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I've decided that I'm going to get some german rams for my 38 gallon tank. I have heard that they are sensitive to water quality but kind of wanted some clarification on this. Is this only to ammonia/nitrites/nitrates or also pH and gH. What should the values be for all of these? I know ammonia and nitrites 0 obviously. I have some Corydoras arcuatus in the tank already and they are sensitive to nitrates, are german rams more sensitive than the cories? Oh, I keep my tank around 78F is that ok?

German Blue Rams are beautiful, as are Gold Rams. Yes, they are sensitive to water conditions, more than cory's. Bolivian Rams may be a bit less sensitive, so I've read. Do not put them in a new tank (there should be no ammonia or nitrites) and make sure there are plenty of plants. A pH of 6.8 is good with a GH of 5. 78F is fine, 80F is better.

David

yes they are very sensitive to bad water,put em in a tank thats been well cycled with other fish,if there is to be tankmates,nothing to nasty or you rams could get builled, then they wont thrive.then make sure all your water parameters are spot on,i went with soft neutral water,heaps of filtration,a slew of different foods,kept up regular water changes.i only used a couple of real plants the rest were fake,but the rams trashed the real plants anyway,i didnt use any sort of wood,just rocks formed up to make caves,and i must say i never had a problem when i had my blue ramsthey were active,they even spawned twice in the short time i had them,(on a side of the cave they chose).they are truly beautiful,when kept in the correct conditions,in fact i found them easyer to keep than alot of people said,my only regret with the rams,is that i didnt hang on to them(needed the tank space)well i hope this little bit of info helps,good luck.

I have had no problems with mikrogeophagus ramirezi since I boosted tank temperatures to 82F and paid attention to nitrates.

The higher temperatures prevent problems with ich or white spot. The fish seem to be very sensitive to nitrates. Keeping nitrates at 10 ppm or less aids in keeping these fish healthy.

I don't pay attention to pH. My hardness is above 5dGH and my pH is 7.6.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Many of the singapore bred rams are more susceptible than wild ones or those sourced from elsewhere. They are so inbred they have little or no immunity and are very sensitive to nitrates, unfortunately, singapore is also the worlds largest single supplier of blue rams. To keep these little fellows alive an excellence level equal to that of discus keepers needs to be maintained.

In theory blue rams should be no more susceptible to bolivian rams in terms of water quality, but its a case of breeders strike again. Be very attentive to water quality and disease prevention.

So what I'm hearing is keeping nitrates low is very very important and pH isn't as important as long as acclimated slowly. My pH right now runs about 8.2.

That's right, Randy!

By the way, it is always a good idea to slowly acclimate fish. I often test the conductivity of water from the LFS where I buy fish. The conductivity is often 4 times the conductivity of my tanks. Slow drip acclimation has minimized stock losses.

I also dip the fish from the bucket after acclimation with my hands or a small cup to minimize damage to scales or slime coat.

Note that I take these actions not only with "difficult" fish but also common livebearers.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

I think I'll drip acclimate them then, I drip acclimated my otos and they did pretty good. I've got a 1 gallon container that I use to do water changes and such it should work pretty well for that.

when i had my rams,i kept my nitrites and nitrates at zero,i would have thought even the smallest amount would begin to stress them

Wow, you must have done water changes about everyday to keep nitrates at zero. Was your tank even really cycled all the way?

yeah of corse. it was more execellent filtration,plus im always doing small water chanegs.