A Couple Of Concerns

[A creature void of form]

1) My tank just has 2 Male Bolivain Rams, fully grown. They seem to nip at each other's mouths quite a bit, and also sometimes at the finage and body area. Sometimes they can lunge into each other aggresively. But here's the thing - neither of the fish are harmed in any way that I can tell. The intricate fins are all intact and they look really healthy. Are they just playing then, or can I expect a full on brawl?

Ultimately, is it worth taking 1 male back and getting a female, or just introducing a female into the tank with the two males?

2) I've fed them frozen bloodworm and flakes so far, and they seemed to relish the meal. But yesterday, when I fed them frozen Brine Shrimp, they both chewed them for a bit and then spat them out. This continued for several hours. Is this unusual? I mean, it seems that they recognise that they are food but refuse to eat them.

 

[Underwurlde]

1) Normal behaviour. This is what makes them interesting as well as geourgeous!

2) Dunno. Guess fish have taste too!

Andy

 

[Scotty001]

2) I've fed them frozen bloodworm and flakes so far, and they seemed to relish the meal. But yesterday, when I fed them frozen Brine Shrimp, they both chewed them for a bit and then spat them out. This continued for several hours. Is this unusual? I mean, it seems that they recognise that they are food but refuse to eat them.
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were the brine shrimp still frozen solid and cold ??? if so the temp change of them swallowing them may have been too much so they spat them out, i have a few ram, 2 Bolivian, 1 Fire mouth and 1 blue ram, i tend to feed them live brine shrimp which i cultivate at home and they love them.

with regards to the chasing of each other my 2 bolivian rams are fine together and simm around with the firemouth, my Blue ram thinks he is the ruler of the aquarium he will chase and harass every other fish in the tank that is his size or larger, i have since removed this one and placed him in a smaller tank with a Guamri that i have that did the same, they both seem to get on well together in the smaller tank that is stocked with Tetras. there was a little stand off at 1st with the ram and Guamri but that was for all of 1 min where the just stared at each other. it seems that anything quite smaller than him he isn't bothered by but anything the same size and bigger he has to harass unless it looks like it will fights back.

The other ram i have are fairly docile the larger of the the 3 the firemouth and just goes about swimming around, one of the smaller Bolivian ram will gently nudge him in the side and has gently pushed him from ons side of the tank to the other (sideways), the fire mouth doesn't do anything but accept the free ride and when the Bolivian has finished pushing him he just gets back to feeding and meandering about the tank side by side with the Bolivian.

 

[buffalogal]

2) I've fed them frozen bloodworm and flakes so far, and they seemed to relish the meal. But yesterday, when I fed them frozen Brine Shrimp, they both chewed them for a bit and then spat them out. This continued for several hours. Is this unusual? I mean, it seems that they recognise that they are food but refuse to eat them.

Mine have been known to steal the bottom feeder's sinking pellets and swim around with them while chewing! They even tried the bristlenose's zuchinni one day. Maybe try feeding them dried bloodworms first, then try the frozen (fully defrosted) ones again in a week or so? Just an idea. It's sort of like introducing a toddler to new foods, isn't it! Good luck.