GBR Agression

[DeirdreHoyle]

Hi guys, I have a male/female pair of German blue rams in a 25 gal. I've had them for about 6 months and they've always gotten along great. I recently had an issue with crazy high nitrates because I was overfeeding frozen food :/ so I cut down a lot on food and I'm down to 15 ppm.
The problem is, now the male GBR is being really agressive toward the female and sometimes to the other fish in the tank. He chases the female any time he sees her and she's pretty pale and stressed and sometimes he goes after the neons pretty agressively too. I don't know if this is related to me feeding less but it's the only thing that's changed recently. What can I do here?

Stock:
6 neons
6 harlequin rasboras
5 kuhlis
1 clown pleco
2 GBRs
Snails

Medium planted

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[zer0signal]

I would make sure i have lots of little caves and nooks and crannies for the female to escape out of sight. It could also be a sign that the male wants to mate, and is harassing the female. But adding more hiding spots will lower that harassment. You can get cheap clay flower pots at your local home improvement store ~$0.79 each.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

I would make sure i have lots of little caves and nooks and crannies for the female to escape out of sight. It could also be a sign that the male wants to mate, and is harassing the female. But adding more hiding spots will lower that harassment. You can get cheap clay flower pots at your local home improvement store ~$0.79 each.

Ok thanks. When he chases her she hides in the thick plants near the top of the water. I have 2 different caves that she could go into but she never goes in them for some reason.

She looked a lot more colorful yesterday so hopefully it's a temporary thing. I love my GBRs I don't want one to die from bullying!

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[zer0signal]

Yeah the best thing you can do is make the aquarium as complex as possible. Lots of tunnels, caves, plants, etc...

 

[coralbandit]

The water changes(lowering of nitrates) may have just got male to wanting to breed.
She may feel the same but needs time to develop the eggs.
If they have been together for 6 months in a 25g then they will spawn soon or just be fine with each other.
It is late IMO for him to have a fit about "who she is".
She may have already laid eggs if she appears different and he is chasing her away from eggs(pretty common actually).
Look hard in corners ,wood and other "quiet areas".

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

The water changes(lowering of nitrates) may have just got male to wanting to breed.
She may feel the same but needs time to develop the eggs.
If they have been together for 6 months in a 25g then they will spawn soon or just be fine with each other.
It is late IMO for him to have a fit about "who she is".
She may have already laid eggs if she appears different and he is chasing her away from eggs(pretty common actually).
Look hard in corners ,wood and other "quiet areas".

Ya I did do a lot of water changes...I guess I'll have to do some egg investigating!

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[coralbandit]

Put your hand in the tank and slowly,gently move around.
If the male defends a spot look hard.
He will bite you if he is defending eggs!

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Ok so I just looked back on my threads and it appears I miscalculated lol...I've only had the GBRs for 3 months. Does that change anything?

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