# blue ram cichlid



## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

does anyone have any experience with blue ram cichlids? i saw one a while ago, and again today (pictures) and i really like it, and the store is getting a shipment next week, so i kinda want one, but wanted to see what they're like first. he would be going into a tank with a gourami some platies and a guppy....good idea? bad idea?


thanks


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

just did some research...they seem pretty difficult, i think i'll wait a while
plus my water is kinda basic


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## bdement (Jun 4, 2007)

I had a rough start with rams, but have found success in the past year. The murmurings that they are a little less hardy than average is definitely true, and I would make sure your water is at least neutral or slightly acidic, and not tremendously hard before introducing them. However, their sensitivity to being moved is definitely highly dependent on their source and the difference between your water and the store's. Be sure to take your time (~2 hours) acclimating them. They're one of the easiest cichlids to breed, so purchasing farm raised individuals shouldn't be too hard and will greatly improve your chances as well.

Their personality is all cichlid, curious and attentive to their surroundings. Individuals will vary, but they're generally peaceful, and dominant males will push anything smaller than themselves around at feeding time. Active, mobile fish aren't in any serious danger, but slow and delicate fish like bettas will not be able to stay out of the crosshairs forever.

Unless you have a big tank (> 55), I highly recommend keeping all males or females, as mixing sexes will cause competition and a social hierarchy that will almost certainly make life difficult for those at the bottom of the ladder. If you do want to keep males with females, the higher the ratio of females to males, the happier everyone will be.


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

i was actually just gonna get one, but after testing my water, it's slightly basic, or, rather basic, like a 7 or something
i dunno i'll have to think about it, or get the ph down
thanks


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

almostaskater62 said:


> i was actually just gonna get one, but after testing my water, it's slightly basic, or, rather basic, like a 7 or something
> i dunno i'll have to think about it, or get the ph down
> thanks


Have you thought of getting a Bolivian Ram instead? IMHO, they are just as beautiful and intelligent if not more so than the Blue Rams and from the research that I have done they also tend to be much hardier than the blue rams. I have a Bolivian Ram in my 20 gallon with a female betta, a keyhole cichlid, a couple of marble hatchets, a neon tetra, a couple of ottos, and a bristlenose pleco. They all seem to get along well. Sometimes, the keyhole will give chase to the Bolivian Ram, but he is pretty quick and elusive. Next to otos, Bolivian Rams are my favourite fish. My Bolivian Ram kind of reminds of of a collie dog. When he seems me approach the tank with food in the morning, he comes out stays motionless in front of the tank watching. Then, it looks like he is wagging his tail like a dog and his top fin begins to tighten and wave back and forth. This is the same thing he does when he is exploring the tank and something catches his curiousity. Almost like a dog, whose ears go up and tail begins wagging. I would get more if my 20 gallon was not so overstocked. If you decide to get a Blue Ram, try and confirm the source. I have heard horror stories of Blue Rams shipped from the orient that are pumped with hormones to bring out their colors and increase their marketability. The bad thing about this is the resulting fish while really beautiful tend to be more sensitive and vulneralbe to disease and tend to die quickly.

With respect to PH, most fish can tolerate a wide range of PH. It is not so much contant low or high PH levels that kill fish, but frequent fluctuations in PH from high to low over short period of time. Case in point: I have several fish in my 59 gallon tank with a extermely high PH over a period of 7 years 8 to 8.5 PH constant. This was largely due to the Bozo who set up the tank(I purchased from him and he was prepared to do it for free - not knowing anything about fish 7 years ago I agreed, only to find out later that the fool had put in sea shells. I have no idea why he did that considering it had plain gravel and I was unable to get all of the shells out). Despite this and having several fish in my tank whose preference is for PH between 6.5-7, those fish have managed to survive 7+ years without incident. I think this is largely due to the fact that the PH remains constant between 8 to 8.5.


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## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

There was a guy on Aquabid who had some really nice Blue Rams. He was breeding them in Arizona (hard water with a pH of 8.0). I had a few from a LFS that colored up really nice, and just died one day for no apparent reason. I found out from the owner they were from Singapore. It's a common practice to supplement the ram's diet with hormones ("juicing") over there. Due to this the fish will color up nicely, but die prematurely. I think the key is finding a breeder who has water similar to yours. After that, they need a lot of hiding spots to feel safe, and a nice clean environment ie. water changes of 25% or more a week. Good luck, they are definitely one of my favorites, and I'm going to try a group again some day.


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

i might try bolivian rams if i can find any, i haven't seen any at any store near me though...
i figured out it might be because i didn't let my tube dry completely before i tested ph that it came up high, i'm getting a clean one today though and will test again

thanks i'll post back with results


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

for argument's sake lets say my ph is a constant...7 ish, which is what i imagine it is roughly, and it wouldn't fluctuate very much as i dont really do anything that would make it fluctuate.
he would be going in a 10G tank with a guppy, 3 platies (one fairly juvenile), a gourami, an oto, and a snail

would adding a ram be a pretty dumb move? i really like them so i may even have to shift stuff around so i can get one. however the only free tank i have is reserved for endler babies. this stuff is stressful haha


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

almostaskater62 said:


> for argument's sake lets say my ph is a constant...7 ish, which is what i imagine it is roughly, and it wouldn't fluctuate very much as i dont really do anything that would make it fluctuate.
> he would be going in a 10G tank with a guppy, 3 platies (one fairly juvenile), a gourami, an oto, and a snail
> 
> would adding a ram be a pretty dumb move? i really like them so i may even have to shift stuff around so i can get one. however the only free tank i have is reserved for endler babies. this stuff is stressful haha


Just my 2 cents. If you follow the one inch of fish per gallon, you would really be pushing the limits as far as bioload and stocking goes. Having said that if you start with a heavily planted tank, the tank should be able to compensate of the heavier bioload from overstocking. The problem when you overstock or stock to capacity that I found is not always the bioload. I have overstocked tanks before and that is not what killed my fish as long as I had good filtration and kept up with 50% weekly water changes. What killed the fish was an overcrowded tank that led to skirmishes between fish competing for space to the point where one or more fish were seriously injured, got stressed, and ended up dieing. You could always compensate for this somewhat by heavily planting to provide fish with hiding places, and a sense so safety and security if they are chased and to keep them out of each others' faces. However, this did not work for me. In my case, one of my fish(a beautiful, peaceful, dwarf blue gourami) actually had difficulty escaping a chase and ended up getting stuck between some plants(trying to escape) where he was murdered in the dead of night and had his eye gouged out. I suspect the Keyhole cichlid was the perpetrator, but I have no proof. This is still under investigation, lol 

With respect to your question re: PH. One thing that I forgot to mention. When you purchase fish from a fish store, ask the store what the ph of the fish tank is. The reason is that if you have a situation where the fish are raised in a PH of 6-6.5and you have a PH of 7.5-8.0. When you place the fish in your tank, they could die of PH shock given the huge range. If you have a situation like this, acclimatize your new fish very slowly with the plastic bag in the water and additions of your tank water, over a period of a couple of hours or more to increase survival rates and prevent PH shock.


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

yea i was gonna acclimate really slowly, and i will test their ph before doing anything. 
as for the tank, it is fairly heavily planted, to the point where the plants do some filtration. the tank also has a 20 gallon power filter, so it is overfiltered, which also helps. here is the tank:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/49237-my-10-gallon-planted.html

go towards the last post (2nd last) for a better picture)

about your blue gourami, i also lost a blue dwarf gourami, i dont think my red dward gourami liked him all too much and wasn't letting him get food and whatnot, so he just withered, it was sad


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

it turns out my tap water was throwing the results a little, the PH is about a 7.3 as opposed to the 7.6-8 or something i originally though.
there is no ammonia also, so i guess the plants are doing their job!


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

almostaskater62 said:


> it turns out my tap water was throwing the results a little, the PH is about a 7.3 as opposed to the 7.6-8 or something i originally though.
> there is no ammonia also, so i guess the plants are doing their job!


If you plan on injecting C02, keep in mind that C02 injection will lower your PH. So I would not add any fish at all until your C02 is set up, is operating at full speed, and the PH has stablized.


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

CO2 has been running as long as the tan has (about 3-4 months)


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

almostaskater62 said:


> CO2 has been running as long as the tan has (about 3-4 months)


Perfect! Looks like you are all set to go.


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

vveerrry interesting....i believe i will give one of those guys a go now, after i get back from vacation that is, i leave on saturday (curse the timing)

anyway thanks a lot for the advice and whatnot


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