Needing GBR information.

[chinoanoah]

Lengthy post, please hear me out. About 7 months ago I bought two rams from an AA.com user (forgot who). A male and a female. They were shipped for $20 from KY to Tampa, shipping took about 4 days and they made it safely. Once they arrived, the female laid eggs but they never ...became (or however that works)...fry -- after two days the eggs disappeared. Anyway, christmas break came -- and they survived along with a couple of tetras a few weeks with no food. Point is, they were hardy. Then I saw a BEAUTIFUL tank of rams at a LFS. Bought a new male (male 2) who was 1/2 the size of my current male (male 1).

Gave male 1 to Swerner13 and moved in male 2.

3 days later male 2 started acting funny, died, and then ich hit my tank hard. I tossed out a lot of them because I was so severely overstocked. I was back down to 1 female GBR, 1 oto and 3 lemon tetras

I decided to try again, so I bought another male (male 3) GBR from the same LFS. Tonight, which was 3 days later he dies just as fast as male 2 did! All the while, male 1 is CHILLIN like a villain in SWerner13's 10g, and the female I originally bought has survived ich, christmas break, and eats healthily and is very colorful, but not very big. No where near the size of male 1.

However, male 1 still has the dwarfed fins and definitely doesn't look as impressive as the large GBRs that were being sold at same LFS for $18.99.

All I want is a heathy, strong, beautiful male GBR! I am now positive that the deaths of male 2 and male 3 were not my fault at all but were the crappy albeit beautiful asian fake rams.

Questions are, how can I be sure that Rams at a fish store are good quality or are not the hormone induced asian rams?

How can i be sure that AA sellers have good rams?

Are only GBR's victimized with hormones, or should I look into Gold rams or bolivians which are safer?

thanks AA. You guys are the best.

 

[bs6749]

Questions are, how can I be sure that Rams at a fish store are good quality or are not the hormone induced asian rams?

How can i be sure that AA sellers have good rams?

Are only GBR's victimized with hormones, or should I look into Gold rams or bolivians which are safer?

thanks AA. You guys are the best.

Asian lines are elongated. You can easily tell with a little bit of experience which ones are Asian and which ones aren'. The growth hormones causes elongation. Though they are subjected to coloring hormones as well, the Asian line isn't anywhere near as colorful as other lines including the European lines and ones that are derivatives of wild stock. Though they are all derivatives of wild stock, the Asian rams have been inbred many times over. Other lines such as the one I have are half wild blood.

How do you know if the rams are good or not? In short, you can't always be certain. With experience comes the ability to judge rams and even to be able to see which are Asian bred. A picture is worth a thousand words. If you are interested in getting some rams from someone, ask for pictures. Any reputable seller would be willing to comply. I would prefer to pick my fish out in person but sometimes that's just not possible.

Gold rams are a color morph of the Microgeophagus ramirezi AKA the GBR. They are the same species. Gold rams aren't as in demand as GBR's so they aren't produced on such a large scale as GBR's. With that in mind there is no reason to subject them to hormones for quicker growth and sale. That means that gold rams will be hardier than their blue spotted counterparts.

Along the same lines, Bolivians aren't massively commercially produced like GBR's so they are hardier as well. Not that the hardiness only pertains to the Asian bred rams. European rams and wild stock GBR's are just as hardy as the gold color morph and Bolivians.

 

[GhostKnife]

Bs whats up man I had a ram die due to the same thing bs thought my rams were asian and the one is doing great and seems to love the aquarium and the other is now gone. (Bs whenever you get those fry rip roaring and ready for sale let me know...lol) So. But both rams brought Ich into my tank as well. I didnt use a quarantine tank before this so ... A QT tank is well worth its every penny then some. BTW Bs the dominant male is the one that lived and is thriving. He loves freeze dried shrimp... Didnt see that coming.

 

[bs6749]

I am sending the first order out on Monday the 16th. I only have a couple that are ready and the others will be 2-3 weeks after that. They should be ready to spawn 5-6 weeks, possibly less time, from now. I see quite a few small females looking plump and they may spawn much sooner if some males would hurry up and grow!

 

[SWerner13]

GBR 1 is quite the ballar though. His colors aren't the best but he makes up for it with personality and passion! Haha