I recently setup a 10 gallon that I had lying around for some native fish and a crayfish that I caught, however, I am getting pretty bored of it now, and I think I'll give the fish to a friend, or put them back in the stream where I caught them.

So I want to convert that tank to a tropical tank, all I need is to buy a heater.

I have always really liked rams, I kept a bolivian ram in my 29 gallon for about 2 years, until he recently died. I would like to setup the ten gallon now, dedicated to breeding some german blues. I was just wondering if I could pull it off in a 10 gallon considering how small it is and how delicate german blues are.
The tank will have a sand bottom, and will include a piece of driftwood and a slate cave that I made myself. The tank will be heavily planted (there will be two of these lights in the hood: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...colormaxlamp10w ) and I am debating whether or not on adding Co2 through the DIY method. The pH of my tapwater is 7.6, so the Co2 will help in that aspect as well. I have the Aquaclear 20 filter, which filters 100gph, so I have a good filter running on the 10 gallon. Now Ideally I would like to add maybe 3-4 Cories in there, but it dosen't matter that much.

I was just wondering what you guys think about that setup, Im pretty excited about keeping a bit more delicate type of fish and trying to breed it.

This post has been edited by Captain Retardo: May 4 2008, 09:36 PM

Rams are easy enough to keep and breed in a 10g tank. If you want to keep corys in there then only get pygmy cories.
Feed the rams well several times a day and do regular water changes and they should breed in no time.
You might want to put a sponge filter over the intake of the Aquaclear to prevent fry from being sucked up into the filter. And cycle the tank before you get the rams so they don't have to go through the ammonia/nitrite cycle.

Alright, I've been through the fishless cycle before, i know how it works. I was just wondering if rams would work well together in a 10 gallon, some websites stress how delicate they are, as if missing one water change will kill them all. That was what I was worried about.
I feel like I want to move up to something more challenging, I have kept fish for a little over 2 years now, and I noticed breeding behavior in my harlequins and cherry barbs, I just thought it would be cool to have a tank setup specially for breeding rams.
How many should I buy when I start out though? I want to do the method where you buy a bunch of young ones and let them eventually pair off.

you can usually sex rams at the petshop. So if you buy 4-6 fish (2-3pr) and put them together. Once they start to pair off move the pairs out and leave one pair in the tank.
Sometimes you might even see a pair hanging out together in the shop. Buy those two if you can because they will have already paired off and will save you buying a number of fish.