So, I've always wanted a German Blue Ram, but have been afraid of them due to their relatively high price ($17 at the nearest LFS) and their oft-cited sensitivity. On my trip to the really good (but further away) LFS today, they had a tank full of blue rams that just came out of their mandatory two week quarantine they put all of their stock through before it hits the sales tanks. They were selling the fish for $8 a pop! I just had to get one, plus I *have* been looking for another centerpiece type fish for my 29g community.
I drip-acclimated the fish for about 45 minutes then netted it into the tank. It seemed to be doing fine at first. When I checked back a bit later, I found the fish cowering in the back behind some rocks. A bit later the fish was "cowering" up in the front top left corner of the tank, which seemed a bit unusual. I moved my finger near the fish to see if it was responsive, and it swam out into the center of the tank. Seconds later, my female kribensis shot out of a cave like a bullet and beat the snot out of the poor little ram, which retreated to some floating plants.
The female of the kribensis pair (which have been separated) was always the meaner of the two, so I swapped her into the other tank and put her husband in the 29g with the ram. They were in the 29g for about 30 seconds together and had already started the mating dance, so he's still frantically searching the tank for her 30 minutes later and hasn't paid any attention to the other fish. I'm gonna keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't bother the ram, but if he does I can always remove him as well.
So...I believe my ram is a female, but it's pretty small (about an inch and a half) so could it still develop into a male? Also, does anyone have any tips on keeping this fish healthy? I turned up the heat a little so the tanks running at about 79-80. I don't want to go much higher than that since I don't think the other fish would much appreciate it. The pH is at about 7.2, and I haven't tested the hardness in a while so I don't have that number off the top of my head.
I drip-acclimated the fish for about 45 minutes then netted it into the tank. It seemed to be doing fine at first. When I checked back a bit later, I found the fish cowering in the back behind some rocks. A bit later the fish was "cowering" up in the front top left corner of the tank, which seemed a bit unusual. I moved my finger near the fish to see if it was responsive, and it swam out into the center of the tank. Seconds later, my female kribensis shot out of a cave like a bullet and beat the snot out of the poor little ram, which retreated to some floating plants.
The female of the kribensis pair (which have been separated) was always the meaner of the two, so I swapped her into the other tank and put her husband in the 29g with the ram. They were in the 29g for about 30 seconds together and had already started the mating dance, so he's still frantically searching the tank for her 30 minutes later and hasn't paid any attention to the other fish. I'm gonna keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't bother the ram, but if he does I can always remove him as well.
So...I believe my ram is a female, but it's pretty small (about an inch and a half) so could it still develop into a male? Also, does anyone have any tips on keeping this fish healthy? I turned up the heat a little so the tanks running at about 79-80. I don't want to go much higher than that since I don't think the other fish would much appreciate it. The pH is at about 7.2, and I haven't tested the hardness in a while so I don't have that number off the top of my head.