Blue Rams?

[tmac85]

Hi,
I have a 3 month old setup fully cycled, this is also my first foray into fishkeeping.
my setup is as follows-
125lt (33 US Gallons) Jewel tropical aquarium (internal filter, pump and heater)
25 degrees Celsius (77 fahrenheit)
1 large piece of bogwood
3 small plants
11 Cardinal Tetra
5 Glowlight Danios
6 Guppys
3 Sterbae Corydoras

I am looking for a couple of larger fish (acknowledging that my current stock will grow) to add to my setup to give contrast and hopefully encourage the cardinals to shoal together. I was looking at German Blue Rams for this since others have said that they are good community fish and they are very attractive. I would very much appreciate any advice or comment on my current stock and what larger fish you think would be good.

Thanks

 

[SKB]

Welcome to the forum!! I am not sure about stocking of any of those fish, so mostly I commented to bump your post up. I know German Blue Rams would definitely be a beautiful center piece fish. Unfortunately, they are not hardy fish and can be touchy when it comes to water chemistry. Im not saying you couldn't, just saying they aren't the easiest to start out with.

That's all the information I can give! A lot of people on here ive seen know about GBR's, you will here some more info soon im sure!

 

[Old Scales]

I have seen many Ram keepers talk about how they are Nitrate sensitive. One lady who is very experienced posts in here regularly. She said with Rams, you need to keep your nitrates at or below 10ppm for them to be happy. Many people in here have great success with them. Luck, OS.

 

[bshenanagins]

What she said ^. Water parameters are critical for rams, and sometimes their inability to thrive is something that's out of your control. Only introduce them to a well cycled tank, although SOME, and this is a significant minority who have successfully cycled with them. Almost everyone would recommend against this so don't do it lol. Plants, and caves are a good idea in order to give them a sense of security and cover from other fish. Back to water chemistry, I cannot stress enough that you need to pay attention to nitrates. While most people follow the 25% WC a week, depending on your water quality you may have to change it more than once a week so if you don't already have it I suggest getting the API test kit. I know I'm leaving things out and other more experienced ram members will chime in, but don't get discouraged if they don't pan out right away. Even the most experienced aquarists struggle to care for these fish. GL

 

[Rivercats]

GBR's prefer warmer temps so you'd need to up your tank to at least 78F and preferably 80F. Rams are nitrate sensitive and keeping it below 20ppm is a must with 10ppm being ideal IMO. GBR's also do best in a mature tank that IMO should be about 6 months old. By this time a tanks water chemistry has stablilized which is important to ram keeping. Lastly alot of the reason rams today have issues is due to the fact that many are imported from Asian fisheries that mass produce and use hormones to induce early intense coloring. If you can find GBR's produced in the US you tend to have much better luck with them thriving. Their life span is only about 3 years so that needs to be taken into account also. I buy all my rams from Oddballfish.com as they breed their own and have color morphs also.

 

[busbybutt]

My rams seem to love the plants, so a planted tank may be helpful to see them thrive?

 

[bshenanagins]

I got some juveniles from a breeder on aquabid for a good deal, his username is joegargas he breeds gold and blue rams. Good guy I would recommend him.

 

[Rivercats]

A planted tank is indeed the best when keeping rams as it not only makes them feel more secure but it helps bring out their best color.

 

[bshenanagins]

I second that motion mine are still young yet but show great color. The safer and more secure they feel the healthier and more vibrantly colored they will be.