Breeding Rams (or keeping them alive!)

[JacksonJigsaw]

Long story short, i have a community tank thats been set up nicely with driftwood, rocks, plants ect.
I have had 1 female Ram for a few months, put one male in and they got allong great, but sure enough he died after a week.
Been a month and i decided to try again, this time i got a good looking male and another female so that hopefully two of them would make a pair.
WEEEELLLLLL the two females are at it, and the male is aggresive towards everything in the tank. SO, how long should i wait for a pair to form? take one of the females back? take the male back? take the male and female back and just be happy with one ram? thanks guys

[JacksonJigsaw]

I don't wanna stress any fish to death so a quick reply would be great.

[lego7979]

How big is the tank ?

[absolutangel04]

Knowing the size of the tank is important to answer the question.

[JacksonJigsaw]

30 gallon, well planted, allot of driftwood
82 degrees
7.5 ph but I'm going to start working to lower it once I have my fish situation figured out.

[absolutangel04]

Ok. I think ou should start be re-homing the female. IME, rams of the same gender tend to dispute territories, so if it seems serious, start by re-homing a girl. Maybe the male will calm down then.
If it is just chasing, then I think you would try to ride it out, but thats up to you.
Honestly, some ram individuals are more territorial than others, so since these individuals seem to be on the territorial side of rams, you will quite likely not be able to keep all 3 in there IMO.

[JacksonJigsaw]

I was planning on removing One once the other 2 form a pair. I know every fish is diffrent but how long on average does this take?

[absolutangel04]

Pair forming fish do not necessarily form pairs if only given 1 or 2 options. If the females are spending all their time fighting, they may not pair. I had a female and 3 males and she didn't pick any of them, lived a long life, and died single. Often, rams readily pair, but it doesn't always happen.
IMO, rams are somewhat sensitive to stress too, so too much chasing/aggression/disputing isn't good. I recommend just removing a female now rather than waiting it out. Maybe give them a few days, but I wouldn't give it longer.
The amount of time it takes to form a pair is dependent on how old the fish were when you purchased them. They may not even be old enough to pair up yet.

[JacksonJigsaw]

The male and female went back to the pet store where I instead decided On a male gold ram, in the tank, no aggression, and he is following her like a puppy. I decided not to chase the breeding idea, if it happens it happens, I'm just glad to have such a beautiful tank

[JacksonJigsaw]

Ooo and thank you all for the advice