German Blue Ram Advice

[lcasanas89]

So I have 3 GBRs in a 30 gal tall tank. I'm positive that one is a male and I think/ hope that the other 2 are females. I've attached some pictures, one is a male and I think female together, one is of what I believe to be the two females, one is of the fish that I'm most unsure about and the last is of my tank. I've been doing a lot of research and heard that sometimes it's best to keep 2 females to each male so that one female wont take all the bullying. I've had GBRs before and found them pretty hard to keep, so I really want to do everything right with these. They share the tank with several neon tetras, a couple of angel fish, a couple of gourami, several cories and a pleco. All the plants are live plants and they have a lot of vegetation and hiding places.

I had the male already from last week, and I bought the two females yesterday. I was really trying to buy healthy looking fish from my LFS, and I felt like I had succeeded. However, I noticed that when I put all the rams together, the females?? lost most of their color and the male would chase them relentlessly. Now he seems to have slowed down and one of the females seems to have gained most of the color back, but the other one still seems really dull and hangs out by itself. I really don't want any of them to die, is it possible the fish I'm unsure about is a male?? Any advice or info is appreciated.... Thanks in advance ?

 

[bsantucci]

I'd keep an eye on them for a few days, but it can take some time for their color to come back when they are brought into a new tank. Unless they are showing other symptoms it's probably just flushed from acclimation right now.

 

[lcasanas89]

Ok great and what about the sexes?? Does it look like 1 male and 2 females??

 

[bsantucci]

Tough to completely tell from your pics. I'm not 100% on sexing, but from what I understand the females have black on their lower fins as well as blue shimmer on their dot on the sides.

 

[20GL]

I'm not sure this will help but here are pics of my mated pair. This is not an exact science and it is hard to tell if they are tank raised. Female is much smaller with pink belly and blue in the black dots on side. Male is larger and has extended fins compared to the female.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Sorry can't answer your question, but your tank and your rams are beautiful!!!

 

[20GL]

+1 on the beautiful tank!!!! Here is the guide I used to pick out my two love birds. Hope it helps you. I wasn't sure of their genders until they laid eggs yesterday.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/germanblueram.php

 

[lcasanas89]

Haha thanks everyone. I'm just really paranoid cause I've lost a couple already and I feel terrible every time it happens.

 

[Sillyfishies]

So I have 3 GBRs in a 30 gal tall tank. I'm positive that one is a male and I think/ hope that the other 2 are females. I've attached some pictures, one is a male and I think female together, one is of what I believe to be the two females, one is of the fish that I'm most unsure about and the last is of my tank. I've been doing a lot of research and heard that sometimes it's best to keep 2 females to each male so that one female wont take all the bullying. I've had GBRs before and found them pretty hard to keep, so I really want to do everything right with these. They share the tank with several neon tetras, a couple of angel fish, a couple of gourami, several cories and a pleco. All the plants are live plants and they have a lot of vegetation and hiding places.

I had the male already from last week, and I bought the two females yesterday. I was really trying to buy healthy looking fish from my LFS, and I felt like I had succeeded. However, I noticed that when I put all the rams together, the females?? lost most of their color and the male would chase them relentlessly. Now he seems to have slowed down and one of the females seems to have gained most of the color back, but the other one still seems really dull and hangs out by itself. I really don't want any of them to die, is it possible the fish I'm unsure about is a male?? Any advice or info is appreciated.... Thanks in advance dde0a

1st pic looks like male and female and 3rd pic looks like 2 females.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Don't mean to interrupt the topic of discussion- but may I ask what plant is that you have carpeting? And what type of lighting do you have?

 

[lcasanas89]

1st pic looks like male and female and 3rd pic looks like 2 females.

Ok good that's what I was thinking too. I'm really hoping its 1 male and 2 females. But if they do lay eggs in there I doubt they would survive right?? Especially with the cories..... I feel like they eat everything....

 

[lcasanas89]

Don't mean to interrupt the topic of discussion- but may I ask what plant is that you have carpeting? And what type of lighting do you have?

Well the carpeting is micro swords and the lighting is 120W, 10000 k hood that I bought on eBay. I got it specifically because I wanted a lot of live plants. And there's also a CO2 diffuser in there.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Rams are best kept in pairs. Once they start to spawn one female may kill the other since the could compete for the males. Also your tank sounds pretty stocked which will make it hard to keep up with the water quality and will be stressful on your rams. The biggest killer of rams is stress and nitrates. Now on to better news, their color will certainly come back after they have settled. Turn the lights off and let them settle a day without them your plants will be fine. As for sex hard to tell but pictures 2 is a defiant female.

 

[lcasanas89]

Rams are best kept in pairs. Once they start to spawn one female may kill the other since the could compete for the males. Also your tank sounds pretty stocked which will make it hard to keep up with the water quality and will be stressful on your rams. The biggest killer of rams is stress and nitrates. Now on to better news, their color will certainly come back after they have settled. Turn the lights off and let them settle a day without them your plants will be fine. As for sex hard to tell but pictures 2 is a defiant female.

Well I really keep up on the water quality so I don't think that's the problem. If anything the pH is a little high for them but I'm working on lowering it slowly to not shock anyone.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Well I really keep up on the water quality so I don't think that's the problem. If anything the pH is a little high for them but I'm working on lowering it slowly to not shock anyone.

Anything under 7.6 should be alright

 

[lcasanas89]

Anything under 7.6 should be alright

Ok great mine is like at 7.4 right now but I'm scared about trying to lower it lol

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Like you said lower it gradually so they aren't shocked. Really I don't know if I'd mess with it if in were you.