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I have a pir of Rams for the past couple of months. Pretty sure it's a pair, the feamle is definately bigger and fatter and has a pink belly ?

Problem is this female as always seemed to hate the male. Up to now this hasn't been much of a problem. It's a 65g and lots of plants, wood and rocks so plenty of room. As I say there was always some chasing and the occasional head butting and it would to and fro as to who was dominant. But, now it seems that the female has the male totally whipped, to the point were it's affecting his health.

I noticed in the last couple of days that the male has been in hiding. When I did manage to get a look at him he was showing signs of stress (very dark coloring) and hole-in-the-head disease, small pit's with a white border above the left eye (ther's a sligh possibility they may be battle scars, but I doubt it as no other signs of a beating). I'm pretty sure this has been brought about by stress. Nitrates are a constant 10-15ppm and I have never had a reading higher then 20ppm. Fish get a varied diet, never the same 2 days in a row. So I'm fairly sure the HITH was brought on by stress.

My concern now is the male is not eating. He will stick his head out at feeding time as if interested but to scared to go for the food. The female seems to sense that the male is beat and when she does see him she goes after him worse then ever and he has totally given up trying to defend himself.

Any ideas on how I can curb the aggresion in the female or generally make the male more comfortable so he has a fighting chance. I don't think this is territorial as the female seems to seek him out wherever he his and go for him, I think she's just plain old mean.The LFS has some very young rams in stock (about 3/4" would adding more help spread out the aggression or would the sick male just come in for more punishment ?

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I had a similar problem in a 40g I had with my pair of rams. So I went out and got 5 more rams, 2 more males and 3 more females and low and behold the problem was fixed. I not sure if the same will apply to you, but it worked for me. Also, you should not have any nitrates. If you do, you should do a water change to try and eliminate them. Good luck and let us know how things pan out.

[qoute]Also, you should not have any nitrates. If you do, you should do a water change to try and eliminate them. Good luck and let us know how things pan out.{/qoute]

It's a planted tank, if I eliminated Nitrates I would have to go out and buy Nitrates to add

The male was out and about for a while yesterday but I didn't see him feed, but he was poking around a bit. Unfortunately this just encouraged the female to beat up on him more. She was a right pain yesterday. I dropped some peas in as a treat, the fish love 'em but she was getting nasty with pretty much every other fish trying to keep them away from the food. Never seen her this bad before, if she keeps it up she'll have to be moved.

Anyway I may give it a try to add a couple more. Only concern is the one's for sale are tiny, about 3/4". This female is a full grown brute (biggest ram I've seen) she might chew these little guys up and spit 'em out. But it's worth a try I'd hate to lose the male, he's a beaut.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Maybe getting a tank separator and rehabilitating the male in his own area without the female bothering him would give him a better chance to survive. After he is a little better maybe adding two more rams in with the female and a couple with the male, but still keeping the tank separator in would help. THis would give them each a chance to interact with other fish and not only eachother and after the male is almost 100% better slowly reintroduce them.