# Ram Question



## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

I have 2 Blue Rams in my 20L and they did great together for quite a while. Even had a clutch of eggs. After the eggs where gone (they ate them), the male has been picking on the female relentlessly:boink: . She always stays in the corner of the tank:yield: while he cruises the whole tank:whip: . Should I get another male and couple females to spread out the aggression and help them get along:grouphug: or will this make it worse:fencing: ? Especially since it's only a 20L with lots of plants. I don't know how much swimming space/territory each fish would need. As of now the only fish in the tank are the 2 blue rams and 2 otos. Thanks for any information.


----------



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Don't add any more rams; they will be attacked mercilessly.

I would add a focus for the male's aggression in the form of a small shoal of something else, such as tetras, barbs etc.

A 20L is 2ft long isn't it? Should be big enough for a small shoal of fish too.


----------



## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

I had 5 priscella tetras in the same tank for a while (moved to daughters aquarium). They didn't make a difference. Male Ram left them alone and just chased the female around. He doesn't even care about the shrimp. I was thinking of getting a school of neon tetras or harlequin rasboras soon though.


----------



## bdement (Jun 4, 2007)

I kept a pair alone in a 6 gallon tank and witnessed this type of behavior for several months. Despite him keeping her in a corner for periods of time, they would still shimmy for each other occasionally and all out fighting was minimal. I think as long as she shows her spawning colors when they're acting peacefully and neither look injured, they'll be OK and will spawn again.

BTW if fry are in the tank, you'll need to remove everything else that moves or the parents are likely to kill it.


----------



## pawslover (Feb 22, 2006)

ed seeley said:


> A 20L is 2ft long isn't it? Should be big enough for a small shoal of fish too.


I kept 2 pair in a 20L for a while. The 20L is 30" long. I did have it scaped so there was a visual barrier in the middle and both pair pretty much stayed on their own ends. If he's beating up on her too bad, you may have to remove her, but if there's no injuries, she may just would appreciate some more hiding spaces. It may help to remove him briefly, do a little rearranging to create more hiding spaces, let her adjust and then reintroduce him. I'm surprised that having some dither fish to chase didn't help.


----------



## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

Well, I just added a school of eight Harlequin Rasboras. As soon as I put them in, both Rams approached them and showed off their colors:usa: . About 15 minutes after that, the male Ram had to remind the female who's boss[-X . Rasboras look awesome though and are schooling great:grouphug: !!


----------



## 29Bubbles (Oct 11, 2006)

Mr Ram is just wanting to spawn again, and she's not ready - so he's gonna chase and bugg her till she is ready. That's kinda how those cichlids are -kribs do it, apisto's.. they all act the same when ready to spawn. 

It's a good idea to re-arrange the tank a little and make more places for her to hide. If they're a breeding pair (which they are if they've laid eggs before) don't remove the female. Rams pair up for life (although they only live about 2 years) and removing it's mate can stress the fish. As long as he's not hurting her, she just needs more spaces to hide in and maybe some high quality frozen food so she can get ready to spawn with him again. 

Good luck!


----------



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

You want to make sure that the 'target' fish you add are large enough to get a response from the male. He is defending his territory from other males primarily; the female is more concerned about defending the babies per se. 

As it's a 30" tank you could add more rams, but, if you do, I would add 4 more so any aggro will be spread around more. 4 of a cichlid rarely seems to work out for me.

If it were me I'd add a small group of Black ruby barbs (Puntius nigrofasciatus) (as I think they're the most gorgeous medium-small barbs) or something Harlequin sized to a little bigger; or 4 more rams and a shoal of smaller tetras, hatchetfish or (my favourites) pencilfish as dither fish to occupy the more open areas of the tank.
29bubblbes idea of adding more cover and re-arranging the decor is a good one too and I'd do that if adding more fish too.


----------



## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

I looked today and the male is keeping the Rasboras schooling and female in check. I did change the scape around and I'll look into getting a more varied diet. How often do they spawn? It would be nice to keep the line going since both of them are gorgeous fish.


----------



## mrbman7 (Apr 16, 2007)

As mentioned above, a small school of dither fish could help ease the tension.


----------



## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

Quarantine the female in another tank if you can. If not, set up a divider of some sort. The same thing happened with my blue rams. You're lucky the female is still alive-save her while you can.


----------



## toxic69 (Nov 7, 2007)

you could try and get another male and then when the males are fighting the female can rest bit risky but could work depends how seriouse the fights are tho


----------

