

Rams, in general, are very shy fish. You need to provide lots of plants (artificial or real), driftwood, and caves. Use a small pot/pvc pipe to make a cave. It ususally takes about two to three weeks before they start to come out of hiding. You also might want to feed them frozen blood worms, tetramin pro flakes, live black worms, or brine shrimps.

Finally, try getting rams from a hobbist rather than lfs. Most lfs rams are raised in fish farms in S.E. Asia, where they are bred and raised in deplorable conditions. Many die during transit. Those who survive are under a severe stress, and many die soon after the purchase.

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

There are two caves foir hiding. The pH is completely neutral. THe temp is too low, so I will put the heater in. .

The problem is, they DO have blue and orange on them. In the store they were very happy and colotful (living with the discus).

Also, they will not come out even for blood worms.


The littlest one comes out at times, but as soon as the light goes on he freaks and the "stress bars" re-appear. The larger one has NEVER left his cave for more than 10seconds, in 5 MONTHS

 

[babyfish]

There are two caves foir hiding. The pH is completely neutral. THe temp is too low, so I will put the heater in. .

The problem is, they DO have blue and orange on them. In the store they were very happy and colotful (living with the discus).

Also, they will not come out even for blood worms.


The littlest one comes out at times, but as soon as the light goes on he freaks and the "stress bars" re-appear. The larger one has NEVER left his cave for more than 10seconds, in 5 MONTHS

If the temp is too low you will never see them as the fish are stressed from just trying to survive.... and rams really love to have lots of plants to swim and hide in.....mine quite happily come up to the top of the tank at feeding times,so they can get the food before the discus (whom they bully mercilessly...funny as the rams are tiny compared to the discus )

Get the temp up and add some bushy plants... should see more of them then

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

Thanks...

By the way, they hide even when the water is the right temp....must be lack of plants

 

[blue_ram]

The problem is, they DO have blue and orange on them. In the store they were very happy and colotful (living with the discus).

So, the rams did lose color due to stress.

The littlest one comes out at times, but as soon as the light goes on he freaks and the "stress bars" re-appear. The larger one has NEVER left his cave for more than 10seconds, in 5 MONTHS

That's really odd. It doesn't sound like it's the water condition. Something is scaring the fish, but what? I can't imagine platys, white clouds, or corys harassing the rams. Do you have any other pets like dogs, cats, or birds? I used to have a friend who kept an open top aquarium. His dog decided that water in his dish wasn't as fresh as the water in the aquarium. Needless to say, the pooch scared the living daylights out of his fish. I've never seen so many corys in a little cave!

Also check to see if you have vibration transmitted from the filter, water pump, or air pump.

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

My cats enjoy sitting in the aquarium lid....but they don't do it much

I have noticed that these fish are a bit uptight....a cory swam into one a while back and if the ram had been a person his look would have said "Who the **** do you think you are?!?"

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

One more thing.......I put the whiteclouds in a colder tank.

Plugged the heater in for the Rams.
Did water changes on all my aquariums.

Will be getting more plants for the rams tomorrow

 

[maestro]

do you have a test kit for nitrate, rans dont tolerate nitrate aswell as other fish

Otherwise they could be sick, rams arent a very string breed for resistign diesease, the ones for sale are usually of poor quality

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

Well they have been fine for 5months...and there is negligable nitrate
I thinks its due to bright light, few plants, and my humongously fat cat who likes watching his "dinner" (he attempts to catch them..bad kitty bad!)

 

[blue_ram]

Well they have been fine for 5months...and there is negligable nitrate
I thinks its due to bright light, few plants, and my humongously fat cat who likes watching his "dinner" (he attempts to catch them..bad kitty bad!)

Hmmm. See if you can keep your cat away from the aquarium. Who knows what the cat might be doing while you're away?

 

[The FISH made me do it!]

I know what the cat has been doing....im missing 3 danios!

The tank is sitting in the "pass through" (sort of window to pass food) between the dining room and kitche, I closed the "pass through" b/c the cats use it as a pathway between the 2 rooms and jump on the tank to get through....with it closed they don't sit on the tank....