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After being told that, I would have a VERY hard time leaving the rest behind. Of course, I'm a softy.

If you do wind up wanting to bring all of them home, I'd be willing to buy a pair off of you when you come here. I saw one at my LFS and SO wanted to bring him home, but then hesitated and now regret it because he was sold a few days later. First time I'd seen a ram in my LFS.

Seriously, though, do what you think is best... I don't know much about rams, so I'd have to do some research before buying, anyway. I just know they're SO cute and are the one fish that would convince me to try my hand at cichlids.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

hi stormy
only you can decide to buy them or not but as far as how many can fit in a 20L...this greatly depends on decor. heavily planted (real or fake dont matter) you could prolly get away with all 6 being in there for a short time. Long term i wouldnt try more then 2 pairs unless personalities allow it which they may.
Rams arnt beat down till your dead agressive but they give up and hide at the surface if things get out of hand. Easy to spot a loseing ram.
10g would be a little tight for a pair but if they are allready paired couple then it should work ok. keep in mind these guys are touchy with water and dont agree with instability which is why shops have a hard time keeping them. most shop think acclimating is leaving the bag in the tank for 30 mins then cutting them all lose. if they took their time they would have much better results. SO with that in mind try to get those rams before they cut them loose and you will have MUCH better luck with them at home.
hope this helps ya out they are great fish and you will enjoy them no matter the numbers. good luck

Last edited by Sin in Style at 01-Nov-2005 20:41

I'd buy 3 to get two pairs total . Honestly, I think they would be able to sell 3 rams rather quickly, especially since they usually don't have them . If not, you could always go back after a few days to check on them.

I would not recomend putting more than 2 (male and female) in a 10 gal tank. 20L equals roughly 4.4 gals. I would not recomend putting any in a tank that small. If you get a mating pair, they will kill any fish that is in their territory (usually 10 gals). Plus, they are extremely picky about water parameters and a 10 gal is hard to keep exactly the same. I bought a pair (male and female) and the male killed the entire tank (2 otos and the female). It is not likely that a male will mate with any female that you put in the tank, they are more a "mate for life" type of fish. This is just my opinion, experience and research.

Uh... darkmuse, sorry, but the tank in question is a 20 gallon LONG, thus the abbreviation... think we confuzzled you on that one.

If stormy DOES get all of them and decides to let kitty buy a one or two off of her... they'd be okay in a 12 gallon with guppy boys?

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

yes sorry 20L was meant to be 20 Long my mistake. i forget not everyone uses gallons.

yeah a pair in a 12g would be fine. a few guppies would be ok but you wanna be carefull on how many. they start breeding and dont stop. they can quickly over stock the tank causeing water issues which the rams wont deal with well.

Wee! New fishies! And a new tank-to-be! I'm so jealous! I so want to upgrade my 20 long stock to a 75... or bigger.

And yes, you're right, Stormy, my guppies are separated by sex. The 12 gallon currently holds five guppy boys, and I have three juvies almost ready to go in there. I seem to be getting more female than male fry, which I think is what happened LAST time I bred my guppies, so maybe I'll luck out again this time.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Congrats on the new arrivals! I keep my rams with angels. they never interact so everyone is happy. you can tell the difference in them becuase the females will have a pink belly and the males will have longer dorsal fins.

here's an article that you can read:
http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/The_Super_Blue_Ram.html

James

all I can say about that pic is:

That is a GORGEOUS fishy!!!! Now, I can't wait to set up my 55 so I can get some too. I'm thinking 2 pairs of Rams, a school of cardinals, a small school of blue tetras and my pleco.

I'm happy for you Stormy!! Keep me up to date on your fishies so I can know what to expect when it's my turn! /:'

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

That is absolutely beautiful!! Congrats!

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

Sounds like they may be setting up for spawning....wow, wouldn't it be awesome to have a bunch of little ram babies. /:'

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