What is Rams temperment like?

[Angel_fish]

I have a blank slate 75 gallon tank. There is 7 caves for them, but id like to do a community tank with angel fish. What could i expect from rams?

 

[Zimmanski]

I have a blank slate 75 gallon tank. There is 7 caves for them, but id like to do a community tank with angel fish. What could i expect from rams?

They're pretty peaceful fish, although they will probably set up small territories and if something they could throw a fit. They're not really equipped to do much damage though, I've seen my male throw a couple pretty big fits because my clown loach was looking for food in the rams territory, but no harm done, the CL just swam away. Shouldn't be an issue with angels though since they're more middle to top swimmers, I have angels in my tank too, its also a 75

 

[Angel_fish]

Oh cool. I figure 7 caves is more then enough for just three. How are they on plants? Do they rip them up?

 

[Zimmanski]

Oh cool. I figure 7 caves is more then enough for just three. How are they on plants? Do they rip them up?

Not at all, I don't have caves but they use the plants as cover and their homes. I have them in a fairly heavily planted tank

 

[ribboneel33]

Well, recently I had 2 rams together in a 20 gallon tank. They were still young when I bought them so I figured that they'd be fine. Yet on Monday one of them beat the other so badly that I put it in a bag took it to my LFS and had them take care of it untill it died. Even in a big tank I wouldnt recommend more than 2 pairs. All of one gender could be aggressive, so try to avoid it

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I have five In my 36, 2 males and 3 females. It's got lots of plants and they all do great along with rainbows and some other tetras

 

[ribboneel33]

I guess I just wasn't lucky to get good rams

 

[Zimmanski]

I dont think 2 pairs is too much for a 75 gallon tank, but every fish is different and since you said you wanted three rams there no problem at all with that, try your best for 1m:2f. I have 1 male, 2 females, and one undecided ram in my tank and everyone is fine

 

[Rivercats]

The thing with GBR's is they tend to get more aggressive with age especially if they pair. I started out with 11 in a very very heavily planted 220g and over the course of a year I have gone down to having 2 pairs and there are still aggression between pairs. I've kept them for years and like all cichlids they all have different aggression levels. Also just because you put a male and female together doesn't mean they will accept each other and pair bond. In this instance it's not uncommon when this happens for the male to killl the female. Having a very heavily planted tank is the best thing for rams and IMO the bigger the tank the better. I don't suggest keeping more than one pair per tank unless it is very large and heavily planted.