FishProfiles.com Message Forums

today I got two rams and they are completley grey, no colour at all, I didnt see them well in my lfs because I asked for Rams and they got me them, do they change colour or something? because I already have loads of grey fish in my tank.

They are probably very stressed out right now. They will get some color in them. They are actually quite colorful once they get used to their surrondings and become comfortable. What other kinds of fish do you have? How big is your tank? Can you give us some other perimeters?


Christina

its a 25gal, I have Xray tetras so that might be why at the moment thy look a bit wierd. My male swordtail is trying to mate with them so i suppose having a boistorous swortail after you doent work for stress either. I thought that Rams where ruthless! lol, I thought they would never submit to him (whos about half the larger ones size)
So they will get brighter then?
I'll try to take some piccies.

Do you know the scientific name for your "Rams" as there are several small cichlids marketed as "Rams." This may help to determine what their colors really are.

In the future you may be advised if at all possible to observe the fish you want to buy prior to actually purchasing them. You can help to eliminate a lot of problems by doing so such as making sure they are acting fairly normal in the dealers tank and also to observe if there are any ill or dying fish in the tank they are removed from.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

It looks more like these:
http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/BolivianRam.jpg
http://img89.exs.cx/img89/163/bolivianram22fv.jpg
except they are stripy.
When I found those I searched for bolivian. are bolivian rams gry and german rams like the rams I thought of when I wanted some.
ALook at the search pages

Bolivian Ram
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=bolivian+ram&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
German Ram
http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=german+ram&btnG=Search

Are German Rams more colourfull than bolivians?

What could I do to make them look more colourful? I have no background at the moment and a sand substrate. If I added a background would this work?

Last edited by br0ke_1T at 05-Jan-2006 14:29

Yes german rams are more colorful than bolivians however bolivians are much easier to keep as german rams are extremely sensitive to water chemistry.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/blueram.xml

What color sand do you have? White sand can wash out fish colors as they try to blend in.

To increase coloration feed a variety of foods flakes, algae wafers, brineshrimp ect.

As said above when stressed the rams color will dull into a almost gray look, once established in their envirement they will "color up" to their normal color.

Could you please describe the ram in more technical terms or go on the fish identifyer and look it up.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/identifier.asp

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Well its the sort of shape that the bolivian rams on that website had.At first I thought it was going to die because all it was doing was lying on the bottom, but it came back and is swiiming around now.
It has 2 darker grey stripes in the middle of its body.
the colours look like this: http://www.plantedtank.net/images/fish/bolivianram.jpg
Yes the sand is white, so would a background make the tanklook better? at the moment its looking through the tank onto a textured white wall, would a dark blue/green background bring them out more?
oh and feed my fish frozen bloodworms, black and white mosquito larvae, artemia and daphnia. I feed the bottom feeders crab pellets and algae wafers but the normal fish normally dont touch them.
And spawning- do i need lots of hiding places for them to spawn in? it an be arranged lol

Last edited by br0ke_1T at 05-Jan-2006 15:10