worried about my rams

[mumrah]

I have a pair of german blue rams by themselves in a 10g. It seems everytime i see them, they have dark vertical stripes all along their bodies. This is a sign of stress i believe, but i cant figure out what is stressing them so bad.

Is it my ph? The pH in that tank stays around 7.6 and the kH is around 8dkH.

ammonia is 0ppm and nitrate stays between 10 and 15. There are plenty of live plants in there, and recenlty i added some duckweed to filter the light for them.

Any thoughts?
-David

 

[Jchillin]

David...are you speaking of the dark black bands around the mouth and body (should be @ three)?

This is normal...in some GBR's, the bands are lighter to the eye and in others, it is very distinct.

Of the four I have, three of them have it and the final one has a very light coloring.

BTW, your parameters are excellent.

A good sign to look for in regard to stress is the dorsal fins...when stressed, they will keep them absolutely still and they assume a rigid stance.

 

[mumrah]

i'm not sure how many there are, i'll have to see when i get home.

My goal is to make them as happy as possible so they'll hopefully spawn. As soon as it arrives in the mail, i'll be using some RO water in thier weekly %20 pwc.

These things should come with a disclaimer!

 

[Jchillin]

The bands should get progressively lighter from front to back.

Here's a pic as example of what I stated above:

The GBR on the top has light bands, while the one on the bottom is much darker.

 

[rubysoho]

if the bands are mainly the only color showing then they are stressed. To know this, they will look pale everywhere else. For comparison, you see Jchillin's with good yellow and blue coloring. If your fish are stressed, then perhaps you have two males who have been disputing over territory at night when you aren't watching.

Also, how long have you had these rams?

 

[talloulou]

my rams coloring. In the picture they look like they have similar colors but in reality one is usually much lighter than the other one. And the lighter ones coloring seems to change intensity at different times while the other one is always brillant. One has a much blacker biigger mohawk as well.

 

[talloulou]

oops posted picture twice sorry! Anyway I think I have a male/female. However sometimes I do wonder if I have two males and one dominates the other causing the others colors to fade.Ttey don't fight except the occasional lip locking stand off and they swim together all the time. The one that is more faded doesn't seem to be stressed.

 

[mumrah]

yea, then mine are definently stressed. they are colorless except for the bands.

The wierd thing is this comes and goes. Sometimes they have normal coloring, sometimes not.

 

[rubysoho]

hmmm... so how long have you had them? I suggest you feed them an antibacterial food (or was it antiparasite?? someone please correct me) if you have not had them for very long (lets say under two months). I would leave the lights off for now so they feel more secure and then after a few days turn the light back on. Take this suggestion with a grain of salt because I really don't know what is going on with your rams, just speculating.

 

[mumrah]

i'll try reducing the amount of time the light is on. The male i've had for months, and the female is a new addition. They paired up themselves among 2 males and 2 females total, so i know they're not bothering each other.