Golden Rams

[bunebop]

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you have or have had experience with golden rams? I saw some at my LFS and they are beautiful. I don't want to buy anything that has been dyed that color, but they are really gorgeous, but it was the first time I had ever seen (or heard of them), so I thought I'd ask you guys first. Are they similar to the blue and bolivian rams? I have had some (not good) experience with bolivian rams in the past, but I can't get these golden rams off my mind and was considering two for my betta tank (I've had a ram with him before and he was fine). I'm having trouble finding any information about them online. I did find one picture of one in someones tank (not on this website), but that was it. Thanks for any information! (compatability, sturdiness, etc would be apprieciated!)

 

[Billsgate]

Apparently the Golden Ram is just another variety. I found this little bit on a site:

There are several varieties of Rams. As mentioned above, the Singapore Ram is one of these. It gets a little larger than the Blue ram, is less colorful, and is not as hardy. The Golden ram is also a delicate fish, sporting a gold/yellow coloration. Then there is the popular Bolivian Ram (Papiliochromis altispinossa-Haseman, 1911) which is the largest and most robust of the Rams, and is known for taking better care of its eggs and fry.

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blue rams.html

HTH!

 

[dax29]

rams

I've seen them a bunch here and I tried some. They all died within a day or two but my water is hard and my pH is high so they didn't have much to work with. They died at the lfs too. I have found that their hardiness depends on the batch the lfs gets and where the batch came from. The lfs has had a couple that I've seen in their big display tank that have reached adult size and are still doing well. Those golden rams have been in that display tank for 6 months. So I guess what I'm saying is that the golden ram survivability is "luck of the draw". If you have soft water that is near neutral to acidic in pH that will help them too. I wish I had some but I won't buy another one b/c I think my water parameters don't suit them well. I do have some Bolivian rams that are doing quite well so I guess that is my "ram compromise".

 

[mattrox]

My ph is 7.2 and GH is about 10-13 (depending on the season) and I have healthy Rams......

I think it depends more on the source of the fish and how long youLFS has had them.... The longer the better coz they get to recover from the stress of shipping and start eating. A LFS that provides quality food is much better than one that uses cheap food to cut costs.

I did have one die but I think its backside got bit my my breeding Apistos and it got an infection........

 

[bunebop]

Thanks for the info. I have very soft water, but it's a very high pH and I do not want to mess with the pH with chemicals or antyhing like that. I actually may return my serpae tetra tomorrow Unfortunatly I'm pretty convinced that they have been the reason for my amazing number of killed fish (Including the majority of my rams) The one I had in my betta tank lasted a long time, but the others in the big tank did not, probably owing to them beating them up, which I've seen on numerous occassions (also the reason the tetra is in my betta tank) Because of their price and what you guys said about them I think I'm gonna hold off though. Thanks!!