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A few questions for all of you with Ram experience...

1) Is there a difference between German blue Rams and Bolivian Rams in terms of how long they live or how hardy they are?

2) Would Rams be a good tankmate for Discus?

3) In my experience, Rams tend to be a very good community fish, but would they do better in a tank with other mild ciclids (Angels, etc.) or a species tank?

I eventually would like to have 3 tanks set up..

1 150 gallon
1 75 gallon
1 55 gallon

Right now, I have a 55, 29, and a 10 set up.

Once I start getting bigger tanks, I would like 1 tank to be for community fish, 1 tank for Discus, and 1 tank for mildly aggressive ciclids.

I would prefer to put them either with the Discus or the Cichild tank. The main reason for wanting to put them with Discus is because I will already be doing water changes every other day and Rams are pretty sensitive fish, but if you pros think it's a bad idea, then I'll be putting them with the other cichlids...which brings me to:

4) What Cichlids would be considered mild enough? I will probably use the 150 gallon. I was thinking 4 Angels, 2 Blood Parrots, and a Pleco to start...so what else could work?

Severum and Kribs were recommended, but in my experience they both can be either really passive or aggressive...depending on the particular fish.


If nothing else, I could just keep my 29 set up for a species tank.

Last edited by twault at 09-Feb-2005 09:41

Last edited by twault at 09-Feb-2005 09:42

1. Yes there is a difference. Bolivians are more hardy, a little bigger and live longer.

2. Yes Blue Rams do fine with Discus, They are one of the few fish I would keep with them.

3. Rams are also ok with milder cichlids like Angels, Blood Parrots, and Severums.

I have blue rams with my discus and they do well with the daily water changes. I personally view rams as part of the clean-up crew in the tank as they occupy the lower level of water. Be sure to give them a cave and hiding spots.

They will also do well with angels and other SA cichlids. In a smaller tank, they will defend their territory if they should form a pair and spawn.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

above listed is good info just thought i would comment on the kribs. i was thinking of kribs and rams in my 4ft ( 75g ) tank and decided not to do it. there is plenty of room for the 2 to coexist but i think the kribs being more agressive would eventually take the entire tank as territory. 2 pairs of kribs in such a tank would work because their agression would balance their territories out. just dont think rams have the mantality to keep pace with the more agressive kribs.

Sin,

I had blue rams with kribs for a while in my 46g and it did not work out. The kribs were way to aggressive and didn't even let the rams move out of their hiding space. I eventually got rid of the kribs.

Also from my experience with Blue Rams if you don't do at least 20%/weekly water changes you will eventually lose your blue rams. I lost a few to internal infections, while my other fish, carindals, rummys, angels were fine.

Last edited by tetratech at 10-Feb-2005 10:19

My Scapes

my kribs are very aggressive n if i wood have put them in with my rams it woodve been bad so i put them in my mbuna tank where there aggression has been matched n over whelmed but they do fine there
bolivian rams live alot longer then the 2-3 year average of that of the blue ram how ever the germans have better colour n even a gold version out both r peaceful enuf for a discus tank but both will defend there territoy against larger tankmates
u can have both in the same tank as ur using a large tank