Adding Bolivian Rams to the family

[Jantaris]

Good morning all...
A couple of quick questions. I have been thinking about getting a couple Bolivian Rams. My first thought was to put them in the community tank with mollies/tetras/platys. It's a 20 gallon and I'd have to make room for the Rams first, so this would not be happening tomorrow or anything. Wondering if the 20 is enough room for, say, a pair of them and if they'd do well with the lb group. I should say, too, that kiddo wants a dwarf frog. Would the frog be okay with rams?

Other thought would be to put them in the 30g. It would mean having them in with kribensis (m/f pair), 2 angels (1 adult and a juvenile), and 2 dwarf gourami, along with zebra danios. I'm a little nervous about the kribs/rams mix. Yes, this is an arguably aggressive little mix of fish! We also have a small plecko in there (yes, with a plan for future AND with a back-up to that plan).

Here is the third option I'm thinking... putting the dwarf gourami in the community tank and then getting some pearls AND rams. Would the rams do alright with pearls?

FYI---None of the fish I have in the 30 right now have reached anywhere near full size. Having said that, we'll be upgrading to at least a 40 or, ideally, a 55, within the next few months. I am currently over-filtering to a 55 but also realize I don't have a ton of extra room to work with currently so am considering this all, as well. Aquarium is moderately planted and also houses a large piece of drift wood. I guess I want to hear your thoughts on the mix of fish and then decide whether to move on it before or after the upgrade. I'm not in a big rush. I just enjoy the thinking and planning, to be honest!!!

Or, if this is a bad idea all around with the rams, then I leave things the way they are. We'd like to add some rosy barbs to the mix as well, somewhere down the road here. Again, just thinking and putting some ideas out there...

 

[Zimmanski]

Personally I think the 20 gallon may be better for the rams than the 30 gallon, but honestly I would highly suggest that you just wait until you upgrade before adding anything else. I would go for the 55 gallon too. Would you be keeping the 30 and 20 gallons along with your upgrade?

 

[Jantaris]

Thanks for your reply.
The thought is that we will upgrade our 30 to a 55 (hopeful hopeful hopeful!) and then considering using a 30 as a salt water tank. We're really not sure. We just know we want a bigger FW tank.

Our thoughts with the 20 is that before we would do anything, we'd look at trading some of our male live breeders in. We went a little enthusiastically with that. I think we'd want no more than 6 or 8 live breeders in there MAX (perhaps less), mainly females, and then add, say, 2 rams. And then there's the issue of the dwarf frog kiddo wants.
Again, this is no rush. It's all enjoying the planning and getting new ideas and advice. We are also so happy with how our own tanks are blossoming, and don't want to miss taking the time to enjoy that, as well...

 

[Zimmanski]

Is it a 20 long or standard 20g?

My concern, like yours, would be the rams/kribs mix. In a 55 it may work or it may not since they both are pretty territorial and can be aggressive when mating. Rivercats on here only has two pairs in her 220 gallon and she says she still sees squabbles from time to time. The 20g may work if you wanted to keep them separated but that depends on how many you remove from the 20, and I don't know what to make of the frog haha, no experience with them sorry.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

You would be fine with 2 rams, a dwarf frog, and 4-6 mollies/plattys in a 20 gallon. The rams would probably gobble up the LB fry though. The angel/krib tank is stocked in my opinion, if you add anything there might be serious territory issues in the near future as they grow. If you make it a 55 i wouldn't recommend adding pearls with dwarf gourami, they might not got a long. If you move the dwarfs to the 20 you couldn't add the rams to the 20. You could have the 20 gallon with dwarf gouramis, dwarf frog, and a 4-6 LBs. the 30 gallon with 2 rams, a pearl and a gold gourami, and a 5 cories, or 5 small tetras. Then the 55 with the Kirbs/ angels. Hows that?

 

[Jantaris]

Yes, those kribs can be quite the thing. Our female is still juvenile but our male can really get going. He keeps out of the way of the angels but he is definitely boss otherwise. He doesn't really go after anybody. The other fish just seem to know better when he comes and they quickly turn the other way.
Interestingly, this has really seem to come out with the addition of the driftwood. He got all of his beautiful colours around the same time. As the fish mature and as our tank matures, they do seem to be starting to make more stake for territory. Our dwarfs seem to be quite good friends. And the danios just dizzy themselves all day at the top of the tank. I think as the kribs mature, we may keep a breeding take on hand for them to avoid some of that aggression we may see toward the other fish.
And it all started with one tank, as it likely always does, right!!!??? Fantastic hobby, especially with some guidance and experience.

 

[Jantaris]

Thanks NYgiantsRP. That's definitely something to think about and is actually quite a good plan. We'll have to do some thinking. Thanks especially for the comments on the 20g with the rams and dg, but all of it was great.
I really appreciate everyone's feedback...

 

[Jantaris]

Oh, and we don't really mind the fry being eaten at this point. Having said that, I need to make some pro-active choices about what's already in there to keep that under control. Fry control is one thing. Fry massacre by being irresponsible about stocking is another and we don't wanna go there...

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Well if any fry survive you will be over stocked.

 

[Jantaris]

Very true. Yeah, we'll get working on this...

 

[Jantaris]

Oh, and when I say "irresponsible," I don't mean adding the rams. I mean being irresponsible about getting so many live bearers that the pop'n gets out of control and we do get way overstocked. Definitely think we need to fix that now...

 

[farnaby]

If you can get a proven pair and clear up some room in the 20g, I think the rams would work. If you can make it happen you'll not regret getting them, they're a great fish to keep.

 

[Jantaris]

Hi farnaby...
Genuinely interested in doing this now. And in your experiences. I'm sure each one is different but what are some of the traits you see in them that make them so good to keep? I was interested because they seem to be another gentler type of cichlid and they are really attractive fish. Beyond that, I didn't know much else...

 

[farnaby]

My Bolivians are just full of personality. I have 5 juvies right now (waiting on a pair to form) and they really do love to show off. They do peck at each other, but other than that they are great community fish. My older Bolivian does get cranky from time to time, but he's really harmless. My first one didn't eat for the first 11 days, but that aside, they're all hardy and healthy.