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I've become a bit cichlid-obsessed lately. I'd like to try keeping rams. My LFS periodically gets them in, and they're usually in pretty good shape. Usually they are blue rams, sometimes with some gold mixed in, and sometimes they get bolivian rams as well.
I understand that they are pretty sensitive to water conditions, so good filtration and maitenance is a must, and planted is ideal.

Would a ram be okay with just one, by himself, or are they better off with company?
Would a ram be bothered by sparkling gouramis? Rasboras? Fancy Guppies?
What about bottom feeders? Would they live peacefully with kuhli loaches? Cory cats? A hillstream/butterfly loach?

Thanks!

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I have a ram couple in my 55 that are spawning and I put the left out female (he picked one female and they started chasing the other) in my community 29 with cherry barbs, and opaline gourami, harlie rasboras, blue parrot platies, an outcast Apisto. trifasciata, a Rio Jari plec, and a hillstream loach. No issues so far. Seems that one will be just fine alone. Give it a shot.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

I understand that they are pretty sensitive to water conditions, so good filtration and maitenance is a must, and planted is ideal.

Blue rams are much more sensitive than Bolivian rams.
These fish are very sensitive to NitrAtes. Try to keep them below 20ppm for Blues and below 40 for Bolivians.
Planted is definitely beneficial for them.

Would a ram be okay with just one, by himself, or are they better off with company?

While Rams are "Ok" kept alone, they have extremely dynamic social behaviour that you will never see if you keep only one. Seriously, if you can squeeze em in, go for a nice group of them. I kept 5 bolivians for years (lost all but 2 to old age), and they have great social behaviour. Very fascinating fish. Id keep at least a pair, with a larger group being much better. Mixed sex is OK, even multiple males is alright so long as they have enough space.

Would a ram be bothered by sparkling gouramis? Rasboras? Fancy Guppies?

Not bothered at all. Those are a good choice in tankmates.

What about bottom feeders? Would they live peacefully with kuhli loaches? Cory cats? A hillstream/butterfly loach?

Sure would be fine. I keep my rams with all those except
the Hillstream. The only problem with compatibility with the hillstream loach is that Rams prefer much warmer temps, upwards of 80F, with 82-84 being best. Hillstreams are a cold water fish, with temps below 74F being preferred, and temps of 66-68 being best.



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Rams are much more interesting to watch in groups. I've had trios in small tanks without much trouble even when they spawn. Occasionally though I have heard of a spawning pair killing off all other rams in the tank.

Rams get along with most any fish that isn't nippy, more agressive than they are, and you don't put in too many fish that like to lay claim to territories. They generally don't bother anything that doesn't bother them except to chase other fish a short distance away from a spawning site.

Hillstream loaches though are not good fish for a normal tank setup rams or not. They are highly specialized and require a very high oxygen content, lots of current, and cooler temps. They don't usually live long when they aren't put in a tank setup especially for them. http://loaches.com/hillstream_intro.html

That's really good to know about the hillstream loaches. I didn't realize they weren't tropical.

Will a group of male rams fight with each other when there are no females? Are females as aggressive as males? The reason I ask is that A friend of mine got a male and female for her planted tank, and the male got very aggressive and grew much faster than the female, and started chasing her all over the tank until she died. I realize that might happen regardless of the sexes, but I'd like to avoid it if I can.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Will a group of male rams fight with each other

I think it depends on the personality. I had 2 bolivians that couldn't seem to get along with each other. Both wanted a particular territory & neither would give in. I asked advice here & lots of people told me that usually the fighting is all posture & show & some others told me there's usually no problem at all. Yet others told me of one ram that killed another ram. So I think that until you get your 2 or more rams, you want know how it will work out. You see, it will depend on their personality. Buy them from an LFS who will agree beforehand to do a swap for you, if you do end up with one who is a bully.

Cheers
TW

In my honest opinion, males and females
are equal in temperment and aggression.
These are not really aggressive fish at all,
but do squabble a bit. (Bolivian rams)
I would keep a large mixed sex group myself,
because you can see all kinds of social behaviour
that way.
When small, its very hard to determine
gender anyway, so buyin a mixed sex group is probably
what will happen in most cases.


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