# Blue Rams Slaughtered CAE



## Bahamas (May 5, 2013)

I was having an algae buildup, so I bought a Chinese Algae Eater. I know full well it gets extremely aggressive, but my neighbor has a full out breeding experiment going on (80 CAE in a 170 gallon lol) so I decided to hand it over to him after a week.


I picked up my male GBR yesterday, I happened to pick the one she was paired with in the LFS tank. She spawned eggs literally 30min after he was out of the bag, and he even fertilized them.


Anyways, I was playing a videogame on my computer and I noticed the CAE flying around the tank. I pushed my face up on the glass.


He got within an inch of the eggs and the male DECIMATED him. He hit him like a ... fishy freight truck ... and sent the poor guy flying into the glass. He attempted to latch on to the female, and she started to go psycho on him...


By the time I ran into my bathroom to grab a net, the algae eater was dead and floating in little pieces. 



I thought rams were not capable of this kind of damage? Don't they just nip at fish who stray too close? This incident literally gave me the chills...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Rams are CICHLIDs. They are TERRITORIAL when spawning. They will drive fish away from an area they have claimed. IME it can range from the size a 10g to half a 55g. If they claim the whole tank, other fish are doomed unless they can hold their own in a running battle. I think a breeding pair of angels (5X the size) MIGHT manage against rams. 

Killing intruders together helps the pair bond and some breeders will use sacrificial "target" fish to keep them from killing each other . Cichlid divorces are messy. 

In the wild, other fish just back off, but in a tank there is no place to go. Jewels and convicts are notorious for killing off all the other fish in a tank. But any (substrate-spawning) cichlid pair can do this.

Plecos are well-armored, you would think they'd be hard to kill. But I once watched a pair of angels in a 30XH (24" x 12") tank take turns dive-bombing a pleco. The would go to the top, back corner of the tank and swim faster than I've ever seen them move to ram the poor pleco in the opposite corner in the back of its head. Like you, I couldn't get it out fast enough to save it. I am pretty sure they were deliberately killing it and knew how.

There are many almost-always "peaceful" cichlids, but the exception is when they are spawning or guarding eggs or fry.

I like watching cichlids breed, so I have a lot of species tanks.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Couldn't have said it any better, emc.

Rams aren't always the best parents, so maybe you got lucky and got parents who will raise the kids! Mine never did.

Letting them kill fish keeps their attention on the fish, and not eating the eggs.


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## AnthonyC4C (Mar 27, 2013)

Were these Electric or German? Sorry for the loss of your fishy but dang that's impressive


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