Blue Rams... paging Alli and others that keep them.

I haven't done this for YEARS Impulse buy!

4 german Blue Rams. All 4 a bit less than 1 inch right now. I was fairly sure I'd be ok, been looking at folk's posts about them here. For now, all 4 in a 20 high, heavily planted, with 3 of my home-bred white cloud mountain minnows. Temp, 76, [acronym:dc78cbc114="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:dc78cbc114] 6.5. Can't test anything else right now, waiting for new test kits to arrive. (Old kit wayyy past expiration date.)

I know I have some clay pots around here somewhere, will add them today/tomorrow.

not sure on sexing them yet, advice?

If I luck out and get at least 1 pair, can the other 2 go in my 90 gallon community?

How long do you think they'll be ok in the 20?

Any other advice appreciated.

[Allivymar]

Heh, my lil buggers are Bolivians, but lessee what I can do.

Kick up the temps; Germans like it hot *grin* figure 82F or so should do it. Ph looks good. My Bolivians also seem to appreciate the 82F waters.

I had my 4 Bolivians in a 25g; the breeding pair managed to get the babies all the way to free swimming fry before dad abandoned the family and the fry got eaten. You MAY not have to move the other 2 if you have a pair and there is plenty of place for the them to hide.

Sexing is tough, especially with young'uns. Supposedly, the males have a longer initial or 2nd fin spine on the dorsal fin but its tough to tell with juveniles. I know I can't tell the diff between my Bolivians until she drops her breeding tube.

Here's some of the websites I grabbed when I bought the now deceased Germans (they turned out to be ill when I got them; looked healthy, but died within a week. Yours should be fine as you didn't get em where I did [acronym:9e82e9cae4="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:9e82e9cae4]):

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blue%20rams.html
http://members.aol.com/WnyZman/rams.html
http://apisto.bravepages.com/Ram%20article.htm

[medge00]

with my blue rams, i look for a redish or pink belly, which indicates its a girl. sexing is darn hard with the young ones. good luck with that. happy rams have great color. its one of the 1st things i look for when i'm checkin to see how they're doing. when i got mine i had no idea what sex they were, until one suddenly got pink in the belly.

as for temp, i've got mine at just below 80 and they've always been happy. they'll also appreciate the plants and caves.

if you do get a pair in the 20, see how it goes.... sometimes they'll get super territorial, sometimes its not so bad. they may actually be pretty happy in the 20 for a while. it just depends on the fish, ya know? each has its own preference. i have a pair in my 10 [acronym:5f5494b09f="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:5f5494b09f] (hopefully they'll breed) and they love it there. the others seem to prefer the bigger tank.

mine are actually a little over an inch. they have colored up nicely since bringing them home, and are exploring. they ate flake just fine. I think they'll like the 20 just fine, as soon as I get them some pots and a few rocks in htere.

I'll give them some time in there, but if I do get a pair, the others will go in my community tank. I figure I'll watch them with the white clouds, and as long as they don't bother them, (no interest in them so far), they'll prolly be ok in the big tank.

[TankGirl]

Congratulations, [acronym:744d0f44ab="Crushed Coral (if substrate) or Counter Current (if referring to a Protien skimmer) or cubic centimeter (if referring to a measure of volume)."]CC[/acronym:744d0f44ab]! I love them and hope to keep them again someday - great for a planted tank. I think they will do great with the white clouds, except that the minnows do not like high temps, and really prefer around 74. Mine are in a tank set at 80 and they are fine, but I am sure they won't live as long as they might otherwise. I tried a lower temp but my angels did not like it.

Well, this is my 2nd generation of these white clouds, they don't seem to mind the higher temps. The 20 is now at 78, the rams and white clouds seem happy enough, I'll bump it up to 80 by tomorrow, see what happens.

I have white clouds in 3 tanks now, ranging from 70- 78 degrees. They behave the same in all of the tanks. As for longevity, I don't know.

I really think these rams were a good choice, I'm diggin the colors. I also looked at some of ally's links, the breeding colors are amazing! Really like to see that!

[TankGirl]

You should be fine with them together, then. They have probably adapted to warmer water. They are one of my favorite fish, and I have two generations in my tank, as well. Keep us posted on the rams!

Thanks for those links, Ally, from this one:
http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blue%20rams.html


"Male


The male will have long black colored 'spikes' extending vertically out from the tip of the dorsal closest to the head.
The dorsal is most often pointed at the tip facing the caudal fin.
The male is larger; the pelvic fins are larger.

Female

The female will have a pinkish colored pelvic region.
The dorsal is rounded at the end. "


Preliminary guess is 1 female, 3 males.

If the above criteria are reliable, There is one female for certain, 1 male for sure, the other 2 are a bit smaller and I'm not sure.

Those articles mostly concerned breeding, and mentioned 25% water changes 2x a week. Do I really need to change water that much/often?

[medge00]

uhm, i don't think you need to change the water that often. i think thats just a breeding tip, since they can be harder to breed (not always, see alli's rams...). i've had rams breed before and i only change water once a week. super clean water does help the process a little. if ever one of my rams looks a little less colorful, i change the water a bunch. the cleaner the water, the happier they seem to be. thats a good link, [acronym:15a7c211cd="By the way"]btw[/acronym:15a7c211cd].

[TankGirl]

the cleaner the water, the happier they seem to be.

That holds true for all of my fish!