Ramirezi Tankmates

Crusader

Hi all,

I am a new member to this forum, but have been visiting it for awhile now to get information. Well, I thought it was about time I join to see if I can help anyone out, and be able to post specific questions that you guys can maybe answer.

I have a 55g tank, that is heavily planted. It has been running for awhile now, and I have been very happy with it. It contains 2 Bolivian Rams (Very old pair, have had them for about 3 years now), 2 Gold Rams (about 1 year old) and 2 German Blue Rams (around 8 months). All have been living very peacefully and happily from what I can tell. I used to have tetra's as a dither fish, but I grew to not enjoy their presence as much in the tank, so I gave them to a friend of mine and they are doing fine.

So, on to my question. I ran across the American Flagfish at my LFS. I fell in love immediately with the little guys, but like always I like to do the research before I buy. I have found extremely differing views as to the aggression of these fish. I would love to get these fish to replace the "dither fish" role that the neons had. I was curious if anyone has had success with keeping these fish with rams, without any aggression.

Also, my father is a big fish guy, and he recommended I look into Bumblebee Goby's. He had kept them in freshwater (I know that some sites say brackish water, some fresh) with great success and loved them. Now they only get an inch big, so would these guys work with the rams?

I would only get the flags or the bumblebees, not both. I also do not want to make the rams at all uncomfortable. They have been happy for a very long time, and they are my favorite fish. If getting neither of these types of fish and just leaving it as a species tank for rams is best for them, I am more than willing to do that. I was just curious as to what you guys thought of either situation and if you have had experience with these fish.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Romad

Hello and welcome to the forum

Sorry I can't help with either of those fish since I haven't owned any. Your rams are stunning and I can see why you want to keep them happy and healthy. Hopefully someone with experience will chime in soon.

Good luck and keep us posted.

LADY K

welcome

Tazman

Welcome to the forum.

In my opinion even for a 55g tank you are slightly overstocked as it is. The rams can get quite large particularly the gold rams. I would personally keep the tank the way it is an not change anything if it is working fine now. As

American flagfish are really nice but require a group of 3 or more to be happy and this would almost certainly overstock you given the adult size of the fish you have.

Perhaps if you could upgrade to a 75g then this would be more acceptable and allow you to add the american flagfish. If this is not an option then look at possibly getting a 32g tank and keeping a group of American flagfish in that. They grow to about 2.5" but as mentioned require a group to be happy, a single fish will get stressed easily.

TayTayTheFishFreak

In my experience as long as your rams are getting along you are not overstocked as long as you do not get any more rams. I would recommend getting a group of flag fish for your aquarium. i have kept them with rams in the past and they have done well. also, they are excellent algae eaters. I would not get the gobies though because they are bottom dwelling fish just like the rams so this might cause tension.

Chesherca

Gobies are a no-go, in my opinion! Aside from the brackish water thing, they're more territorial and nippy than people realize, aside from being bottom-dwellers as Taz already pointed out. I LOVE gobies (and Rams) but wouldn't put them in this tank! I don't know about the American Flagfish, though. . . sorry!