German Blue Ram Discussion

[Jchillin]

*Note: The thread "German Blue Ram Discussion" has grown to immense proportions since it's inception last year. If anyone wishes to read through the entire thread, it can be found Here

In the meantime, the discussion can continue as I will include some pertinent posts from the thread here.

Thanks to all that have participated.


*Fixed link* -QTOFFER-

 

[Jchillin]

*Reposted from May 29, 2005*

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.

I'll start with mine:

My first two German Blues I got were sometime around the 10th of April of this year. I got them from a reliable and clean LFS, so I didn't have any worries about their health in the stock tank.

I acclimated them for 45 minutes, adding my tank water at 15 minute intervals.

When they entered the tank, they immediately went to the bottom and found a hiding place. They stayed together during their entire stay.

They did not eat (or I did not see them eating) for about 4 days. After the 5th day, they did eat...even chowed on some green peas. After day 6, the first one was found dead by my wife. The next day, the other was dead as well.

I didn't give up on them and decided two weeks ago to give it another try. I got 4 from a different LFS (recommended by another AA member). This time, I tried a different acclimation procedure. I floated the bag only, then netted them out and into the tank.

So far, they are doing quite well, even though initially they assumed the same behavior as the originals however, they began eating after day two (even though they'd rather pick food off the rocks rather than joining their tankmates either at mid-level or the surface).

I've also decided to clock their progress in 1/2 hour intervals so I can see any potential signs of problems.

 

[Zagz]

I want them Can't find them anywhere near here.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The lfs here has bunches of them....

 

[rich311k]

I have never seen a live one.

 

[Zagz]

The lfs here has bunches of them....

Sure rub it in.

 

[Zagz]

Is it just me but when I click the link for the original thread I get a thread called PlantXchange?

 

[frenchpea2002]

well, I posted toward the end that I got a few of them. I started with 4, 2 died about 2-3 days later while still in QT, so I replaced the two of them, and the ones I replaced them with were so different the the original 4. They colored up, were active, ate readily, and soon my original 2 were taking fresh brine, and I thought all was good... So naive! about a week after I added the two new ones, I noticed a few white specks on one of the rams. Pretty soon, it was full blown Ich! I moved the temp up to 82 (was previously at 80) which is as far as my heater will go, did an 80% pwc and treated with QuickCure. the next day one was dead, and they slowly died off in the next few days. I also lost my kuhlis that were QTed with them. Ironically, my two common male guppies that live in there permanently never seemed to be affected. They never even had spots on them!

I wasn't sure where the Ich came from, since I carefully studied the tanks they came from as well as the rest of the tanks in the store, and there was no sign of ich. Nothing new had been added to the tank aside from the rams too. Well, I stopped by the lfs today just to see, and sure enough, the tank with the rams was infested with ich. It's been a hard few weeks, with the uncertainty, then everything seemed to be going well, and then disaster. :? It was sad watching these beautiful, friendly fish die like that.

My QT is back to just the original inhabitants (the 2 male guppies and 2 ADF) and I'll wait a few more weeks before I try again!

 

[QTOFFER]

I fixed the link, JChillin and Zagz.

 

[TrickyD119]

I've had fairly good luck with GBRs

I have a moderately planted 29g with pressurized CO2 injection that had a beautiful pair of rams in it. I had them for a few months together when I noticed them spawning in a clay pot one afternoon. Of course the next morning all of the eggs were gone, I suppose either they ate them themselves because they weren't going to hatch or a cory got them, but no more than a few days later the female was floating. The male is still kicking to this day though.

I have a pair in a 20gL that have spawned multiple times and I don't do anything with that tank other than weekly 50% water changes.

I recently setup a 55g heavily planted with pressurized CO2 and I've got three in there hoping that a pair will form. They all look great and have been eating since day two and I got those from a Petco.

I've had even better luck with Bolivian Rams, but they aren't quite as cool.

I do always do a slow assimilation, put them in a bowl and slow drip until I hit 50/50 old/new water and drain down to 1/3 and fill it back to 100% again with tiny bit of air being pumped into the water the entire time and always put them in with the lights off. Might be overdoing it some but I've had good results.

They are stocked everywhere around here though.

 

[nomadofthehills]

When I start college this August, I plan on setting up a ten gallon with some GBRs... hope that will go well

 

[maxwell1295]

I've been looking at pics of GBRs for a while, but saw them in-person for the first time yesterday. They are beautiful! It'll be a while before I'm ready for them though. I've got my 30g tank cycling (with fish), so that will take forever and the new 10g tank doesn't even have water in it yet (just picked it up today). I guess that will give me more time to study up before I get them. My birthday is in mid-March so that would be a nice gift I could pick up for myself.

 

[Skyrmir]

Zagz, I dunno where your at in Canada, but if there's a Big Al's in the area, they can order them in for you. There's probably 60 or so sitting here at thier US store and they only opened this place to supply thier Canadian stores.

Almost forgot to add, 2 of my 4 rams actually came to the surface to feed today! They seem to be getting along well so far. I'm not sure if they're picking out territories, although certain ones do seem to be hanging out in certain area's fairly often. And I did catch a couple of them chasing each others tails and generally rubbing against each other, so I figure they're feeling each other out and deciding if they want to pair up or establish dominance. They're colors seem to be coming in better too, the shiny blue scales are brighter and the pink/red belly spots seem more prominent. I'm not seeing much in the way of yellow or the light blue's, but that might have to do with my lighting/decor being fairly dim and red shifted.

 

[workfortheman]

I also posted at the end of the monster thread, and promised a *picture*

Unfortunately, all I could get was this one with my not-so-fancy easyshare:
http://www.ernestjohn.com/images/fish/01-30-2006 031.jpg

As for updates, the first 2/3 days the rams were swimming around the glass, looked very colorful and were quite playful. They all took frozen brine, voraciously!

Now, they are much more subdued (color and behavior) and hang around low in the plant cover. When I fed yesterday (FBS again) I only really saw two of them, and they immediately went back under the "brush" where I can't see them. I can kinda see them swimming around and chasing each other. I guess I'm gonna need to trim the plants if I want to observe closely. . .

Actually, I think they are just establishing their territories, so I'll probably just let them go at it for now before messing with the tank

I too had a couple choices of where to get them! very lucky.

 

[Zagz]

Unfortunately I am no where near a Big Al's. No one has any near here and my normal online fish store doesn't regularily carry them but is looking into ordering them for me.

 

[Jim Dandy]

workfortheman: you may be able to get a better picture if your camera has a macro setting. Usually the icon for this is a flower. It lets the camera focus on things that are close up- one to three feet away.

 

[Jchillin]

Have you seen WFTM's webpage? He may know a thing or two about photography.

 

[jrp1588]

*sigh* just had a second death. Ich has suddenly swept through my 30gal and taken him out. Over a few days I increased my temp to 85. Sadly I don't think this is the fish for me

 

[Cooter]

Eggs???

Just did a pwc, and then went down to dinner. Came back up to check on the fish, and low and behold, I have a batch of eggs. I am assuming it is the Gold Ram, since she is chasing everybody away, including me (snail relocation), has been in the tank for 10 days, no male ram, at least not that I know of. What do I do? Let the eggs lie there and see what happens.

Tank inhabitants, 5 neon tetras, 2 SAE, 1 YoYo Loach, 1 German Gold Ram, multiple snails (free from lfs on plants), moderate to heavily planted.

See Ram Eggs

 

[Meredith]

anyone notice their mail gbrs becoming more aggressive with age? I am having a green spot issue in my tank and I was in there pruning leaves today. My male has been hanging out over the heater a lot and the plants I was pruning are right there. He absolutely would not leave me alone. He kept charging my hand. I turned the heater around thinking there might be some eggs. Nope, just more green spot. I have also noticed he is chasing the female a lot. Do you think another female in a 20g would be too much? I am hoping to take some of the pressure off my girl, but I dont know how badly another female will stress her out.