Luananeko
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've been having trouble keeping German Blue Rams... They always make it through the first few weeks just fine, are active, eating, and not taking any crap from any other fish in the tank (in fact they usually end up ganging up on my Red Tail Black shark), and even laid eggs one time, but they keep randomly dropping after 6 months or so. No outward signs of illness, they just start getting lethargic and die within 3 days. The last Ram I lost was from a local long fin breeder, the others were from another standard GBR local breeder.
Here are my water stats, taken when I found my last Ram dead:
Tank size: 75 gallons
Temp - 82F
Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates - 0/0/between 5-10? (taken using API test kit)
pH - 6.5
gH/kH tests - 3 drops to swap colors on each one
The tank has been running for several years now, is heavily planted with lots of potential breeding spots, gets 50% water changes weekly, and no one has been bothering the rams at all other than the pairs doing their normal territorial dances with each other (started with 3 young pairs in my last attempt).
I'm not sure if this is an issue with bad genetic stock or something else, but I'm at a loss on why I keep losing them... Should I try an online breeder? If so, does anyone know a good one?
Here are my water stats, taken when I found my last Ram dead:
Tank size: 75 gallons
Temp - 82F
Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates - 0/0/between 5-10? (taken using API test kit)
pH - 6.5
gH/kH tests - 3 drops to swap colors on each one
The tank has been running for several years now, is heavily planted with lots of potential breeding spots, gets 50% water changes weekly, and no one has been bothering the rams at all other than the pairs doing their normal territorial dances with each other (started with 3 young pairs in my last attempt).
I'm not sure if this is an issue with bad genetic stock or something else, but I'm at a loss on why I keep losing them... Should I try an online breeder? If so, does anyone know a good one?