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I was wondering about the aggressiveness of blue rams. My LFS has some relatively small ones for sale that I was considering purchasing. I did not know how they would be with loaches since both are primarily bottom dwellers. Will the rams harm them in any way? Any and all info would be appreciated TIA
Jen

Jen,

In my experience, rams are generally peaceful. You will get some sparring between males over territory and females. The sparring is bumping heads and chasing each other.

However, a mated pair of rams will establish a 12 to 18 inch defense perimeter around a clutch of eggs. I have had rams push fully grown angels into a corner to protect the eggs in a community tank! The solution is always a breeding tank...

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

My water is tannis colored (sp?) due to some wood I have in the tank. Everywhere I've read says they need clear water. Will the tannis-colored water be a problem?
Jen

Jenbabe I have a s.a tank with alot of dark driftwood and the tank has a slight brownish hue to it.

My tank conditions are mint and I have schools of cardinals,rummynoses and otos without losing one fish.
I also have had as many as 5 blue rams in the tank at once, but I only have 2 left. The other 3 over the year developed internal infections and died. So now I'm wondering if the tannins in the water caused the problems or do the weaker of the rams get infectations and die, because there is a lot of bickering between the rams, but they do leave the other fish alone.

My Scapes

Rams like clean water, a concept that has nothing to do with clear water. They are a short lived fish with a max life expectancy of three years. Tannins in the water are no problem but you need to maintain pristine water conditions for them to do well. Water changes and tank cleaning has worked for my rams.

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

Bob I change 20% of my water weekly, but the only fish I seem to lose are my rams. They seem to develop internal infections after a few months. Should I be changing more weekly. I always have zero Ammonia, Nitrate, etc.



My Scapes

I view rams like discus, clean tanks and lots of water changes. I never worry about pH or hardness as fish readily adapt to water conditions. The problem for many sensitive fish is that water parameters fluctuate greatly from water change to water change unless the water change regimen is frequent and consistent.

Imagine adding 1 part of toxicity to your tank each day. By the end of week one, you would have 7 parts of toxicity before you eliminated 20% with a water change. On the 7th day toxicity would fluctuate from 7 down to 5.6 before starting over again. A daily 20% water change would hold the toxicity to 3.95 at the end of the week with the toxicity dropping to 3.16.

At day 28, toxicity would have a maximum reading of 5 with a minimum reading of 4 with daily water changes. At day 28, weekly water changes would provide a toxicity level of 20.7 with a minimum reading of 16.5.

Toxicity levels would remain stable with daily water changes at this 4 week point. Weekly water changes would allow toxicity to climb to a maximum of 35 at week 29 with a fluctuation to 28. I would venture to say that this is the point that hobbyists suddenly find "problems" with their tanks. After all, their water change regimen results in "old tank" syndrome.

Toxicity in this example is a concept. Think of it as the gradual buildup of "stuff" in your water whether it's nitrates, phosphates, RO Right, pH Up/Down/Sideways. Consistent, daily water changes provide a much more stable environment for all fish.

Try the rams with daily or every other day or every third day water changes. Establish an easy regimen for those water changes that includes filter maintenance and vacuuming. Your rams will do much better!

Last edited by bob wesolowski at 01-Feb-2005 02:30

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

Thanks much Bob. You provided alot of insight and I'm sure that you are correct for the most part.

I didn't realize rams were that much more sensitive than cardinals and rummynoses. These fish are extremely stable in
my tank with a weekly change.

My Scapes

One other thing about Rams: they insist on water warmer than the usual tropical fish -- around 84 deg F (29 C) is optimal -- or they become very susceptible to infections. (A lot of those who arrive in the fish stores are apparently already nursing infections when they arrive because of this -- "Tropical Fish Hobbyist" even suggested a decade ago that you should feed them Tetra Medicated Flakes when they first arrive.) Since Clown Loaches, at least, also prefer warmer water, I'd think the two could get along together very well.

I have my water at about 82-83f right now. I did have a higher 84-85, but someone said rams kept at that temp will speed up metabolism and shorten their already short lives.


My Scapes