2 German Gold Rams not eating

[FrozenDeth]

On saturday I stopped by one of the lfs and saw these guys and thought they look amazing so I decided to pick up 2 to go with my 6 cardinal tetras and the few dwarf corries I have in my tank. They are swiming around fine and look healthy and active unless I get near the tank, then the hide.

Now the problem is I havnt seen them eat anything and they just ignor the food I put in there, I have tried flakes, shrimp pellets and algae waffers all which I had already then I went out and bought frozen brine shrimp and they havnt touched those either yesterday or today. I am willing to stop by the lfs today to get a different type of food if anyone has any suggestions. I read live food is good to feed picky fish but want to make sure I pick up the best food or multi foods to try to get them to eat. I would hate to loose these fish.

Water parameters 15g planted: Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 15 Ph - 7 (I know this is higher then optimal but it is what my tap water is and I read if acclimated slowly they would be ok) Temp - 78

I also have another quick question while im already here, would it adversely affect my fish and plants to have the lights coming on in the morning from 7-9 and the off from 9-1 then back on from 1-7 so I will still have 8 hours of light and will be able to feed my fish in the morning before work and still be able to watch the tank when I get home at night.

Thank you in advance for any help trying to get these fish to eat.
- Jesse

 

[fishboy444]

Try live food.

 

[joy13]

Garlic usually stimulates a fishes appetite.

The lighting schedule would matter most if you were breeding them or have live plants. Otherwise as long as algae doesn't become a problem there is no reason to split up the lighting time.

 

[meegosh]

Many of the rams you find in pet stores are weak. I got two blue rams last year and they lasted about a week. Water was fine, plenty of hiding spots, ate well for the first week then lost their appetite. Garlic didn't help either. If you can find some tank raised rams from good stock or wild ones, you will probably have better luck.

 

[FrozenDeth]

Thanks for the information.

I do have live plants so I guess ill leave the lights alone.

I will see if the lfs has some live food on my way home from work today. Garlic? do I fix it with the food?

 

[WhiskeyD]

Many of the rams you find in pet stores are weak. I got two blue rams last year and they lasted about a week. Water was fine, plenty of hiding spots, ate well for the first week then lost their appetite. Garlic didn't help either. If you can find some tank raised rams from good stock or wild ones, you will probably have better luck.

Same scenario around here. Most of the rams are weak and dont make it very long. I've been trying to get a healthy pair of GBRs for over a year now. I bought a pair of GBRs about a month ago and the female died on the second day . The male however is doing great and has really grown a lot in the past 30 days!

 

[joy13]

You might be able to find someone locally that raise them, check for local freshwater and planted tank forums.

 

[roadmaster]

I might also submit that rams I have kept generally prefer temp around 82 degrees . When acclimating these sensitive fish I would use drip acclimation which can /should, take an hour or more. I have kept the german blue ram as well as the longfinned and gold variety with Discus and both the Discus .and the rams enjoy the same conditions. Blood worms are usually taken with no problems along with quality small pellet and flake food. Am fond of Ocean nutrition brand.

 

[dkpate]

Just soak the food in the fresh garlic juice. And maybe they just need some time to get used to their new surroundings?

 

[FrozenDeth]

Thanks everyone. I stopped and picked up some live blood worms yesterday on my way home and they just ignored them. I will try soaking some food today in garlic juice. I hope thay are just getting use to their new home. Seems that they are pretty active and like to peck at the smooth stones, but does not look like they are eating anything. Also as soon as I move in the room anywhere near the tank they run and hide in the plants in the back. I will try to take some pictures later if I can find my camera and post them on here.

 

[Blueiz]

You may also want to check your water parameters again to make sure youre not having a spike.

I would do a good 50 percent water cahnge, regardless of the water parameters, and see if this helps them get out of there funk as well.

 

[bs6749]

I would also do a large water change as your nitrates are particularly high for rams. Both the wilds and the domestics I have kept in tanks under 5ppm of nitrate. They have both rewarded me many times by breeding. When rams are subjected to nitrate levels of more than 10ppm for extended periods of time they can develop kidney problems, more specifically a bacterial infection of the kidneys.

Rams will do perfectly fine at the temperature that you have them at. I'd keep them between 76-80. Mine are kept on the lower end of the spectrum. If you keep them near or over 84 they can become stressed very easily.

I would not recommend drip acclimation for rams one bit. Generally the water you are adding to the bag/bucket you have the rams in is more alkaline. Understanding some basic information about the ammonia/ammonium ion equilibrium will show you that you are quite possibly poisoning your rams by using the drip acclimation method. This is especially true of fish that are shipped or are in the bag more than 12 or so hours. I prefer the drop and plop method. Float the unopened bag in the tank until the temperature equalizes. Then, gently reach in with your wet hand and remove the fish that way. Netting the fish causes unneeded stress and can damage their slime coat making them more susceptible to infection and the onset of disease.

 

[FrozenDeth]

I did a 30% water change right after I tested I always test before just to see where they are at before a pwc. Just retested and they are the same a few days later I will do another water change today. Any suggested methods of keeping Nitrates down? I do 30% weekly water changes and never worried about Nitrates before b/c they never went over 20ppm which I was under the impression was acceptable. Is it better to do my pwc more often or larger? Thanks for the info hope I can get the nitrates down.

 

[bs6749]

20ppm are fine for most fish, however I've found that rams do MUCH better and seem much healthier and hardier in water under 10ppm. Like I said, I keep mine under 5ppm.

Live plants will remove nitrates from the water. If you don't have good lighting in your tank I recommend something like guppy grass, which is fast growing and undemanding as far as lighting and fertilizers.

It would be more efficient to change a larger volume of the water once per week rather than the same amount of water (total) each week. For instance, say you have a 100g tank and your nitrates are at 50ppm. Doing a 50% water change once per week (changing 50 gallons) and filling with clean water (no nitrates present) will result in the nitrates being cut in half, leaving you with 25ppm nitrates. However, if you change out 10 gallons of water 5 times per week your nitrate levels would look something like this (assuming no new addition of nitrates from fish during changes and no removal due to plants).

Before 1st change: 50ppm
After 1st change of 10g: 45ppm
After 2nd change of 10g: 40.5ppm
After 3rd change of 10g: 36.5ppm
After 4th change of 10g: 32.8 ppm
After 5th change of 10g: 29.5 ppm

As you can see, you will be about 5ppm higher if you change out the same volume of water during the week but spread it out. In fact, the smaller the water changes spread out over the week, the less and less effective they are, which should make sense. This means that the nitrate concentration could essentially remain unchanged if you are taking out a drop at a time and replacing with a clean drop of water.

I'd do a large PWC to start with to get the nitrates down to under 10ppm and then do 2-3 smaller water changes per week if that is what you prefer.

 

[FrozenDeth]

I have some live plants some anubias, java ferns and some tall crypts not sure what kind. Have low light and no co2 but these plants for doing fine, see slow growth.

 

[bs6749]

Those are some decent looking rams.

 

[marchmaxima]

And a very nice looking tank too, btw...