# blue ram



## Guest (Jul 11, 2007)

okay... i am going to get one male blue OR gold ram, depending on which ones look better at the lfs, for my 10 gallon with 5 harlequin rasboras. what is the best way to aquascape their tank to their liking? i under stand that the tank is on the small side so i want it to look good yet still have swimming room. both ends of it are heavily planted with open swimming space in the middle. there is a drift wood ornament to one side. you can see a pic of it in this link:

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/user-journals/16030-10-gallon-bio-tope.html

there are more plants than what is in the pics in the tank now.

I am thinking about putting a flower pot on it's side to provide him with another hiding place. 

is gravel a good substrate? i am thinking about changing it to sand cause i like the looks of it. what do y'all suggest? the only thing i can think of is that it will be hard to clean it cause it will just be sucked up. 

What should i feed? all my fish get flakes, black worms, and blood worms. if he'll eat them, i could get some feeder guppies every so often.

thanks alot,

Andrew


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## Clerk (Nov 22, 2006)

Aquascaping isn't super important, but the rams are fairly sensitive and like really clean water. So plan for many water changes to keep it pristine.


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2007)

yuppers....i knew i had that coming so...i just want the tank to look the best for me and him.

do you know if gold rams are any less hardy than blue? i know ther're the same species but sometimes diffeerent color varieties are less hardy than others.


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2007)

okay...my lfs got bolivian rams in by mistake. i put the biggest one on hold till friday. i didn't pay anything so i can always hold off till tuesday to get a blue. i've heard that bolivians are hardier than blues. is that true? do you recomend that i wait for the blue or if i keep the bolivian? personally, bolivians are growing on me and would rather keep them but if i should wait for the blue, let me know.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I think, in general bolivians, being a little bigger are a little hardier. However, Bolivians have not been in the hobby as long and an old tank raised strain of blues (or golds) may be more tolerant of aquarium conditions such as higher pH, hardness, and nitrates that fish that are closer to wild caught. Your aquascaping look fine. You might add a few 1/2 flower pots and/or some floating plants.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Live and/or frozen blackworms and bloodworms are fine as are brine shrimp. I think guppie fry are too large and a potential source of infection.


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2007)

all of my guppy fry are born iin my house to help prevent infection. i night try brine shrimp but the last time i did it they all died the next morning. $1.39 down the drain..lol IME, they spen more time on the bottom of the tank so i think i'll pass on the floating plants. but then aain my lfs has some good looking ones.


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

my bolivian ram is always front and center since he loves the attention. really all you need are a few caves or hiding spaces to provide them a sense of security (some live plants wouldnt hurt either). make sure your water is clean as well, even though you can get away with water that is a little dirty due to the fact that bolivians are definitely hardier than your everyday blue or gold rams. good luck with them!


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2007)

thanks for the pointers. this will be my first i don't want to mess up. i have a drift wood thingy in there and a few rasboras so i don't think i'll need anything else.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You don't need to feed shrimp if you can't get in good stuff in your area. In fact , flakes are just fine for a daily diet. Worms or other high-protein, high-fat live food will encourage rams to spawn, but a treat once every few days is enough.


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2007)

when i have them, they get worms in the morning, and tetracolor enhancin flakes at night.


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

Bolivian rams must be pretty tough. I have three in a 29 gal with 3 dwarf gouramis and (because of health issues, can't always keep up the tank maintainance) my nitrates are...shall we say less then optimal? Ok, ok, so they stay about 40 ppm. lol But they are very healthy and have grown quickly. They are active, seldom hiding in pots or plants and they cruise the front of the tank constantly. They eat just about anything I put in there that sinks to their level...flakes, crumbles, sinking pellets...they will even chew on algae waffers. 
Now I certainly don't advise letting your nitrates get that high and they would definately do better in more stable conditions but if mine are an example I'd say they are pretty tough cookies. Cute little boogers too. LOL


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2007)

Thanks buggy!

i have to call my local nature center at 9:00 eastern time to have them write a letter for my eagle project for boy scouts saying that i completed the project to their standereds. after that, i have to catch my pearl gourami to take him back and then its TO THE LFS!!! i'll let y'all know how it goes.

Andrew


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2007)

i got my ram!! he was almost all black when i got home at around 10:30. 5 hours later and most of the black is gone but his colors are still pretty pale. hopefully he'll be back to normal tomarrow. i feed the tank and he ate some flakes but spit them back out  i'll try frozen bloodworms tomarrow if he won't take the flakes.

Would putting a conch shell, about 8 inches long, effect the Ph in the tank enough to hurt him? i am thinking about doing a freshwater reef looking thing like cichlidman did and i found the conch when i was in cancun and i want to put it in the tank. also, does lace rock effect Ph? i want to put 3 small pieces of this in as well to make a little cave.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

i feed him this morning but when he ate the flakes, he sorta "chewed" them then spit them out. all of them. i am going to the lfs to pick up some black worms later today so maybe he'll eat those. it might be just being new as he is still a little stressed. He is deff. a male as he hass small tail streamers and his dorsal fin has a fin extension as well. they are still small but they're there!

still lookin for answers for lace rock and conch shell question above!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

They can both up water hardness, but slowly. I would use the shell and skip the lace rock. I don't think Bolivians need blackwater conditions. You can get a TDS pen for $20 bucks and keep an eye on the tank's hardness and your drinking water.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

i think i am going to use the rock cause i have some smaller shells. i have a 2 inch and a 1.5 inch shell from a turbo snail, and a few 1 inch shells. i've been told before that the shell will raise it by alot. my lfs just told me that it will raise the Ph to 8.5 and the lace rock won't raise it very much if it does at all. i only got 2 pounds of it for the tank anyway.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

1 more thing. i plan on re homeing my harlies within the next month or so. i really need some kind of fish or invert to help eat the missed black worms. cories come to mind. i would also like a few black neons or glolights tho. i really want pygmy or dwarf cories but i can't really find them. my next choice would be panda cories. either way, i would get 4 cories. if i got dwarfs, how many glolights and black neons could i get and if i got panda's, how many tetras? i will only use one or the other but i still would like to know. thanks alot

Andrew


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

Just my input, but I'd rather make the tank as close to the Bolivian's natural environment...so instead of a "fake reef" I'd try to make it more of an Amazon environment including driftwood, natural colored gravel or sand, and fake or live plants.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

right now i have fake plants, gravel, and a drift wood ornament. i like natural looking tanks. but all of my tanks are like that and i just want something alittle different. it'll still have some plants and a lace rock cave for shelter and protection. maybe next time i clean the tank i'll do it up reefish. i still need to buy an anenome or two and some coral...lol


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

I'd stick with one school of fish and the Bolivian and not try to stuff cories in there too. The tank just isn't big enough. If you get some cories, I wouldn't get any tetras.

For the missed worms, get a new turkey baster to suck them up after each feeding. That will help cut down on the waste.

I've personally overstocked a 10g before and regretted it because the tank went through old tank syndrome, started registering ammonia, and I lost a few tetras. 10g tanks are best left understocked IMO.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

so your saying either the cories or the tetras. omg the desicions...i have a penguin 100 with a bio wheel for filteration. it is rated for 20 gallons. i got it cause i wanted the biowheel and a better filter than what i had but it might let me put a few more fish in the tank cause it can keep up with the waste beter. since i am only going with one school, how many cories do you recomend and how many tetras?


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## Guest (Jul 15, 2007)

i was looking at my fish book and i saw that salt and pepper cories are smaller than panda. i can get salt and pepper easily so i'de like to change my panda cories to salt and pepper cories if it makes a difference


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