Caprichoso

Ok thanks for the info guys, I've been considering getting a unit but the water waste was putting me off. I like the hot water tank idea too, that would be great! I'll look into those brands further, thank you.

So that's 3 parts RO water to only 1 part waste? That sounds better than what I originally heard. For those of you that use the RO water for the washing machine, does it affect the clothes in any way? Would you use less soap then too because of extra sudsing? Can anyone recommend a good quality unit for me? Thanks for answering!

As the title says, are there any RO units that don't waste water? Someone told me that it's a 1 to 4 RO water to waste ratio! Is this true? Can anyone suggest an efficient brand? Thanks for your help

Lol!! So that's what my spouse has been trying to do all these years

Thanks dan11, and I'm sorry to hear about your ram, that's horrible! My LFS is giving me a credit so props to that. I'm taking a bit of a break from rams right now but I'm sure I'll come back to them at some point. Good luck on your future ram endeavours

Unfortunate update on my Blue Rams: DEAD. The new male started doing the same gasping thing, gills flaring, more on one side than the other. Took a trip back to LFS where I bought them and surprise, surprise, all their rams were doing the same thing. "Gill Flukes" was the apparent culprit. My spouse bought some api cure which I hate because other than a few planaria bugging my shrimp I have never had a parasite problem with my fish and had to medicate. The tank got dosed and then the female died as well. Tricky things these gill flukes are allegedly. I hope I can get a credit at the LFS but I'm not too keen on rams anymore. Just curious, are cichlids more prone to this than other fish? I have never had this issue in the 15+ years of fish keeping. So annoyed right now. On a lighter note, for anyone that has shrimp, API General Cure did not affect my shrimp in any way. None of them died from using it. It was safe for neocaridina heteropoda. Thanks for reading

You can leave shrimp without food for quite some time in an established tank as long as there are plants and mosses that they can browse on. They will be totally fine. I don't trust those food blocks and would be worried about contaminating the water.

Hey all, I bought some India Pearl shrimp a couple of weeks ago and put them in my 140g community tank. I'm thinking that because of their mottled appearance, some of my fish seemed wayyy too interested in them (especially my Emperor Tetras). The shrimp are on the larger size so I thought they would be fine in my tank, plus they have small "pincers" as well that they would raise to any fish that got too close to them. I have Rhino shrimp and some small Amano in the tank as well and none of the fish pay them any mind and they are smaller than the Pearl Shrimp. A few days ago I couldn't find 1 of them. I started with 4 in total. I started to get worried but these shrimp really blend in to the gravel and are very hard to see. Upon inspection of the ones I could find, one of them was laying on the bottom twitching and my big male Emperor was hovering over and another one was suddenly missing legs and a pincer on one side! Poor thing! I know one of my fish did it and I suspect the Emperors. Anyway, I removed them from my tank and put them in my "shrimps only" tank. The one died but the other two are now doing really well. I just wanted to put this out there as these are not common shrimp here and I know that someone out there bought the rest of them at the lfs I got them from. I'm pretty sure the other one is dead as I've been unable to find him and I don't want anyone else that bought these to lose a $10 shrimp. I guess in this situation, size does not matter and they were too appealing to the fish. Thanks for reading

I've just read this and am wondering if that's why I've lost 2 CRS within the last week. It happened after I did my usual water change of 50%. I'm sad, I've been having such good luck with them breeding and doing well up until this point. I'm not going to do a water change this week if the ammonia is still in the tap water.

Aquarium Central, but they didn't have any females left. Unless they've brought in a shipment since then?

Oh she's ready alright, lol, her belly has been really pink since I got her. Hopefully the "new guy" is interested. They're hanging out together a lot so I guess that's a start. I just wish the male would come out more. He's pretty scared when I go into the room and hides in the back. The female isn't timid at all anymore.

Today the male and female are hanging out together which did not happen with the last male Ram. I'm very relieved by this and they both have very strong coloration too. The male is still hanging around the back and closer to the bottom while the female likes to prowl around and check things out. When she gets close to him, his colours get nice and bright and he wiggles his fins a bit for her. I'm hoping this is a good thing? Hopefully no one dies this time. Both Rams and all the new tetras seem to get along with each other. Ciao

Update: I bought a new male Ram today. Inspected him really closely and he was the nicest one there. Put him in just a few minutes ago after acclimating the temperature and water in the bag with the lights off. He kept his colour really well and wasn't pale at all from the trip home. I have a good feeling about this one. Also added 5 Sky Blue Tetras and 6 Flame Tetras. The female hasn't discovered the male yet but was intrigued by the other fish. Fingers crossed that the Rams accept each other. If not, I give up lol.

Hey guys, The male was dead the next day but the female is looking really good. I've seen her attacking lots of my dwarf shrimp and her colours have improved a lot. Poor shrimp, thankfully there are a lot of plants for them to hide in. She doesn't seem to care about the nls flake atm, with all the live food around, who would. For some reason, she is coming out in the open now that the male is dead? Which doesn't make any sense to me...maybe he wasn't her type, lol. Anyway, now that I know she is alright, I plan on introducing some other fish, plus another male ram. Haven't decided on what type of fish yet, something that leaves my shrimp alone hopefully. I guess I have to take out all the prettier shrimp and put them into my other shrimp tanks before she devours them all! Would it be a better scenario to have two or three females for the male instead of just one?

Okay thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm going to see how they are in the morning and go from there. I didn't realize they needed to be around other fish. I spent a lot of time on line reading up on the water parameters and what fish NOT to put them with but never even considered they needed to be with other fish. I read a lot of info regarding that they can be timid but I thought that meant that they get scared easily by other fish so assumed that they do better with their own kind and in pairs. *sighs* I feel bad for them. Hope things look better with my male in the morning. Thanks for the help everyone

Ok, things are going downhill fast here. My male ram is sitting on the bottom of the tank and is breathing rapidly now. He is very pale and not moving much. The female and all shrimp are fine. I did another test out of paranoia. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0. The pH is 7.6, Temp is 80F. I removed both Honey Gourami last night from that tank without any major tank disturbances. There is no other physical symptom that I can see. I feel bad! Did taking the Gourami out traumatize him? I've done 2 water changes since putting the Rams in,(one per week) and I made sure the water was the same temp and used Prime to de-chlorinate. When I got the Rams, I made sure to acclimate properly too. Does anyone have any idea what is happening? Geez, sound like a noob here but I haven't had this happen before. Is there anything I can do? I've turned the light off for a start. I feel like adding fish from my other tank right now is not a good idea? Am I wrong? Thanks in advance for any help!

Cardinals, Rummynose, Emperor, Green Fire, Ember & Glow Light Tetras White Cloud Mountain Minnows Pearl & Honey Gourami Glass cats, Orange Lazer, Green & Bronze Albino Corydoras Betta: male & female Sunset High Fin Platies Otocinclus I have these types in my other tank and would like something different that would be compatible with rams and suitable for a 30 gallon. Thanks for the help

I hear what you're saying but they acted like that when the two honey gourami were in there too. The honey's didn't bother them and didn't hang out with the rams either. So you guys think the temp and pH isn't an issue then and it's just about adding more fish? Don't really want to add mountain minnows as 80F is much to warm for them in the long term. What other types of fish are good to put with them? I don't know much about rams but wouldn't a frantic fish like a Danio be too stressful for them? I will add some more fish if this is the problem but want to be sure before I do. I'd like to add a type of fish I don't already have too, so any suggestions on what would be best? Thanks for the response

Hey Guys/Gals, Spouse really wanted to have them so 2 weeks ago got a male and female Blue Ram for my 30 gallon low tech planted tank. Had 2 honey gourami in with them but have since taken them out. No tank mates now except shrimp. They are very shy and hang out at the bottom and back of the tank. I have to approach very slowly and even then they freak out. The temp is at 80F. Tank is loaded with bogwood, java moss, crypts, hygro and large sword. I do weekly water changes of 50%. I know in the wild they prefer a certain pH but was told that they do fine in harder water as they are all bred in captivity now. Had Rams when I was a teenager in my mom's tank and they received no special care or pH adjustment. I always remember them as very lively and colorful. The ones I have ARE NOT and look pale. Ammonia and nitrites are at 0. This is a mature, established tank with an aquaclear 150 and a sponge filter. Just wondering if they are normally timid and/or if I should be doing something different. I really don't like the thought of fiddling with the pH as I'm concerned with pH swings and my shrimp but will consider it if I need to. Any thoughts or advice for me? Thanks

Thanks guys, I know the food will be better for them in the long run. Heck, my cat tried to nibble my fingers after I touched the NLS so there must be good stuff in it, lol.

Hi Guys/Gals, I have fed my fish with Tetra Natural Color Enhancer Flakes for years but decided to switch to New Life Spectrum H2O Flakes since everyone is always raving on about it. My fish ARE eating it but not with the same vigour as the other food. Is this just because it's new? Anyway, I was just going to bin the old food and feed NLS exclusively but have since decided to mix the two together until the Tetra stuff is gone. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance C

Yah, apparently perch can become frozen solid in a block of ice and then thaw out in the spring and come back to life again!! This was told to me by an avid fisherman. So maybe the goldfish thing isn't as sci-fi as I previously thought, lol.

Thanks for the info, I may want to do this with mine

This is a joke right? I've heard of goldfish going into a sort of stasis/hibernation when the water temp gets cold but to come back to life after being FROZEN like a popsicle? Uhhh, me thinks NO.

Lolololol, I guess I'll keep buying lotto tickets then as I still have the same amount of Amano's today as I did 1 year ago.