German Blue Ram - by JChillin

[ashepler]

Nice profile.

My brother and I started with 8 GBR in our 75g community tank and waited for pairing to begin. Once we noticed a pair we either moved them to another tank or waited until after the spawning to move. From the original 8, we have had 3 pair lay a total of 5 batches of eggs. We weren't quite prepared for this and have not had the ideal setup in place. From these spawns we have roughly 20 fry at different stages.

I would like to hear from someone with experience raising the fry, perhaps someone could add more info regarding the water chemistry, feeding and setup used to successfully rear these very small fry (at multiple stages).

[DragonFish71]

GBR's (german blue rams) are gentle for cichlids. They get along with fish like neons, so your lemon tetras shouldn't be an issue. The problem could be with the angel, gourami, and barbs as they can be fin nippers. Now, on the other side of the coin, those lil GBRs are pretty fiesty so it could work out fines. You said it's well planted, are there any caves for them to hide in? They do like that.

Now, on to the down side of GBR's, and I can speak from experience. They are hard to keep alive. My boyfriend and I have gone through more than I care to count since we started with them back in Feb. They are picky about their water, it must be clean. But they are also very sensitive to changes in their water. They like a low ph but can adapt if acclimated properly. So far the batch we got last week is still alive and spawned last night.


Once you get through all the other issues, they live past the first month/ month and a half, they should be ok. But be prepared for mysterious deaths. It happens alot with them.

They are very beautiful fish and fun to watch if you have a pair that decides to mate. They flutter at each other and rub against each other, next thing you know you have eggs on a flat surface.

[StarryEyedTiGeR]

Originally Posted by DragonFish71

GBR's (german blue rams) are gentle for cichlids. They get along with fish like neons, so your lemon tetras shouldn't be an issue. The problem could be with the angel, gourami, and barbs as they can be fin nippers. Now, on the other side of the coin, those lil GBRs are pretty fiesty so it could work out fines. You said it's well planted, are there any caves for them to hide in? They do like that.

Now, on to the down side of GBR's, and I can speak from experience. They are hard to keep alive. My boyfriend and I have gone through more than I care to count since we started with them back in Feb. They are picky about their water, it must be clean. But they are also very sensitive to changes in their water. They like a low ph but can adapt if acclimated properly. So far the batch we got last week is still alive and spawned last night.


Once you get through all the other issues, they live past the first month/ month and a half, they should be ok. But be prepared for mysterious deaths. It happens alot with them.

They are very beautiful fish and fun to watch if you have a pair that decides to mate. They flutter at each other and rub against each other, next thing you know you have eggs on a flat surface.

Thankyou for the info! It's very helpful! I think my biggest reason to hesitate is the fragility and low life expectancy of them. That's my biggest concern. Everything I've come across so far seems to talk about how fragile they are and how easily they die. I'm still trying to decide I want to chance it or not. They're gorgeous fish! I just don't want them to die off on me eithor though.

The tank is pretty well planted and there are also lots of stone caves (varying sizes/etc) for them to hide in. As far as my cherry barbs go, they typically keep to themselves (and sometimes school with my glofish lol!) I've never seen them nip at my other fish, so thankfully they aren't concerning me too much. My blue powder dwarf gourami also keeps to himself and seems to be very peaceful thus far. The angel fish is also gentle around the others and has actually started shooling off and on with my lemon tetras (random!). She hides sometimes too (like now for instance, I can't find the heifer anywhere in my tank!). So far everything in my tank seems to be peaceful..so hopefully if I did decide on the rams, they'll get along.

[DragonFish71]

You might also try the Bolivian rams. I've heard from others that they are stronger and much easier to keep alive. To me they aren't quite as beautiful, but that could also be at the LFS they aren't showcased properly. No fish is IMO.

[beglely]

I started with 4 german blues back in august. They did fairly well at first and the older pair of the group tried to spawn within a week. Either the spawning went bad, they ate the eggs, or my catfish had a late-night snack, but I couldnt find any eggs the next morning. All the fish did well for the first month and a half and then slowly started kicking the bucket. It usually went the same for all the fish-their color would darken considerably and they would become very sedentary. At that point it was a matter of time until they died. Very beautiful fish and fun to watch, but hard to keep alive. If you get a pair to spawn I would recommend you keep as many spawn alive as possible in case the parents go downhill. Im planning on trying again with some more in a few weeks or months (depends on if Im moving in january or not--dont want to mess with transporting a fish a couple of hours that is notorious for dying). If you are up to the challenge and work i would give it a go. just dont be distraught at a few losses

[Bige]

Great profile. Looks like you put a lot of work into this. Good job. Great fish too. Are there other colors? I thought I saw a red one the other day. But kids distracted me from asking.

[DragonFish71]

Bige,

There are different ones. There's:

Golds: the males have an orange capped head, females have some orange, bodies are mainly a very pretty yellow.

German Blues: Which are the most beautiful IMO. Mixture of iridescent blues, blacks, yellows, reds

Electric Blues: I have yet to see these in person, but the pictures look great. Very vibrant blue, some had black.

Bolivian rams: IMO not as colorful, but that could have been how they were housed at the LFS. Even pictures don't seem to show much. But it looks like they have some orange or red hues, lighter shades of blue and some black.

Balloon rams: A hybrid of angelfish and German blues. Personally I don't like them. Color of a German blue, body more like an angelfish.

And I've seem another one at my LFS but can't remember what they called it. It looked a lot like a Bolivian color wise but had a sharper face.

[Bige]

Thanks for the info. I guess I never paid attention to the differences. I had some a few years ago and they were called "rams". They were mostly blue.