GBR advice

[Raeladar]

Hi guys,

So, I have a 38g planted tank with a pretty nice set up that was gifted to me almost two years ago. It was my first tank and I still consider myself a big newbie. I had a GBR that I loved that lasted about 4 months towards the beginning. I went out of town and my friend did a less than diligent job taking care of them and unfortunately he died. I replaced him about 5 months ago and the new guy brought some parasites with him and didn't survive the subsequent meds.

I have two questions: does anyone have any general tips and/or suggestions for thriving GBRs?

And if the lfs sends home some parasites again, what are preventative and remedial methods I can use that won't kill the super sensitive GBRs?

 

[kdpuffer]

Sorry to hear about your luck. I have gbr and they have survived parasite treatments due to other fish bringing nasties in. Best thing to do is keep the water clean with regular water changes. When at the LFS take your time and observe all the inhabitants of the tank your looking to buy from, This goes with any fish purchase. Once your comfortable and content that all the fish in the tank are healthy then but one. I love my rams and really hope you try again, they are very beautiful and personable fish. Also you didn't mention what else was in the tank but if you aren't already aware, rams do best with schooling fish which gives them a sense of security. I keep mine with cardinal tetras and green tiger barbs.

 

[jpchin]

i have my 2 gbr's for about a year. i keep the ph at about 6.5 by using a combo of 50% ro water and 50% tap water. i change out 20-25% water evey 3-4 days. gbr's and really all fish do so much better if you do frequent water changes. i also feed live food(BLACK worms) every other day. all my fish LOVE these worms. not to be confused with blood worms Black worms are live worms (not frozen) that you can get at some fish stores. other than that i don't do anything special. it's true that you need to get good stock to begin with. i bought my gbr's and all my fish at" that fish place/that pet place" in lancaster,pa. it's an excellent fish store. good luck. here are my gbr's.

 

[Raeladar]

I have at the moment 3 cherry barbs, 10 guppies, 1 gold dust Molly, 6 cardinal tetras, 1 oto, 2 mystery snails, and a Siamese algae eater. I was going to add 2 more gold dusts, 3 more cherry barbs, 1 more Otto, a bamboo shrimp, and eventually another male GBR. But I won't do that until I'm sure the tank is safe, stable, and comfy. I am adding more plants and already made plenty of caves and niches for hiding places so he feels secure

 

[BHead707]

IMO water change schedule is important to all fish and i personally like to do a couple smaller ones throughout the week as jpchin stated before, and the others are right stock from the lfs and how they are treated there really does make a difference once you get the fish home

 

[Raeladar]

Unfortunately I'm in Burlington VT do there really is only one LFS anyone had any luck with mail order fish?