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I am doing some researching for putting together my next tank and am thinking about a cichlid tank...I am becoming very fond of the German Blue Rams and am wondering how many are ideal, how big of a tank, and what would look great with them...

They can live in any sized tank upwards of ten gallons, as these small cichlids don't require a whole lot of space. They are best kept in pairs, and large groups of rams housed in the same tank will break off into pairs if at all possible. As with other cichlids, males are more territorial than females, and may chase encroaching males from their territory. Otherwise, these are great, peaceful fish.

The biggest problem with these rams is their delicacy. They are sensitive to water quality, and should have a tank with optimal conditions. Otherwise, these fish aren't very needy at all. They will eat most foods given them, and usually get along with most of their tankmates.

Speaking of tankmates, some of the best ones include non-aggressive tetras, Corydoras catfish and plecos, and other dwarf cichlids. Depending on the tank space, you can have a single ram or a pair by it/theirselves, or with many other fish. Basically, the best tankmates include other peaceful South American fish.

I hope this helped you out!

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I'm not an expert on chichlids or rams, but, if I ever got a new tank, they'd be in it. Although I lack personal experience, I've done some research.
I think they can go in tanks as small as 10 gallons. However, 15 - 20 gallons are best. They do best in pairs. They can live with most communitiy fish, especially amazon fish. These include tetras, cories, angelfish, kribs, and plecos. Rams do not do well with other chichlids except for very peaceful ones like I put above. You should not put them with the larger or more agressive chichlids such as oscars becasue they will be eaten. African chichlids are small enough to be tankmates, but require different water conditions. Therefore, if you want an all-chichlid setup, you might want to go with african chichilids. Otherwise, rams are very nice.

If your going to get Blue Rams, be prepared to do at least weekly water changes of 20% religiously or they will get sick and die. I lost a few because I was doing 10% every week.

They are very sensitive to water quality.

My Scapes

I think a perfect set up for rams would be to do 1 or 2 pairs or a trio (1m 2f) in a 20 gallon long tank. You could put in some kind of schooling dither fish... I have threadfin rainbowfish with mine (highly reccommended by the way, they have some extremely entertaining behavior), but I also think that they would look great with lemon tetras because the yellow tetras would look good with the yellow of the rams. you could try some sort of plain silver colored or black fish to contrast the bright colors of the rams.

My word of advice on rams, is if you're getting them at a store, observe their behavior for like 20 minutes or something, and dont let the fish store person pick them out for you! You have to select ones that seem compatible aggression wise, especially if you do 2 pairs. They can get very territorial and I had one at one point that was shredding fins. I have only seen them show agression towards eachother though, never to the other fish.

sooo... a recap... 1-2 pairs or a trio of rams, 8-10 small schooling fish, and some sort of clean up fish like some small corys or perhaps otos... although if this were MY tank, I would put in shrimp for that

edit: By the way, on the water quality thing, my rams live in a PH of about 5.5 and I change the water about 20% usually every other week and I have never had a problem, and my tank is fully stocked with 2 rams, 6 threadfins, and one oto in a 10 gallon.

Last edited by devon7 at 02-Mar-2005 07:59

Last edited by devon7 at 02-Mar-2005 08:00

edit: By the way, on the water quality thing, my rams live in a PH of about 5.5 and I change the water about 20% usually every other week and I have never had a problem, and my tank is fully stocked with 2 rams, 6 threadfins, and one oto in a 10 gallon.

Devon, How long have you had your rams.

My Scapes

not long, I've had them for about 6 months

edit: oh btw i forgot to take into consideration, though the tank is stocked the bio load is pretty light as the threadfins produce nearly no waste... they eat very little (crumbled up flake is basically all they touch) and what they do eat they use every bit of energy from it, darting all over the place... kind of like a hummingbird i think

Last edited by devon7 at 02-Mar-2005 23:10

Yes the amount the tank is stock will obviously affect the need for water changes. But keep in mind the water quality issue sometimes has a very gradual effect on fish until the start showing any signs of illness.



My Scapes

Stepping back into this subjects again...I am planning on a 55 gallon tank...with 2m and 4f Blue Rams...what is the best biotope for these guys so I can start doing more research as to other species to put with them...I like very active tanks...and I don't have any experience with plants...though I will probably try with this tank...

thanks,

abso