German Blue Ram Discussion

[rubysoho]

Just out of curiosity, what are the goals of everyone who has added to, or will be adding to this discussion? Being able to keep healthy rams? Are you planning on breeding? Or is it something else?

 

[mumrah]

i had/have intentions of breeding, but unless i can soften my water, i doubt that will happen.

 

[africamonk]

Pacific Aquarium & Plant Inc
46 Delancey Street, New York, NY 10002
(212) 995-5895

theres a place on Mulberry st. between Broome st. & Grand st..... they have Rams there thats been in hte tanks for awhile, you guys might want to check them out ..... as for Pacific, i have not seen rams there for awhile ..... HTH

 

[gheitman]

Here's a link to my gallery where you can see my angelfish in a full size picture.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8891

 

[rubysoho]

gheitman, have you ever had problems between angels and blue rams? I'm wondering if my now breeding pair of angels are complicating things for the ram(s).

 

[gheitman]

I have not had blue rams and angels in the same tank so I don't know how well they would get along. My rams are very aggressive towards each other compared to other fish that I have kept. I intend to put my rams in a completely different tank from the ones the angels are in. I do intend to try and breed the rams. I won't remove them from quarantine for about three more weeks though.

 

[rubysoho]

cool, thanks...

anyone else ever kept angels with rams? I have them in the same tank now and though I do not see anything suspicious, I am beginning to wonder if they could be an added stress to the rams.

Also, this might be bad news for me. The male I purchased probably 3 to 4 weeks ago is not acting quite right. He has taken to hiding in my amazon swords near the filter intake. I tried to entice him today with some blood worms but he only went after the few that fell in his area.

 

[Jchillin]

gheitman, have you ever had problems between angels and blue rams? I'm wondering if my now breeding pair of angels are complicating things for the ram(s).

I have angels (3) and Rams (4) co-habitating in my 75 gal and they are the most friendliest of tankmates.

BTW, every website I've seen have suggested angels and rams as tankmates for SA biotope river themes.

 

[rubysoho]

yeh, I know they were suggested tank mates, but it was just something I was looking at.

 

[Meredith]

Just out of curiosity, what are the goals of everyone who has added to, or will be adding to this discussion? Being able to keep healthy rams? Are you planning on breeding? Or is it something else?

My goal at this point is just to keep them alive. When I got them I just wanted some cool fish for my tank. I would LOVE it if I could breed them. I am not sure they will spawn in the water I have, but they are doing so well I don't want to mess with the water chemistry at all.

 

[newhobbist]

Pacific Aquarium & Plant Inc
46 Delancey Street, New York, NY 10002
(212) 995-5895

Thanks, that's the store I was writing about.

 

[gheitman]

While angelfish and rams may usually get along well together in a single tank, I don't know how well they would do when one species is spawning.

 

[Jchillin]

Good point Gene...no, if you're planning on having any one of them spawn, being together will result in lots of eaten fry.

 

[Jchillin]

Just out of curiosity, what are the goals of everyone who has added to, or will be adding to this discussion? Being able to keep healthy rams? Are you planning on breeding? Or is it something else?

Rubysoho, the topic of the thread began with this:

I got the idea from BrianNY who initiated a thread regarding discus. Since German Blue (and most other Rams) have a history of premature demise, I thought folks who keep Rams could come here to discuss their experiences.

A number of posts were made about Rams dying off suddenly, including mine, and I thought it would be a good idea to see what other members have experienced...share their thoughts, run the gamut from the LFS to the home and beyond. I did some research prior to beginning the thread (the link I posted from 1994 is one of many that I've seen). The goal of the thread is to determine why this problem exists. There is a common denominator that may be uncovered through discussion.

 

[rubysoho]

I was reading yesterday and I found some information about imported rams being packed with hormones so that their colors would be brighter to make up for the mass production and weak genetic... wish I could find it again so I could link it. This was mainly about the gold rams because they are sometimes not as colorful as the blue.

 

[gheitman]

rubysoho - I read the same thing. I thought it might have been a letter in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine but I can't find it.

I've had bad luck in the past with German blue rams but I think I know more now about what I should be doing. I also am very careful about putting my fish into quarantine before I release them in one of my regular tanks so that they can be more closely observed and treated if necessary.

 

[rubysoho]

gheitman, what is it you do differently now than before, aside from the quarantine?

Also, in general, these internal parasite that rams seem to be succeptable to... do they actually come from our own tanks or do the rams bring them and then eventually die? And, if they bring the parasites the first time, is it possible that every ram after that could get those parasites from being in the same tank? If that can happen, what needs to be done to prevent the spread. Are other fish not succeptible to these same parasites? Or would the health of the other fish be an indicator that the parasites aren't able to spread?

Hehe, sorry for the entire paragraph of questions.

 

[gheitman]

I try and learn from my mistakes (and boy is that a lot of learning). As I mentioned earlier I quarantine all of my newly obtained fish for three to four weeks (this takes a lot of patience). If you add new fish during the quarantine period then you have to start the quarantine period over at the beginning. If you keep a quarantine tank don't forget to use separate equipment for that tank (i.e. dip net, siphon, etc.). Otherwise you may inadvertantly transmit the very diseases you are trying to prevent. I am also religious about weekly partial water changes and cleaning the tanks. The quarantine tank gets water changes even more frequently than my other tanks. I monitor the water parameters more closely than I used to and I have tanks that I would consider to be under stocked.

I'm not an expert on tropical fish diseases by any stretch of the imagination but I believe parasites can come in the rams or be present in your other fish and be spread to the rams. The stress of moving fish can weaken their immune systems and make them more susceptible to disease. Putting fish in quarantine helps prevent the spread of parasites and other diseases from your new fish to the ones you already have.

If you really want to learn more about this I suggest reading either the "Handbook of Fish Diseases" by Dieter Untergasser or "The Manual of Fish Health" by Chris Andrews et al. The first book has 21 charts covering almost 50 pages that step you through diagnosing and treating fish diseases. The second book was first published in 1988 and was just released in a new edition in 2003 (I have the first edition).

 

[Jchillin]

This was discussed on page 2 of this thread (see the link posted).

 

[rubysoho]

jchillin, are you speaking of the hormones or the internal parasites? I checked page two and I didn't find the link you mentioned but I did find one on page 1 (could have been a typo or my sleepy self missed it on page two). which are you referring to? And sorry if I just missed something completely obvious.