Advice needed on Bolivian Rams

[boy96792]

I've been wanting to get into dwarfs for awhile and decided to go with bolivian rams. I got a 55gal but wanting to know what to put in it (substrate,plants, etc.)
I want to make this a species tank and more to their natural habitat. I've raise and breed cichlids but was allways with the big boys Jag's,JD's,Dovii's the smallest I have are convicts. But like I said I've been wanting to do this for awhile. So any advice and help would be really cool. :hmm3grin2orange:

[Dave66]

I quote myself,
———
Endemic to the Mamoré and Guapore Rivers in Brazil and Bolivia is one of the most popular dwarf Cichlids in the hobby - Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, the Bolivian Ram.

A member of the Geophagan (Eartheater) family, Bolivian, sometimes called Blue, Rams, top out at 3 inches. The head of both sexes is yellow, and a dark line bisects the eye. The yellow gradually turns into a bluish-grey as you go down the body, and the fins. save for the clear pectorals, are edged in red, and are a nice, translucent green-blue. His dorsal, tail and anal fin develop long extensions in maturity. She has them too, just not as extensive. Ventrals are long and feeler like, and an attractive red and blue. Faint dark lines are usually visible on the back half of these fish. The 'blue' is when the male and female don their breeding colors. The yellow intensifies, and the blue-grey turns deep, iridescent blue.

Being part of the Eartheater clan, one should provide a soft, dark substrate, preferably one of the aquatic soils, as they tend to sift through the substrate for tidbits like all Geophagans do.

They do best in the soft, slightly acidic waters of the well-planted tank, equipped with driftwood and stones. PH should never exceed 7.2, with 6.5 to 6.8 best. The water must be soft, say gH 5 or less, for best results with these fishes. Floating plants should be used to filter the light over the main swimming area, as Bolivian Rams eschew bright lights. Temperatures are 75 to 80 degrees, and they must have stability. Though Blue Rams are generally hardy, they will not tolerate inappropriate water conditions like high Nitrate, so regular partial water changes and general maintenance are the rule. They are not fish for the new or in flux tank. Properly kept, it's not uncommon to get five years out of these Rams.

Blue Rams are true omnivores, and will take things like defrosted peas and live Daphnia magna with equal vigor. Thus, a diet including live foods like California black worms, and fresh vegetables like peeled and cored apples, mashed spinach leaves, and the like, and frozen aquatic worm, insect larvae and small crustaceans, should be the diet for these fishes. They will take pelleted foods happily, but make sure they are of the best quality. Prepared foods should be no more than half of the diet.

It's best to buy at the very least six young Rams, and let them choose their mate naturally. Buying just a pair is inadvisable, as they often don't get along, and one will almost always suddenly die. With such a small adult size, it isn't difficult to have a colony of these Rams in a larger tank. I once had a colony of over 30 Blue Rams in a planted 200 gallon, and the dynamic between them is fascinating to watch.

Blue Rams aren't shy, and occasionally appear aggressive, but it's all show. Kept with a large school of tetras, Blue Rams are very passive. They should be the only Cichlid species in the tank for best results. Tankmates must be mild, and a good school of tetras, like Cardinals, are perfect.

A compatible pair is mated for life, and kept in the proper aquarium, they commonly breed, and they are usually excellent parents. He dances for her favor with much shaking and fin-flaring when he detects she's ready, and they usually spawn on rounded or flat rocks. Both sexes clean the stone, and she lays a line of brown-amber eggs, and he follows to fertilize them. Usual spawns are around 250 to 300 eggs. For reasons known only to the female, she often puts substrate on the eggs. The male patrols the perimeter and will briefly chase off interlopers.

The eggs take about three days to hatch, and the parents move the larvae to pits they've dug, and move them from pit to pit every day. It usually takes about a week for the fry to become free swimming, and they surround their parents in a cloud. They can take Rotifers, which are about half the size of baby brine shrimp, right off, and you can start trying the BBS a day or two later. The parents will guard the fry for at least three months.

———

From my Dwarf Cichlid primer stickied at the top of the Dwarf Cichlid forum.

Dave

[boy96792]

wow great info! thanks alot what would be a good substrate for them any recomendations

[Dave66]

Something fine and soft like aquatic soils would be best, and a plus would be the soils are good for plant growth. I could recommend some aquatic soils, but if you google the phrase, you'll find plenty of aquatic soils for sale.

Are you going to use Co2 with your planted tank?

Dave

[boy96792]

don't know yet but i've been thinking about using CO2 since I use it for my aquascape tank would it be a good idea? I'm still new with CO I just got into aquascaping about two months ago.

[Pterophyllum]

Bolivian Rams are great fishes to keep :)

I had 2 in my 29 gallon before, but now I just have one.

They aren't aggressive unless you have 2 males and no females.

Unfortunately when I had 2 male Bolivian Rams, they were always fighting with each other, and they opened their mouths so big and the top fins were up really high..

So I didn't bother doing anything about it... since I have a lot of plants in my tank, and they don't always fight just during feeding time which is once or twice a day.

They usually eat a lot of my plants.

Bolivian Rams are friendly fishes and you can keep them in with very small tetras. They are part of the Cichlid Family, and they are a dwarf species. They cannot grow bigger than about 2 - 3" when fully grown.

It isn't recommended to keep Rams in with big big fishes because big fishes will eat rams, since they can't grow so big.

A great setup would be:

Put light gravel as light colored substrate, and a lot of plants. Put R O water if you'd like since Rams like soft water..

After that.

Get a few rams, depending on how big your tank is you don't want to get too many...

After that, introduce some neon tetras, cardinal tetras, phantom tetras, blue gourami, pleco, and then lastly some angels.

If you get angelfishes first, they will become territorial to the new comers. So that is why I always get angels last.

You can do different set ups.

You don't need to have advanced substrate, and they don't require high temperatures.

I keep my 29 gallon tank at an 84º F. My bigger tanks go up to 87º F to 90. SOMETIMES I will put it up to 90 if bad ick issues come in.

But, other than that... I don't put the bigger tanks' temp up to 90....

Rams generally like to live in soft water like I might have stated before, they don't like hard water like their distant relative in Africa. Such as the African Cichlids.

Bolivian Rams are not picky eaters. Basically, they can also eat some mysis shrimp too, or blood worms, and many other types of worms that discus will eat.

They are compatible with almost any community fish, just not really the Buenos Aires tetras. Buenos Aires Tetras are considered semi - aggressive they will nip on fancy fins.

I had that problem with my angels and the Buenos Aires.

Also, they are agile and swift so it took me a long time just to get them caught, and delivered to someone else.

Oh, and they require a pH of 6.8 and a little higher.

I hope I gave a good vivid description.

PLEASE DON'T CRITICIZE ME ON ANY OF THIS INFO!

good luck :)

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

PLEASE DON'T CRITICIZE ME ON ANY OF THIS INFO!Yoshimitsu, if your information was accurate nobody would criticize it, but it's not accurate. This forum is for sharing accurate information, and when inaccurate information is shared, it is corrected.

First of all, Rams do not eat aquarium plants at all.

It isn't recommended to keep Rams in with big big fishes because big fishes will eat rams, since they can't grow so big. That very very much depends on the fish you are keeping them with. Not all big fish eat little fish.

Rams generally like to live in soft water like I might have stated before, they don't like hard water like their distant relative in Africa. Such as the African Cichlids. This only describes the Rift Lake Cichlids, it certainly does not apply to the Western African Estuarian cichlids.

Oh, and they require a pH of 6.8 and a little higher. Not entirely accurate. Mine is doing just fine in the tank with my Discus and the pH is 6.4, they were in my planted tank together when the pH was 5.6 and their colors were even more vibrant.

[Pterophyllum]

I thought you raised saltwater fishes??

[Lady Hobbs]

He does. And he has community fish, cichlids, saltwater, planted tanks.

Enough is enough.

[gm72]

He does. And he has community fish, cichlids, saltwater, planted tanks.

Enough is enough.

Thank you.

[Lady Hobbs]

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

[Wild Turkey]

Gj mod team