Thanks for your help so far..........
I see where bs6749 and beglely said that the rams and the clown loaches are a "no no". beglely even said that about rams and angels. WHY ?
bs6749, just to clarify this for me. When it comes tro rams that are blue there are only 2 kinds, Bolivian and German. Both have the blue color but they are completely different.
In another post I was told that the blue rams that I was wanting should definitely NOT be put into the 20 gallon with the large angel and the large gold rams.
Since I do not want to get rfid of the clown loaches, do yolu think that I can put the smaller blue rams (whether they are Bolivian or German) in with the larger Angel and the larger gold rams.
Thanks again for you help
Al
Rams and clown loaches and angelfish will all get along fine, but you have an overstocked tank with the clown loaches in there. If you get rid of the clown loaches that will free up some bottom space and rams are bottom to mid level swimmers.
Rams are territorial and that's why you couldn't put 2 pairs in a 20H tank, even if they were the only 4 fish in there. If it were a 20L you could easily do 2 pairs of rams.
There are two known species of rams. The first is Microgeophagus altispinosa, which is commonly known as the Bolivian ram or crown ruby ram. The other species of ram is Microgeophagus ramirezi and is commonly called a "blue ram". The term "ram" refers to the blue ram 95% of the time when it comes up in conversation. Other common names for the blue ram include: German blue ram, GBR, ram cichlid, Ramirez's cichlid, butterfly ram, among others. Most commonly the blue ram is referred to as a GBR, which is short for German blue ram. This term is misleading however since many of the blue rams seen in the trade come from Asia and are hormone ridden and inferior specimens which expire several months after you take them home. There IS a German strain of the ram, which is descended from the line bred in Germany from wild stock captured in the Orinoco River basin many decades ago. In fact, there are MANY strains of the blue ram that make it one of the most popular fish in this hobby.
Some of the available blue ram varieties include: wilds, Asian bred rams (stay away from these), GBR's (German blue rams), gold rams, balloon rams (stay away from these too), long finned blue rams, long finned gold rams, electric blue rams, and soon to come will be long finned electric blue rams once someone crosses them out. The Bolivian ram only comes in one variety.
Either way Boilvians or blue rams will be too much for your setup until you get rid of the clown loaches.
It makes a big difference as to whether or not they are German Blue Rams or Bolivian Rams. The GBR are very sensitive to stress of any kind and can die rather easily. I wouldn't put them in this tank. I may do the Bolivian Rams though, they are much more hardy than the GBR.
It makes no difference at all as they will defend the same amount of area. Blue rams aren't any more very sensitive than Bolivians. Both require the same routine water changes to stay healthy. Blue rams have been given a bad name because of the Asian breeders that pump them full of hormones for quicker coloration and growth and that is the real reason why they die. Hobbyists then suspect poor water conditions as the cause of demise, which is generally not the case. Bolivians aren't mass produced like the blue rams are as there isn't much of a demand for them so there is no need to expose Bolivans to hormones, making it seem like they are hardier than the blues.
