Blue Ram with Cockatoo?

[twoodrough]

10 gallon - current residents cockatoo cichlid, zebra danio, dalamation sailfin molly, ruby barb

I have always love the GBRs but I am nervous about them being so delicate. I do 25%+ weekly water changes, feed every other day, and observe all the time. That is about all the work I want to put into my tank right now.

Question 1: Can I have these two cichlids together?

Question 2: Should I wait to add another fish until I lose one (or more) of the current ones? The zebra is almost 2 years old now, the other 3 are new and I hope will be around for a while.

A GBR is one of the fish I am considering, others I am considering are tougher, and I would be happy with them, but I would really love to have another GBR.

 

[maxwellag]

10 gallon - current residents cockatoo cichlid, zebra danio, dalamation sailfin molly, ruby barb

I have always love the GBRs but I am nervous about them being so delicate. I do 25%+ weekly water changes, feed every other day, and observe all the time. That is about all the work I want to put into my tank right now.

Question 1: Can I have these two cichlids together?

Question 2: Should I wait to add another fish until I lose one (or more) of the current ones? The zebra is almost 2 years old now, the other 3 are new and I hope will be around for a while.

A GBR is one of the fish I am considering, others I am considering are tougher, and I would be happy with them, but I would really love to have another GBR.

I don't think rams or cockatoo cichlids should be in a 10 gallon tank. They get a little too big (ram over 3 inches, cockatoo over 4). A pair of one of those species might work alone in that tank, but with the current stocking I don't think it will. When breeding, both of these fish get aggressive and will chase away other fish. There is no where to chase them in a 10G, though. LOL. The tank seems stocked IMO. The zebra danios and ruby barb need a bigger tank for more swimming room. The platy could use a bigger tank too, but it should be ok if you have enough filtration. Are you expecting the zebra danio to die after only 2 years? Most fish can live 5+ years in a well maintained tank. Rams and cockatoos can be together, in a big enough tank. Maybe like 40 gallons. You could try to rehome other fish like the danio and molly, but IMO those two cichlids are not a good option for a 10 gallon. There are shell dwelling cichlids that you could have, but they are a little hard to find. There are also nano fish like chili rasboras.

 

[bs6749]

A 10g tank is fine for a breeding pair of either rams or apistos if they are the only inhabitant. I've even done a trio of triple reds in a 10g before. Just provide some clay pots for each fish to get away from the others and you are good. I wouldn't add anything to your current setup. I would also recommend getting a sexed pair of rams if you think about keeping them. They exhibit many more behaviors to see when you keep them in sexed pairs.

 

[maxwellag]

Just make sure you have enough hiding places if you are going to do just rams or just cockatoos.