# German gold rams!



## lowfi (Apr 18, 2007)

Anyone ever keep these fish?? They are beautiful! Any info or stories you guys/gals have would be great.

Thanks,
Sean


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

They are very nice to look at, but dominant males are very aggressive! Of all the "dwarf" cichlids, these guys can be very imp-ish!! make sure they go into a relatively big tank, and either buy a lot of them at once so they can't fight too much, or buy a male with two or three females.

Personally, I prefer Apistos.......not nearly as ill tempered as the Rams (Gold or Blue) can be!


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

WELL, I love apistos also, but I also love Rams. I have never found them to be that agressive. I have kept up to 4 grown pairs in a 29 gallon with 2 pairs of apistos and some tetras with no problems.
I have had succesful spawns from both the apistos and Rams in that tank also.

If you are to get Rams, Blue or Gold ( I think the Blue are much more beautiful and find the gold to be rather plain in comparison) get them from a good US breeder (or Canada, Europe, UK) just not the far east. Most LFS sell fish from fish farms from the far east and they pump the fish full of all sorts of hormones and crap to make their colors show at a much younger age. True Rams don't get colorful until they are past the juvie stage. Those hormones and crap can make them infertile and can reduce their life span considerably and they get sick easy. There are plenty of good breeders around and on aquabid. I have got fish from Georgegarcia and tarmak on aquabid and they are excellent quality. Not that expensive either, they end up being about $6 per fish, of course the shipping can get pricey, but worth it and better then spending $12 to $20 per fish at the LFS and having it die on you in 3 months.


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## DLOBREAKS (Nov 10, 2006)

Argh! I have had such bad luck with blue/gold rams that i have literally given up on them. I have had 14 of them over the course of about a year and a half and lost 12!!!!! All basicly in the same manner too. They would acclimate pretty well. Look happy for about 1-3 days. Show pretty good signs like appetite, and acting terretorial. Then, one day they would look like they had a fews signs of stress. Then dead the next day. Almost like clockwork. I finally returned the last two i had to the pet store, rather than watch them die (which prob just happend in the store anyway). Such a beautiful fish too. 

D

PS. Mine were always put in soft/acid tanks with little or no nitrogen byproducts


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Get your fish from ODDBALLFISH.COM. They are a Florida based breeder. Good quality fast ship.
Make sure your PH is on the money


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## DLOBREAKS (Nov 10, 2006)

orlando said:


> Get your fish from ODDBALLFISH.COM. They are a Florida based breeder. Good quality fast ship.
> Make sure your PH is on the money


On the money meaning....? Soft water breeder? I think mone of my problems is that most lfs's keep them in 7.0 or higher and/or were raised in 7.0 or higher and i keep acidic tanks. . .

Thanks

D


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

My rams love 6.5, no problems spawning Id start there. Oddball specializes in rams so you wont have to worry about hormones


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## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

I'd say theyre actually not too picky about PH. I've kept them in rather hard water, even had them spawn. Although the eggs were eaten, so it's likely that water chemistry affected their hatching. But theyll be perfectly happy otherwise. And they can be pretty agressive. I've also had docile ones. Like most things in life, it could go either way.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Where you buy them is very important. US breeds are the only way to go, or wild caught


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

I have kept them in pure tap (here in phoenix that is really hard) and have kept them in soft tanks.
One key with them is to keep the water above 80 deg and do regular water changes.

I have to say if you get your fish from LFS that get them from Far East fish farms, you are only buying fish to kill them. Or really they are already dead. They will never live more then a couple of months IME.

I have never gotten them from Oddball, but if they specialize in them, I am sure they will be high quality.

I know breeders who spawn and hatch in RO then acclimate the free swimmers back to tap so that the average hobbyist won't have problems keeping them. I also know breeders who just spawn and hatch in tap and claim that that makes their RAMS iron clad, indestructible.

If you do spawn / hatch in tap, you almost have to pull the eggs and use some methyl in (sp?) blue to keep the fungus off.
One trick a friend taught me is to go get a zip lock freezer bag and pull the slate, leaf, whatever the eggs are on and put it in the Ziploc bag with tank water. Put an air stone in the bag and close it up and fold it over the top of the tank and use a chip clip to hole it in place. Put 2 drops of the MB in and turn on the air. This way they are hatched in tank water, the fungus can't take over and nobody can eat them. Once they are free swimming, put them in a 2.5 or 5-gallon tank and start feeding them. Once they are a little bigger, time to throw them in a 40 breeder or something larger for grow out. In a couple of months, you have fish for sale.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Here you go this should help.http://www.oddballfish.com/intro.htm


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## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

Are you affiliated with that site orlando?


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Weather or not he is affiliated with them or not, after looking at the sight, I would be comfortable buying Rams from them, and I won't just buy Rams from anywhere and only from LFS if they are US bred (but I still would go to the breeder and pay for shipping over that), as I know how they are farmed and "juiced" and you need to be careful with where you buy them from.
And I will also agree that US bred (Or locally bred, for instance, If you are in Canada and buy canadian bred, or if you are in Germany and buy German bred, you will be fine, etc...) is the way to buy.

I suppose you could buy some German or English bred Rams, but why pay for that shipping and deal with customs?

Tarmak on Aquabid also has nice Rams, I have gotten several pair from him in the past.


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