Ram Cichlids

[curbyzcul]

Right I bought a pair of Rams (one male one female), looked around on the Internet (more!) and some places are saying they should be kept at one pH, some places another (ranging from 5 through to 8!!!!). I could do with some opinions from people who have successfully kept them. The fish store owner said that they are babies, and as such there is not much colour in them at the moment. My pH is 7, and am worried about them dying. What pH can they successfully be kept at?

 

[curbyzcul]

Oh btw they are German, if that helps.

 

[AtodaJ]

7 is just fine. Don't worry about that PH. Enjoy!

 

[TankGirl]

At least for me, Germans are trickier to keep healthy. My water tends to be on the slightly hard, alkaline side, higher than yours, so I prefer to stick to Bolivians, which tend to be hardier, but that might be a situation here in the States that you don't have there.

However, with a pH of 7 you should be in good shape. I would definitely avoid messing with your pH in an effort to try to lower it for them, because it is hard to keep it stable when you do that and the fluctuations are much harder on them than adapting to your water. If your LFS water is similar to yours then they should do just fine. Enjoy them, they are one of my favorites.

 

[bungle]

I would definitely avoid messing with your pH in an effort to try to lower it for them, because it is hard to keep it stable when you do that and the fluctuations are much harder on them than adapting to your water.

TG, does this opinion include the addition of peat in order to lower PH? i'm asking because i may face a similar situation and want to know before i go and put peat in my filter. gracias

 

[Menagerie]

Peat is natural and safer than the chemicals. Plus peat in the filter comes in contact with all the water as it filters.
The drawback is when you add tap water with the higher pH. I suggest only a 20% change at a time.

 

[bungle]

which would also mean a higher frequency of water changes, correct?

 

[AtodaJ]

Just to throw my 2 cents in. Yes that would mean smaller water changes but what happens if you have a huge ammonia spike or some other disaster that requires you to change more water... like 50%? Using Peat assumes you'll never have a major water parameter problem and I just think that is unrealistic. Just an opinion.

 

[patryuji]

You can still handle a bigger water change. Just don't use your python and dump the water in fast. Get a bucket, take a small silicone "air" hose and syphon the water from the bucket into the filter through the peat (unless you have a canister filter...) and slowly refill. That should allow a more incremental change in pH and the new water passing directly through the peat will be "peat filtered" right away.

Since my tap is 7.4pH and my tank is 6.6-6.7pH (CO2 induced) I always slowly refill my tank with the new water aimed directly at the CO2 bubble counter. Of course my water is also very soft and drops in pH very fast...but I do about a 30-35 percent water change every week.

 

[Menagerie]

which would also mean a higher frequency of water changes, correct?

Not necessarily. If the tank isn't overstocked, once a week should be just fine. Rams are not as messy as their larger relatives.

 

[curbyzcul]

cool- thanx everyone. Generally I'm quite lucky with my water, as many people complain of having high level of nitrate etc. Straight out of the tap its pH 7, 0ppm of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Not sure about hardness though (but we do have limescale so I think it might be slightly on the hard side).

 

[TankGirl]

To my way of thinking, peat in the filter is a much better idea than using products to alter the pH (pH Up, pH Down, etc.) and is a similar treatment to the way I buffer my African tank by adding crushed coral to my filter. Water changes have a remarkably minimal affect on the pH and KH, but that is frequent/minimal rather than less frequent/larger water changes.

Another consideration is to use RO water mixed with tap when you do water changes. You gotta be careful and consistent, but it will do the trick as well.

 

[Guest]

German Rams like clean stable water. I've got a pair of Germans in a PH of 7 tank. For the sake of simplicity you might not want to use the peat in filter. A PH of 7 is fine. A constant , stable PH is more important than the "perfect PH".

I do 25% WC's every other day, only cause I have Discus in the tank. Depending on how big a tank your Rams are in, filtration, fish load in the tank etc..... you should be able to get by with a weekly WC. However, if your tank is small or heavily stocked, you'll have to do more frequent WC's and GV's to keep Amon, Nitra and fish poop down to exceptible leaves for the Rams to thrive. A good filter helps as well.

Juvie Rams can be very difficult to sex when young. They are very small and not much color. You sure the fish store sold you a male and female?

Rams are great fish. You'll enjoy them more and more the older they get. They have a great personality and colors.