German blue rams with red minor tetras?

[jacpaq2000]

I was thinking of getting a pair of German blue rams but the tank I would put them in has a school of 7 red minor tetras. They are in a big enough group that the red minors are not nipping but I read somewhere that the rams don't like being with energetic fish that will eat all the food before they get a chance. Is this true? And if so is there any way I can get around the incompatibility



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[rockyofhockey]

I was thinking of getting a pair of German blue rams but the tank I would put them in has a school of 7 red minor tetras. They are in a big enough group that the red minors are not nipping but I read somewhere that the rams don't like being with energetic fish that will eat all the food before they get a chance. Is this true? And if so is there any way I can get around the incompatibility



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.

Rams can be with Any tropical fish for the most part. What size tank do u have. And tankmates


40 gallon planted aquarium
1x leopard ctenopoma
1x albino bichir
1x tiger pleco


75 gallon native tank
5 pumpkin seed sunfish
1 red crayfish
1 spotted bass

 

[jacpaq2000]

.

Rams can be with Any tropical fish for the most part. What size tank do u have. And tankmates


40 gallon planted aquarium
1x leopard ctenopoma
1x albino bichir
1x tiger pleco


75 gallon native tank
5 pumpkin seed sunfish
1 red crayfish
1 spotted bass

I have:
2 angels
7 red minors
5 neons
1 rainbow shark
2 Otos

And my tank is a 30 gallon


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[absolutangel04]

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Rams can be with Any tropical fish for the most part. What size tank do u have. And tankmates

No, they really can't. They can coexist with many peaceful species, but I caution against blanket statements like that since there are quite a few fish I would not recommend with a ram.

As it happens, one of those fish is the red minor tetra. My experience with them has never been positive, though I know other people have very good luck with them in communities. It seems to vary by situation. However, I would also not suggest them with angels generally, but if your are fine with the flowing fins of the angels, then I would guess they would be fine with the rams. However, I don't think you have space for rams with everything else. I have a few questions though, are your angels adults? How big is your rainbow shark? Your shark ought to be in a bigger tank (though you may have plans for a move) for the long term.
What temp do you keep your tank at? How often do you do water changes? How much do you know about your water parameters?

 

[jacpaq2000]

No, they really can't. They can coexist with many peaceful species, but I caution against blanket statements like that since there are quite a few fish I would not recommend with a ram.



As it happens, one of those fish is the red minor tetra. My experience with them has never been positive, though I know other people have very good luck with them in communities. It seems to vary by situation. However, I would also not suggest them with angels generally, but if your are fine with the flowing fins of the angels, then I would guess they would be fine with the rams. However, I don't think you have space for rams with everything else. I have a few questions though, are your angels adults? How big is your rainbow shark? Your shark ought to be in a bigger tank (though you may have plans for a move) for the long term.

What temp do you keep your tank at? How often do you do water changes? How much do you know about your water parameters?

My angels are still young ( I got them 4 weeks ago)

My rainbow shark is about 1 in and 1/2

The water is on average 78-80 degrees

I do a 20% water changes once a week every Saturday

My water is hard (I would make it softer before I got them)
The alkalinity is 40-80 kh
The ph is 6.8


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[absolutangel04]

Thank for answering my questions.
Are you planning to keep the rainbow shark in that tank, or moving him? Issues with behavior will not likely develop for awhile, but they are suggested for more like a 55g tank because they can be aggressive.
I asked about the angels age because if you end up with too many breeding fish in one tank, the results are not always pretty. A 30g is really the bare minimum for a breeding angel pair with any sort of tankmates, and adding a pair of rams as well might enhance aggression. However, since your fish are young, you won't know about breeding for awhile.
I suggest skipping the rams for this tank. There is just too much that can go wrong, and you have a fair bit of stock already.
If you do want to pursue it and try it (your tank), I suggest upping your water changes to more like 50% a week. Rams are also usually reported to do better at higher temps, but your neons may have an issue with that. Though, there is a chance your neons will also get eaten by your adult angels, but that depends on the angels.
In short, up to you, but I don't personally suggest rams for this tank, or the rainbow shark.

 

[rockyofhockey]

No, they really can't. They can coexist with many peaceful species, but I caution against blanket statements like that since there are quite a few fish I would not recommend with a ram.



As it happens, one of those fish is the red minor tetra. My experience with them has never been positive, though I know other people have very good luck with them in communities. It seems to vary by situation. However, I would also not suggest them with angels generally, but if your are fine with the flowing fins of the angels, then I would guess they would be fine with the rams. However, I don't think you have space for rams with everything else. I have a few questions though, are your angels adults? How big is your rainbow shark? Your shark ought to be in a bigger tank (though you may have plans for a move) for the long term.

What temp do you keep your tank at? How often do you do water changes? How much do you know about your water parameters?

For the most part was said lol. Rams are a general community fish though


40 gallon planted aquarium
1x leopard ctenopoma
1x albino bichir
1x tiger pleco


75 gallon native tank
5 pumpkin seed sunfish
1 red crayfish
1 spotted bass

 

[absolutangel04]

For the most part was said lol. Rams are a general community fish though

Yes, it was said, and I do not agree. The temperature, behavioral, and water chemistry requirements make gbr difficult to work into many communities. Technically, they will get along with many sorts of small schooling fish, but there are lot more tropical fish than that. Also, the more I see of rams, the more I see how difficult their long term care can be with things like the temperature they thrive at is higher than many smaller schooling fish can thrive at. Depends on the situation, and you may not have meant it to be as generic as I took it, but there are a lot of tropical fish and a lot of them are not good tankmates for rams. That is all I am saying. Nothing personal, just my experience and opinion.

 

[rockyofhockey]

Yes, it was said, and I do not agree. The temperature, behavioral, and water chemistry requirements make gbr difficult to work into many communities. Technically, they will get along with many sorts of small schooling fish, but there are lot more tropical fish than that. Also, the more I see of rams, the more I see how difficult their long term care can be with things like the temperature they thrive at is higher than many smaller schooling fish can thrive at. Depends on the situation, and you may not have meant it to be as generic as I took it, but there are a lot of tropical fish and a lot of them are not good tankmates for rams. That is all I am saying. Nothing personal, just my experience and opinion.

Yea I agree learn something new everyday ?


40 gallon planted aquarium
1x leopard ctenopoma
1x albino bichir
1x tiger pleco


75 gallon native tank
5 pumpkin seed sunfish
1 red crayfish
1 spotted bass

 

[jacpaq2000]

Thank for answering my questions.
Are you planning to keep the rainbow shark in that tank, or moving him? Issues with behavior will not likely develop for awhile, but they are suggested for more like a 55g tank because they can be aggressive.
I asked about the angels age because if you end up with too many breeding fish in one tank, the results are not always pretty. A 30g is really the bare minimum for a breeding angel pair with any sort of tankmates, and adding a pair of rams as well might enhance aggression. However, since your fish are young, you won't know about breeding for awhile.
I suggest skipping the rams for this tank. There is just too much that can go wrong, and you have a fair bit of stock already.
If you do want to pursue it and try it (your tank), I suggest upping your water changes to more like 50% a week. Rams are also usually reported to do better at higher temps, but your neons may have an issue with that. Though, there is a chance your neons will also get eaten by your adult angels, but that depends on the angels.
In short, up to you, but I don't personally suggest rams for this tank, or the rainbow shark.

Thanks for the advice but I'm pretty sure that both the angels are female (they both have the longer whiskers) also the rainbow has been quit docile so far (he was a little nippy towards my red minors at first) but if he becomes to aggressive I will remove him.

I have a new question though. If I got a pair of German blues will they be able to defend there fry (if they have any) from the other fish? And if I kept all my German blues in a tank together would incest become a problem?




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[absolutangel04]

The behavior of the tiny rainbow shark is not indicative of a what an adult will act like. Also, above and beyond the aggression issue with a shark, you have the size issue. They are not small and frankly just don't belong in a 30g tank long term, especially with all those tank mates. You said you would move him if you need to though, so that is good.
As for the angels, I am not sure what long whiskers have to do with being male or female. It is very tough to sex young angels (though I don't know how old yours are). Not saying you have a pair, just saying whiskers are not a reliable way to tell angel sexes.
For rams, no, they will not be able to defend their fry. The shark will eat the eggs at night. The parents may will only be able to watch fry for so long anyways, and once they can swim (if they even survive that long) they will be picked off by 2 angels. I highly doubt you would get any viable fry in that tank set up. If you did, you would eventually want to remove some. Inbreeding is only an issue after awhile and you would run out of space before running into inbreeding issues I would imagine. They also breed best in a specialized set up with the right water chemistry, lots of water changes, and a decently high temperature.