Caprichoso Posted June 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostface Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 My GBR's would attack the cherry shrimp I had in the tank as well. I've removed them since, only had about 4 out of 12 left by the time i noticed. Hopefully they can repopulate, I got 1 baby, 2 females and 1 male left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostface Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 very cool, the female will usually approach the male and torque her body slightly and start fanning her fins really fast...its one of the reasons I like them so much. They have so much personality, and are super cool to watch. When my female is ready to spawn, she gets right up close to the male and start doing her thing, then sprint away to her spawn spot, back and forth until the male finally catches on and follows her hehe. If you see her belly get really pink, you'll know shes ready. Mine spawn for me usually every 7-9 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan11 Posted June 23, 2011 Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 If you don't mind me asking. where did you get your male from? I need another female.. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted June 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 If you don't mind me asking. where did you get your male from? I need another female.. Thanks! Aquarium Central, but they didn't have any females left. Unless they've brought in a shipment since then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostface Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 I picked up a nice female Ram at Riverside yesterday, They are already showing signs of spawning behaviour. The Male was pretty excited to see another female, hes been following her around the whole day...Lets hope they find the nice cave I built for them using half young coconut, covered with java moss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan11 Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted July 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan11 Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Sorry to hear about the rams. Just lost my last male when I went on vacation two days ago, The poor little guy jumped clear out of my tank.... I was so upset. Don't give up on keeping them though, I'm not, They're beautiful fish... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprichoso Posted July 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 (edited) 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 Edited July 5, 2011 by Caprichoso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 in my experience rams are a school fish. ... that said, anything less than 6 in a tank (any size) basically asks for trouble. -the exception to the rule would be a pair that are a part of a school, then get removed to do their layin / fanning / hatching, then returned to the school as soon as the fry are free swimming - When a schooling fish is in a group less than the required size (6 in this case) they feel threatened and are over-stressed. It is possible that your dwarf cichlids had gill flukes from the begging, but for certain a stressed fish cannot fight off such a parasite, where a healthy one can fight it sufficiently enough that it never becomes an issue for that fish. (much like we humans carry common cold viruses every day of our lives, but only "catch colds" when our immune systems cannot fight it off for whatever reason at that time) you can have perfect water, hiding spots, feed a high quality and varied diet and fail with these fish because you simply didnt have enough of them. This applies (again in my experience) to pretty much every species in the cichlid family. It is also worth noting that many commercail hatcheries raise their rams with hormones / medications 24/7. meaning that the fish they produce have under developed immune systems and are possibly carrying medication resistant bacteria / parasites. you are taking a gamble each and every time you buy a cichlid from a LFS... go to a breeder, someone who like most of us, loves the hobby. You will get much, much higher quality fish. I welcome others opinions on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 in my experience rams are a school fish. ... that said, anything less than 6 in a tank (any size) basically asks for trouble. -the exception to the rule would be a pair that are a part of a school, then get removed to do their layin / fanning / hatching, then returned to the school as soon as the fry are free swimming - When a schooling fish is in a group less than the required size (6 in this case) they feel threatened and are over-stressed. It is possible that your dwarf cichlids had gill flukes from the begging, but for certain a stressed fish cannot fight off such a parasite, where a healthy one can fight it sufficiently enough that it never becomes an issue for that fish. (much like we humans carry common cold viruses every day of our lives, but only "catch colds" when our immune systems cannot fight it off for whatever reason at that time) you can have perfect water, hiding spots, feed a high quality and varied diet and fail with these fish because you simply didnt have enough of them. This applies (again in my experience) to pretty much every species in the cichlid family. It is also worth noting that many commercail hatcheries raise their rams with hormones / medications 24/7. meaning that the fish they produce have under developed immune systems and are possibly carrying medication resistant bacteria / parasites. you are taking a gamble each and every time you buy a cichlid from a LFS... go to a breeder, someone who like most of us, loves the hobby. You will get much, much higher quality fish. I welcome others opinions on this. Resurrected post but I'm game. I agree 99%. I would say rams are a social community group not so much a schooling fish per say. In nature they live in groups set up in rings. Separated by sex age and dominance. Young in the center, defenders around the perimeter and so on. There is a definite social order to these guys. Gill flukes are a piece of cake to treat! If a fish is scratching and you don't see ich, treat for flukes. Jungle Parasite clear works like a charm and is gentle. I totally agree about the farm raised fish. I do prefer fish from breeders or other AA members. There are a multitude of reasons why. Given the choice between price and quality, bought or breeder I will always go with quality. It may mean saving my pennies but hey, quality is worth it. This in the past lower quality fragile fish have bitten me in the butt, thus my appreciation of quality. As I have found you more than likely will spend the money one way or another. You may as well do it right the first time, and save yourself the aggravation and time. A good example is I am getting some German Red cichlids from Fairdeal. I could purchase them for $9 farm raised, also less than 1/2 the size. But prefer go with with the ones Jorg has line bred in local water conditions, fed well for generations. This removes a ton of variables vs. the farm fresh ones I would fly in, that have been fasted twice in the past 2 weeks, traveled thousands of miles, and have zero positive upbringing I can prove. Much rather give my money to a hobbyist I know. It's a no brainer. Since my attitude change, and a mediocre quarantine and medication regime, I have had zero problems that weren't my fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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