New German Blue Rams ***Pics now available***

[Meredith]

I traded my bully angel today, for a pair of blue rams. Actually I got credit for the angel, it wasn't a straight trade. They are pretty small, I would say about an inch long. One is bigger than the other. Their color has faded a lot on the trip home. I have them floating in the tank, dropping in a few tbl spoons of water in every ten min or so. I am going to wait until they get settled before I take pics. Wish me luck.

[zilla870]

one little hint when i added my blue. mine are doing great by the way day 12. make sure the lights stay off in the tank will you do the acculimate of them and after you add them leave the light off for another 3 hours. jmo. congrats on the new guyz

P.S. i put some ick med in the tank ever 2 days for the first week.

[Jchillin]

Ya Meredith, zilla is correct about the lights out method. My new Rams are doing so much better than the ones I recently lost with that method.

Congratulations on your new babies!

*We can compare notes now

[zilla870]

this new group i got are not doing the loosing color thing like the last group since i did this method with the light out. 2 male and 1 female. i have alot of fun watching them. especially the 2 male fighting and chaseing each other to see who the female will choice. i think she like both of them for now.

[Meredith]

I released them into the tank about three hours ago. The lights will stay off until tomorrow. It looks like their color is coming back, yea! But they are still breathing really hard. I had them acclimating for about an hour, adding tank water every few minutes. I hope they do ok. I really love these little guys! Are they too small yet to tell the sex? Because they look identical to me except one is a little smaller / thinner.

[zilla870]

in the morning look at their belly and fin. if one has a pinkish colored belly its mostly a female and male have longer fins

[Jchillin]

From Fishprofiles:

The male's front dorsal fin rays are much longer than the female's, forming the telltale "spike." The dorsal fin of the male also tends to have a pointed shape near the caudal fin, where the female's is more rounded. Females are smaller and have a reddish tinge on their pelvic regions, especially when getting ready to spawn. Also, the black spot on the side of the female blue ram may have irridescent blue spangles throughout, and the male's tends to be solid black.

[Meredith]

wonderful! thanks They seem to be doing ok so far. I just checked on them again, and they are picking at things on the sand, looking for food I guess.

[zilla870]

just a warning on them if they start swim on the bottom of the tank to much with belly touching or swim on top trying to get air from surface to long. they may end up like my first bunch i got. i would do daily water changes. that is one thing i did different with my 2nd bunch. for the first week.

[Meredith]

AHH! I never thought of that, it's a good idea. Thanks! The smaller one seems to like to rest on the driftwood. And they have split up and are sticking to different parts of the tank.