GBR preparation

[Ikshvaku]

I've read up a good deal on the difficulties of taking care of a blue ram, and I was wanting to prepare my 38 gallon for a pair. I'm not in any rush to get them, so I was just wanting some advice on prepping my tank.

My current water stats are a bit unfortunate: PH 7.6, hardness 50-150 ppm. I know you don't want a young or unstable tank and you want to keep your nitrates down. My tank has been stable for some time now, though.

I currently am doing 16 gallon a week water changes. Does anyone think I should increase it when I get the rams? I also have 1 clump of Java Moss, about the size of a small fist, one small and one fully grown Java fern. I only have one 20 watt bulb, so I need to stick to super low wattage plants for now. But I am more than willing to add more plants to help.

[Lab_Rat]

More low light plants, such as anubias, would be good. Do you have a source for locally bred rams? If they've been bred and raised in water similar to yours you are more likely to have success. You can try adding some peat to your filter, or driftwood, or indian almond leaves to further lower the pH.

[KingFisher]

If you still have two Bolivian rams and two Kribs in there, I wouldn't bother adding blue rams as well. They will end up getting bullied to death by the other cichlids, especially the kribs if they choose to spawn.

[Lab_Rat]

Good catch KF, I didn't even look at the stocking in the sig.

[Ikshvaku]

I can move the rams and/or kribs if they get too belligerent. But as it stands, the kribs have already spawned twice, and there's been almost zero aggression in the tank.

As for the local place, I sincerely doubt they're locally bred, but I do think the store acclimates them to at least a slightly higher PH. Either way, the rams they have appear to be in excellent health. Full fins, good color, appropriately active.

I really would rather not use peat in this tank if I can avoid it. As for driftwood, I'd heard it said that it only minimally adjusts it down, but I've not used it much before. I've never heard of the almond leaves, though. Do they really work and where would they be available?

Also, one question, will snails go after anubias?

[Lab_Rat]

Driftwood impacts pH minimally, but it does release tannins, which GBR really like. I'd say move the kribs and bolivians before introducing GBR. Not to mention, the GBR need higher temps than bolivians or kribs.

[Ikshvaku]

I can get some driftwood, definitely.

And I'll look into rehousing those pairs. Are there any others that were particularly suitable tankmates? I'm thinking maybe Rainbow fish

Also, about how many more plants should I get for now? I should note that eventually I'm thinking of upgrading my lighting and getting some water sprite and stuff like Wisteria, but I wouldn't be able to afford that for some time.

[Lab_Rat]

I'd definitely look into upping your lighting if possible, a t5ho fixture for a tank is pretty reasonably priced.

As far as tankmates, bows prefer hard water. Most tetras make great tankmates for GBR, such as cardinals or rummynoses. Von rio flame tetras are very pretty little fish as well. Avoid excessively nippy tetras such as serpae. Barbs also tend to be a bit boisterous for GBR.

For plants, I'd get however many you want. Imo, the more the better, but my tanks tend to be jungles.