My never ending ram saga...

[shayfish]

Condensed version of the story up until now:

-got 2 gold rams, thinking they were a mated pair
-turned out to be 2 females
-got 1 male blue ram because I'm an idiot
-chaos ensued
-moved and completely traumatized one female and the male into another tank
-got another male blue ram
-new male blue ram turned out to in fact be female (wow, his belly sure is pink... wait a second...)
-female gold ram showing mild aggression towards new tankmate

Now. I figure I have 3 options;
1) exchange the new female gbr for a male (and be DARN SURE before I leave the store)
But... she is a really nice fish and i'm wondering if it's just because she's new (4 or 5 days... or maybe 6)
2) Pick up 2 males (again, being DARN SURE...)
3) Leave well enough alone and monitor the situation to see if the aggression picks up at all...

I am leaning towards 3, but I (OBVIOUSLY) am very inexperienced with rams and feel that I have screwed things up terribly already.

Advice please? TIA.

 

[Michael]

If you choose option 3 eventually they will leave each other alone. No reason why you can't keep two of the same sex together. Aggression should only accure when both sexes are present and a female is ready to spawn. Keep the pair in one tank, two females in another and they will be fine.

 

[bs6749]

I would buy a male GBR and introduce it to the tank with 2 females and if a pair forms take the other to the LFS. A pair won't necessarily form because each sex is in the tank. Give the male some choices and you will be more likely to see a pair form if that is what you really want. Adding 2 males may also increase the chances of a pair (or two) forming. Just a thought.

 

[shayfish]

Well, when I added one male to 2 females before it ended up in a bit of a war. A pair formed, spawned and then right away, he traded females. I guess I wasn't quick enough to take one back, because then the females just took turns terrorizing each other.

2 for one sale at the lfs this saturday though...