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Ok i'm gonna stick with the golden rams and gouramis. Does anybody know of anyone selling gravel for cheap?

ok good thats what i thought, i'm not totally fish illiterate then. lol

ditch the idea of cichlids, and put in 35 tiger barbs way cooler tank!!

thanks for the idea, but tiger barbs kinda bore me for some reason, i guess i'm weird, i dunno, like i said i'm going crazy trying to find a good stock list

Of course you have a tank full of Rams.
You could have some goldens, some blues, some gold/blue crosses, you could even have a few bolivian Rams if you wanted.
In a standard 55g tank, if you were just going to go with rams as mid-bottom fish and then maybe fill in top with a schooling fish, I think you could easily get 3-4 of each type of ram as above, or 12-15 rams of one type.
Then fill in with a school of rummynose or hatchets or something.


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I am not so sure that you could have this many Rams in a 55G as they require their own territory. If you cram too many into a tank then there is no place for most of them (except the alpha male) to swim as they would instantly enter another Ram’s space.

If you observe the crammed tanks at the fish store you will see that there is a lot of squabble going on. This will, over time even more so, generate a lot of stress on the fish. Although I haven’t tried this myself, I would not be surprised if you would end up with quite a few deaths.

Personally, I would not place more than 3 pairs into a 55G, and this I would only do if I would know for sure that I have 3 pairs (and most of the time you cannot be sure).

Just my opinion,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

of course..but as one said...just give them space...too much is a bad idea

why dont u try some loaches?they are very colourful and active...

Rams go well with other peaceful South American fish that like the same type of water. Good tankmates include Corydoras catfish, many tetras, pencilfish and hatchetfish, small plecos, and peaceful mid-dwelling cichlids. Which ones you choose depend on what's available in your area and which you like the most.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I think 2-3 pairs of Rams with a school of small tetras and a shoal of small corys would be a nice setup. Then maybe add a BN or some ottos for algea control.

Good luck with the tank.

Thank you all for the replies, its really helped alot! I was wondering what kind of mid-dwelling cichlid I could put in as sort of a centerpiece fish. And I know I probably sound like an idiot asking this, but what is a BN?
Again Thank you sooooooooooo much for all of your help!

A BN is a bristlenosed pleco.

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If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

I was wondering if it's possible to have a tank of Golden Rams? I have a 55 G tank, what other fish could go with them if its possible? I'm going crazy trying to figure out what to put in my tank... I want it to be colorful, active and semi community, any stocking suggestions, post that too!
Nat

uniqueyat,

“And I know I probably sound like an idiot asking this, but what is a BN?”

No you don’t!

I recently responded to someone who signed with the initials HTH and, although I happen to know the persons name (if I would have used all of my brain at that moment), I responded to him by referring to him as HTH. This, by the way (which is abbreviated to BTW), means Hope That Helps .

One cannot expect that everybody know all the initials, it is just that sometimes we forget.

In that sense, HTH,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks alot LF! I feel a lil intimidated cuz everybody on here knows so much about fish and everything, but I'm so glad that everyone is so helpful. What would you say to this stocking list for my 55g

3-4 pairs of golden rams
6 neon tetras
a couple of cories
pencilfish?
angelfish?

any other suggestions are good too

uniqueyat,

See, you are already leaving the realm of my expertise. We do not know everything (or maybe it is just me ).

Here are my thoughts:

- I am not sure, but I think Angels and Rams occupy similar water levels, as such they might get in conflict with each other.
- Start with one pair of Rams, see of they really form a pair, and then maybe add another one. Let this be it on the Rams for a while until you can be very sure that enough territory is left for a third pair, if you really want another one.
- 6 of any schooling fish is the recommended minimum size of the group. I would suggest you get more than this as your tank could be a great environment for a larger school of, let’s say, 10 Tetras. And Neons are only one option out of many Tetras.
- Cories also like to be in a group and the general suggestion seems to be that 6 is the minimum as well.
- I am not qualified to give you details on Pencilfish or Angelfish in detail, somebody else will have to help out here.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Remember, rams are basically bottom-dewlling fish. The last think you want is more bottom dwellers. Cories, loaches, and BNs are really very bad tankmates as they will invade the ram's territories and eat they're eggs. Besides you wouldn't want a fish tank with only fish on the bottom 1/4 of it. I strongly suggest getting topdewlling and mid dwelling schooling fish. They will act as dithers for the rams and they will add some life. Chichlids, although fascinating in behavior, are not the most active fish in the world. You really need something to compliment that.

I suggest neons because they are incrediably tiny (a huge school of 30 fish would look much more awsome than a school of 10 bigger fish). However it is up to you. As for top dewllers, hatchets are an excellent choice.

Just remember that rams are fragile. They should be one of the last fish you add to the tank, even if they are to be the main attraction.

I dont have any experience with Gold Rams,
But I am confused with this whole "rams form pairs"
business. Perhaps German Rams are quite different than Bolivian Rams. I have 2 Male bolivian Rams and 3 females, and the alpha male keeps the 3 females in a harem.
The other male is constantly trying to entice the females to him, but he is neither as colorful nor as large as the older alpha male ram.
I was of the belief that all rams were Harem breeders as Bolivians are.

You cant keep Pencilfish and Angelfish. The angels will eat the pencilfish.


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ok so is it possible to have a larger mid to top dwelling fish? or will the rams bother it? And what kind of rocks, gravel and live plants are good to put in a tank like that ?

i think peaceful gouramis like pearls would be ok with the rams, b/c the would rarely interact (one being up top, the other on the bottom). and i believe they get to be about 5 inches (?). like sombody said before tho, hatchets are a really good top dwelling fish... make sure to have a bunch tho. for a middle fish, have you thought about rainbows? dwarf neon rainbows only get to be about 2-3 inches, so you could have a good sized school in there... they're an awesome fish, you should see them eat!

whatever you decide, i'm sure it'll look awesome with those rams. they're such a cool looking fish. just make sure you know that they need excellent water quality, they're pretty sensitive to changes in the water quality.

So_Very_Sneaky,

You make an interesting point with regards to the pair / harem observation in your Rams. I don’t think that there is a major difference between Bolivian and German (Blue) Rams.

I was trying to find the article where I read (again) that Rams are pair breeders vs. another fish (might have been the Apisto or the Krib) which is a harem breeder. It was in the latest issue of either the TFH or the Aquarium fish magazine.

“he is neither as colorful nor as large as the older alpha male ram”

Here are some thoughts, without me having any experience with it:

I think your ram is not as colorful because he is not happy, otherwise he would perk up. Any idea what will happen when the smaller Ram will reach the size of the larger one?

I found an interesting article about Rams on the internet, here is an extract:

“Many aquarists report some pairs as being monogomous, others say Rams are polygamous and prefer the 'harem' approach (like Apistos). In my experience, Rams will pair up with a new, better looking mate almost always.”

Here is the full article; it is quite interesting and full of information.

So here we have it

Ingo

uniqueyat– and with regards to the Hatchets, make sure that you have a closed top on your tank if you should decide to get them as they are excellent flyers.

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 30-Sep-2005 09:42

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I know alot of you are probably really good at aquascaping, and I need some help. I bought 9 pieces of slate. What kind of gravel or sand should I get? And should I get another rock?
The fish I will be putting in are:
3 pairs of Rams
1 pair of pearl gouramis
8 marble hatchets
6 panda cories
Can the pH be at neutral for the Rams or is there a pH that they are more comfortable at?
Thanks in advance,
Yat