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would it be ok to keep to male blue rams in a 10 gallon

i would have to say yes, but since i am not a ram expert and don't know the size they get to , to be on the safe side, only add one.

hey there loachesrcool, i think the thing you wanna watch out for is that a 10 gallon tank is really hard to keep stable - the larger the body of water, the easier it is to maintain. so smaller tanks still need all the water changes etc that big tanks do, but their parameters will swing alot more and it's more difficult to keep everything stable for the fish. rams are partial to clean, soft, mature water, so i wouldn't recommend them for such a small container.

If you have stable water parameters, then go for it, but it's quite difficult to keep a 10Gal. tank stable.


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In addition to the above info about tank stability (advice which should be heeded), let me offer up another warning. Male rams can be territorial towards each other, and may have little battles meant to show rivals who the boss is. In a ten gallon tank, space is limited, so the rams will be encroaching on each others’ territory often. If there aren’t enough hiding places and/or territory landmarks, they might have a little trouble sorting it out between themselves. That means quite a bit of fighting, which can severely stress out the weaker or even both fish.

To circumvent this problem, just make sure that you have plenty of cover in the tank. Plants are appreciated, as well as little caves. Give each ram at least one area to call home, and they should be able to tolerate each other.

Oh yeah- you aren't going to be able to keep much else in there, maybe just a few ottos. Just bear that in mind.

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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."

not an expert but i do own both types of rams, bolvians and blues. i would only put a pair of blues in a 10g ( male/female ). they are small enough to keep the tank stable and arnt agressive. the bolivians arnt agressive but will bicker and argue once in a while. not enough to do serious harm but the real reason is size. bolvians are very bulky and bigger then blues. i think you will be less likely to be able to keep the tank stable with them and the agresion may be an issue. might be just enough to stress eahc other out. i dont see any issues with a pair of blues though, they are more sensitive to water quality though.

personal experience, i keep mine in a 75g tank. 2 blues and 2 bolivians and they still argue over space if you can believe that. tiny blue ram chasing a full grown bolivian is a site to see to say the least.bolivian is twice the size in every direction.

Although 10 gallons is the minimum fishtank size for keeping Rams, I think you can place a pair of them along with 3-4 Ottos and 5-6 Hatchetfish... Make sure you have "sandy" substrate, a piece of driftwood, a few anubias and regular changes with soft water! If you add java moss and a coconut, it's very likely that you'll see babies too...!!!

can someone tell me the dimensions of a 10 gallon tank in inches?

Twenty inches long by ten inches wide by twelve inches tall. Those are the dimensions for a standard U.S. ten gallon tank.

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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."

thanks - i've been trying to visualise the dimensions. aussies tend to talk about tanks in feet and inches, not by capacity.

We (in Greece and Europe) have an even greater difficulty as we use centimeters...

I've been keeping rams for a long time, one male/female pair will be fine in a 10 gal, but will not tolerate any other fish in a tank that size. I change my water every Sat/Sun. I do a 40-50% water change, and they spawn regularly. I give them rocks to hide among, and the lighting is on a timer, which seems to keep them happy. I feed them cichlid pellets, supplemented by frozen brine, mysis, and bloodworms. Good luck!

I have a friend who bought two beautiful blue rams that both turned out to be male. They were in a 30 gal. tank with a bunch of neons and platys, and one of the rams died because it was constantly being bullied by the dominant ram. They didn't fight, per se, but the dominant ram chased the weaker one all over the place and it eventually died from stress and being generally miserable.

If you were going to do rams, I'd go with a formula that seems to work for a number of semi-aggressive fish: just one, or more than three. If you have a large group, then they will quarrel among themselves, but it's rare that an individual fish will be singled out for abuse. A harem of one male to three females would be a good group, or a group of 4-5 males in a HEVILY planted tank. Offer them plenty of cover and places to hide.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...