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so my tank just finished cycling the other day, and was tossing up whether to get some apisto's or some blue rams, so i got a couple of blue rams yesterday of which im pretty sure are male and female abit hard to tell when they are only 15-20mm max..the male? has alot more black markings on his body and has a elongated dorsal and a more predominate black (spike) on his dorsal, the female? wasn't very colourful when i got it yesterday but didnt have the black (spike) on the dorsal and the dorsal was more rounded and slightly had a little more of a pink belly then the male.. but today both of them are look quite happy showing wonderful blue colouring on the face and nice dark black markings, they are in a 109 liter with two large bits of driftwood and a few fake plants also a fake driftwood thing with fake leaves on it(might be removing)? and some natural rocks, with gravel substrate..

anybody know where i can post some pics?
also i would love some tips on keeping them healthy and happy?

cheers Willy..
oh ph was 7
no ammonia
no nitrite
temp 27c
nitrate 5ppm/5mg/l

Congrats on the Rams. They are a fish I have always wanted to keep. I have had a chance to care for them at the LFS I used to work at. They tend to do very well in soft water with frequent changes. At the store I feed them frozen foods and even more often live black worms. We keep them group that was for sale in a 20G long and I would guess week had at least 15 of them in there (the tanks got daily water changes). I don't remember exactly but we had probably 4-5 pairs spawning in the tank.


You can post a picture in this thread if you wish.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

you can only post a pic if your a premium member on this site though, any way a added some to
http://s614.photobucket.com/albums/tt228/willywonkandthechoc/.. the photos arent that clear its hard to get them when they're still!
thats alot of rams in a tank that size were there any major fights or did they just leave each other alone cos the amount of pairs? how many could i keep in my tank then?
thanks for the feeding tip im just feeding them some tetramin stuff cos thats what the fish store was feeding them so i knew they would eat when i got them home then will try to gradually feed them some frozen blood worms and some live food later?
what size were they in the 20gal long just juvi's or adults? my water is pretty soft as it is but i think i might try some peat filtering to keep it down and the ph.. anybody know the cost of doing this or if there is an easier way to keep water soft and acidic? /:'

Peat will work, as will indian almond leaves aka Ketapang leaves. So will Tetras blackwater extract, allbeit not as natural.
JMO, but i think that gravel should be replaced by some black sand or black small gravel. This would definatly enhance the Ram's colours..

do you know how much peat is and how often you should change it..

plus i only have an internal filter do i just remove one of the sponges in it and add the peat?

i will have a look around at the black substrate suggestion, know of any pics i could see to get some idea of what it will look like?

also could anyone tell me whether any of the apisto group would be fine with my rams in this sized tank? i particularly like the red flash (Apistogramma cacatuoides)..

all comments welcome

thats alot of rams in a tank that size were there any major fights or did they just leave each other alone cos the amount of pairs? how many could i keep in my tank then?

Yes, that is a lot of rams for the size tank. There were never any major fights. Rams are cichlids but not think like some other cichlids in terms of aggression. Each set pretty much had it's own little territory. In that size tank I would put more than a three some.

also could anyone tell me whether any of the apisto group would be fine with my rams in this sized tank? i particularly like the red flash (Apistogramma cacatuoides)..

Apistos are another very neat dwarf cichlid. I don't think I would do another grow of dwarf cichlids in that small of a tank though. Others might say something different though.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

thanks for the suggestion Wingsdlc, i think i might just leave it as a ram tank i can see where your coming from in mixing groups, i'l see what i can find in the way of new ram's thanks for the help..