Ram, is he sick?

[jeffruth]

So my Ram is hanging around the bottom of the tank. Seems he has no energy. He is swimming around a little bit always ends up on the bottom. Thoughts?

Ammo 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20+ppm
Temp is 79.2
Don’t know PH/KH as I don’t test them. I could if this is a potential issue.
Tank is year old. All other tank mates are doing fine. Yesterday I saw him hanging out by the overflow and now I wonder if it was ‘sucking’ him into it

 

[Brookster123]

They'll do that.. They are sensitive fish, should try and change enough water to keep nitrates under 10. Than again they just die for no reason sometimes?? Tricky fish those rams

 

[coralbandit]

He or she is a long fin..
I have not found hardy long fins myself yet..
IMO looks to be female with no blue in spot but that is not always good with regular GBR.
But all bets are off on long fins without others the same to compare to. They are 'funny rams' to me...
Get your temp up over 80-82 just for him for now ..They don't like under 80 ..Any of them.

 

[jeffruth]

Think he is done

I have takin the Ram out of my main tank and put him/her into a 5gal bowl. I am going to see if he/she improves but I don’t think he/she will make it. Can’t keep upright. Keeps flipping over and points straight down.

I have notice a little more aggression between the rams as of late. I wonder if she? has been bullied to death. There are 5 total and I don’t know which are male or female.

What blue dot are you referencing @coralbandit

 

[coralbandit]

For regular GBR they say if the are blue flecks in the black dot it is female.
That is not always a good method though.
I find besides size comparison to its own that the anal fin is the best tell.
On standard GBR the males anal fin will extend into the tale.
A females will end at the base of the tale.
So now you see why all bets are off on the longfin.
I had what I thought was a pair by looks but after a month or so the behavior lead me to believe they were both the same sex..One did kill the other. I added it to a tank full of my rams and it never mated up to any . They were very pretty ,but frustrating for me..

 

[jeffruth]

So after a day or two in the 5Gallon jar with many a WC I am sad to say that Butterfly has passed away...

 

[coralbandit]

Sorry to hear.
The long fins are in my area and a buddy has a couple.. I don't think they are going to do well for him either ?