blue rams stressed

fishsalt

Hello i currently have a 10 gallon tank with 2 blue rams 2 neons and 1 upside down catfish. I was wondering if I should get rid of the other fish I have I already pushed off most of my other fish on my friends im sure they wont mind some neons and another pelco. The pictures of my tank are in my album check them out.

Backer

I hate being another one of those guys saying: "OMG YOUR TANK IS TOO SMALL" but unfortunately you should probably get rid of both of your blue rams, they need more than a 10 gallon tank, a 20 is recommended. German Blue Rams are actually dwarf chichlids, making them quite territorial. They ARE peaceful when given adequate room and can be kept in a community tank, but in a tank as small as a ten gallon 2 is too many. You could probably get away with keeping one, though it wouldn't be ideal. You can look their profile up in the fish profiles tab at the top of the page. On the other hand simply getting a tank of 20 gallons or bigger would be ideal for both your fish AND you because you would have a 20 gallon instead of a ten

Hope i helped/wasn't the bearer of too terrible of news. Good luck with it all

fishsalt

Thats really bad news since I got rid of all of my fish in my tank the GBRs are the only ones left they seem happy if you can give me some positive advice that would be very helpful.

aunt kymmie

Is it not possible to upgrade to a 20gl?? Backer is right, 10gl is much too small for a pair of dwarf cichlids. You can get away with it for now, but it won't be long before it's going to cause problems.

fishsalt

Right now its not possible I will be moving very shortly my local fish store said they would be fine but i think he might of lied Ive also read on other forums people breeding rams in 10 gallons but where unsuccessful

Lupin

A large tub will do them justice temporarily until you can upgrade your tank or rehome the fish, whichever decision you want to make.

Backer

I agree with Kymmie in that basically your good news is you might be able to get away with them in the ten gallon for a little while but you will find shortly that they will be chasing each other and nipping each other when they get more mature. Lupin also makes a good point that a large rubbermaid (I think they cost like $8.00) or something of the sorts can serve as a functional temporary home if things get really bad. In my experience I have 2 GBR's in a 30 gallon and I feel that this is JUST enough, and only because it is well planted/decorated, my rams chase each other all over the tank, but there is enough hiding places that it is not detrimental to their health.

Good luck

fishsalt

Today i found my male GBR dead under some drift wood :( the weird thing is the female looks really healthy and colorful her mood is okay as i was pulling him out she swam to him trying to protect or something while i was doing this i was talking to the local fish store guy where i bought them from and he said she might of killed him as i was taking the poor guy out and i found under the drift wood that i moved to get to him i seen there were eggs under the wood my question is any tips of how he died and also what i should do to help the fish i have a bubbler in my ten gallon should i turn it off? and should i take the female out of the tank when they hatch?