German B.RAM question
 

Hello all. I have a family friend that has a 60 gallon bow front tank.contents=two juvenile convict females,1 1/2 inches long(from my sparky!!),small dalmation molly,,two fish that I have no idea what they are called,but are not shy,(I will get a pic),and a very big kissing gorami. I showed him a picture of the bolivian and german,and he realy likes the look of the german. NOW! what does he need to do with his tank to get a couple of them. I know they are timid and shy.81-84 degrees. and all that. as apposed to getting along with the baby convicts I gave him wich are bullied by the gorami. thanks


--Brian

Rams will not match with the setup. He has all hard water fish, with one fish reaching 16". Rams need acidic water, and either the rams or the older fish will not be happy.

+one for What Cody posted.

Agree. The rams will be stressed continually and suffer health problems and probably die within a few weeks.

ok,thanks for the info,now if we start over,what should the water peramiters be for the rams,I was told his daughter can take his fish he has now.so if we were to have an empty tank,what do we need? thanks

The German (Blue) Ram [Mikrogeophagus ramirezi] is quite sensitive to water quality and parameters. You can read several threads on this and other forums about aquarists with rams that don't live beyond a few weeks, and the reason almost always is the water. Even though most (but not all) rams purchased in fish stores now are commercially raised, they seem to have retained their natural requirement for soft, acidic water. Linke & Staeck reported capturing this fish in water that had a total hardness below 1 degree dH (can't get much softer than this) and a pH of 5.1, and the conductivity was almost undetectable. The water temperature was 28.5 C [83.3 F] at 10 am.

Providing the fish with soft, slightly acidic water at a temperature around 80 F is best. The fish prefer a well planted aquarium providing security through hiding places and to establish their territories; each ram in a tank will create its own territory and defend it to varying degrees. In their natural habitat they are found in small groups around emersed vegetation and branches that reach into the water, or in larger groups where submersed vegetation is present. They fare best in pairs (male and female), and are easy to sex.

The fish's sensitivity to water quality makes it a bad choice for a new aquarium which is more likely to have fluctuating water conditions, both in terms of the nitrogen cycle and the hardness and pH. The tank should be well established with a mature biological equilibrium before adding rams.

A 60g tank will provide water stability (once matured) better than a small tank, and will also provide opportunity for companion fish. As long as the tankmates are peaceful and somewhat sedate, the rams will feel comfortable and exhibit their natural behaviours. They are something of a shy fish, and with boistrous companions will be stressed. I've had a pair spawn in a 90g with about 100 fish, all small characins (tetras, hatchetfish) and Corydoras, and it was fascinating to behold. Remembering the warmer temperatures rams require, the accompanying fish should be able to tolerate these. Cardinal tetras, rummynose tetras, black phantom tetras, false neon tetras, loreto tetra, pencilfish, and hatchetfish all manage under these conditions, and all are shoaling fish (keep a group of minimum 6, preferably more). Most of the corys will do well, although there are a few species that will not thrive in the warmer temperatures.

WOW!! thank you.thank you

If you don't mind me asking in this thread, will panda cories handle higher temps okay?

Of course we mind, what's with you? :-P ;-)

OK, back to the panda. Good question. The Corydoras panda occurs in streams in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Peru, in the Río Pachitea and Río Ucayali systems. These waters are cooler than further down in Amazonas; Linke & Staeck reported a water temperature range of 23-26C for the Rio Ucayali. Several sources suggest a temperature range of 22-25 C (71-77 F) for C. panda, with some giving 24C (75F) as the upper limit. Of course, most of the pandas available today are commercially raised in Florida or Singapore, and some aquarists maintain that "natural" preferences can be changed with captive breeding, but I do not hold this view.

My 70g has a trio of pandas and the temp is 25.5C (78F). Last year I had different pandas along with some pygmy corys in my 33g and the heater malfunctioned and raised the tank to 85F before I realized it. All the corys died within 2-3 days, whereas the cardinals, pencilfish and hatchetfish in that tank were all fine--maybe feeling a bit warm, but no deaths. From my experience, and given the authorities and evolutionary biology of this lovely little fish, I would suggest finding other corys for a "warm" tank such as that for rams.

It is good to get into the habit of researching a fish before buying any. I now always do this; sometimes only by looking in the reference books that are available in some fish stores [another advantage of the true aquarium stores over chain stores, at least where I live], sometimes online particularly if the fish is a relatively new wild caught species that would not be in the books.

Byron.

Haha, sorry, i will keep my questions to myself from now on. :shock::lol:

I do research all of the fish that i buy before i purchase them. However, i do not have a reliable book and have to go with what i can find on the internet. All of the sources seem to list something different. What cories will do well in the higher temps?