A Southerner's Bolivian Ram Journal

[paulc]

What an amazing thread!

I am going to pick up some bolivians tomorrow (the LSF man said he has sexed them. Im still unsure how many I will get but I only want to end up with two. I was thinking 1 male and 2 females for my 165 Ltr planted tank.

Anyway - great pics, great thread, fantastic substrate

 

[mitch70]

I know this post is a couple of months old but your rams are fantastic, I wasnt sure about adding rams or rainbow fish to my community tank but after viewing this rams win hands down. Ecellent log

 

[Gvilleguy]

I did not get email notifications of any of those posts since April, or I would have replied sooner! Thanks for the kind comments.

Soph900 - how are your Rams doing? We would need to see some close up pictures in order to determine for sure the sex of your Rams.

I lost Raveclaw a little over a month ago. She was about two years old. I don't know why she died, but she had not been growing like Griffindor, and seemed to lose the use of her rear fins a few weeks prior to her death (antibiotics did not help). I was sad to lose her. And since then, Griffin is extremely skittish. He no longer comes out of hiding for feeding time, and I don't see him swim around the tank at all. He still looks healthy, though. I think the loss of Raven, and the loss of 9 Glowlight Tetras as dither cover, have affected him.

So I am down to one Bolivian, 4 glofish, 6 rasboras, and 3 neon tetras. This week I hope to add a few more smaller fish plus one Dwarf Gourami. I hope the increased dithering will snap Griffin out of his agoraphobia.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Update: added three Neon Tetras (to get my shoal up to six) and one Dwarf Fire Gourami just a couple hours ago after work...

 

[Gvilleguy]

A few new pictures:

A clear picture of Gryffindor - found out in the open for once:


IMG_3926 by Gvilleguy, on Flickr

The new Fire Dwarf Gourami:


IMG_3935 by Gvilleguy, on Flickr

A group Rasbora shot, with a few Neons:


IMG_3918 by Gvilleguy, on Flickr

 

[Gvilleguy]

Had not submitted an updated tank scape picture - the tank has been like this since late February 2012. I like the blue gravel better than the old neon gravel. My Ram can be spotted on the lower left, front corner.


IMG_3952 by Gvilleguy, on Flickr

 

[Gvilleguy]

Good news! Gryffin the Ram has decided to start coming out to feed again. Finally seems to be getting over recent tank trauma. The following new fish have been added to the tank in recent days:

1. 1 Dwarf Gourami
2. 3 Neon Tetras (total 6)
3. 2 Rasboras (total 8)(don't remember the specific kind on the placard at the LFS)
4. 1 Bristlenose Pleco (according to the placard! please correct me if you think that is not the right type - he/she is a cute little fish)

Here is a shot of the plec and Gryffin sharing a food pellet:


IMG_3996 by Gvilleguy, on Flickr

And a shot of the plec taking it all for himself:


IMG_3976 by Gvilleguy, on Flickr

 

[minnnt]

Great pictures. It is indeed a BN.

 

[fishies101]

thats cool i would like to know how you do it i have a female ram and want male rams an another female... how do you do it?

 

[Gvilleguy]

Hey fishies - how do I do what?

 

[Gvilleguy]

I decided it's time for another video update on the tank. I have not created a decent video with the new gravel color yet. So this week I've been taking video footage with my DSLR. I hope to start piecing together a youtube vid within the next few days! I bought an f1.8 lens for my Canon, and it does a good job of taking video footage in the low-light moonlight LEDs.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Arghhh... .MOV video files not playing nice with Windows Live Movie Maker. My Canon t3i only takes .MOV. Video delayed. Thanks Microsoft.

 

[Gvilleguy]

It's the end of an era in my tank.  I had been down to just Gryffindor for about a year, I suppose, and tonight I found him passed away in the tank.  Looks like natural causes to me - no sign of disease.  I estimate he was about 3 years old.  So I think he had a good run.  So that ends this journal.  I will probably go with a pair of Apistos next in this tank, but that would be a story for a different journal!  I had a really good run with Rams in the tank for several years.  Good fish!

 

[mishmash]

Im really sorry to hear this.  Has been a very interesting journal and I LOVE Bolivian Rams.  As you say though, at least he had a good run