A Southerner's Bolivian Ram Journal

Gvilleguy

Fish Herder
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CURRENT STATUS
June 12th, 2011: After almost nine months in the tank, I donated one male and one female Ram to a forum member. I don't think this tank was big enough to keep four of them comfortable. I hope the remaining male and female in my tank will settle in and hopefully mate at some point, now that there is not competition for space.
MARCH 13th, 2011: The tank has been rescaped to open up the floor more (pic in my siggie), and I have found a good home for two of the four Rams. They will be transferred after the new owner's tank is cycled for them.
FEBRUARY 25th, 2011: The four Rams are all maturing well. A lot more territorial aggression, but none seem to be pairing off. I think they are starting to get too big for this tank and am considering re-homing two of them soon.
JANUARY 14th, 2011: Almost four months in, and all Rams still appear healthy and active, but celibate!
AFTER ONE MONTH: The fours Rams have not shown any pairing off yet; they do exhibit some territorial behavior, but shoal together whenever the tank is cleaned; they beg for food like puppies whenever we approach the tank.
AS OF OCT 1st: Day 11: As more experienced forum members predicted, it took about 1 1/2 weeks, and the Rams are no longer afraid of us. They will come up to the front of the tank and stare at us when we approach (probably hoping for a shower of pellet food).
AS OF SEPT 28th: Day 8: Interesting food fight caught on video and posted down in the thread...
AS OF SEPT 26th: Day 6: Four Rams still hanging in there; still afraid of us human types. I think relations are starting to thaw a little.
AS OF SEPT 23rd: Day 3: Rams still seem well; currently afraid of anyone approaching the tank, so we don't see a lot of them yet.
AS OF SEPT 21st: Day 1: Four Rams are swimming in the tank!! Currently hiding, as they have only been in there for an hour.
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Hi all,

After a 30 year break from fish keeping, I set up a 26 gallon freshwater tank with my kids over the past few months. After a patience-testing, 70 day fishless cycle, we have had 2 1/2 months of fish: Zebra Danio, Glofish, and Neon Tetras.

The tap water I have here in South Carolina (USA), is extremely soft: pH = 6.0 and KH/GH = 0. Upon asking this forum for suggestions for some larger, centerpiece fish (that would do well in my water type), I finally decided to try and get a male/female pair of Bolivian Rams.

The recent economy has gutted the LFS market in my area, with only the big box Petco/Petsmart stores surviving. Those stores never stock Rams, so I had to widen my search net. I located a large LFS in Charlotte, NC, (1 1/2 hour drive) that does stock Rams. They ordered the Rams for me from Singapore over a week ago, and they will hopefully arrive at some point this week (Sept 13th).

Due to the difficulty of sexing juvenile Bolivian Rams, they told me they cannot guarantee selecting a male/female. So I plan to buy four Rams and see if we get lucky enough to have two that pair off. I will then re-home the other two Rams, since I don't think my tank is big enough to handle four adults.

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TANK PREPARATION
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After doing my research on this forum and other web resources, I decided my tank needed a lot more planting, and perhaps a bit more cover.

My tank as it appeared prior to our first stock of fish: (all artificial plants)

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PLANTS:
So I removed some of the artificials, and I added Amazon Swords, Water Sprites, and a Java Fern. My tank has very low level lighting (0.60 WPG), so I needed low light plants like these.

LIGHTING:
Also, I switched up my light bulb from an 8,000K blue'ish spectrum bulb, to a 6,500K green'ish spectrum that should be more plant-friendly. It made a big difference in how the tank appears.

ACCOMODATIONS:
The last thing I did was to add an additional shelter (in addition to the island cave) - a terra cotta pot from Lowe's that I boiled in water for 30 minutes prior to adding to the tank. I wanted two shelters in case the Rams are skittish at first, and since the males might be territorial.

So here is my tank as it appears today:

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The only other thing I want to pick up is a flat stone in case I'm able to get a breeding pair that try to spawn.
 
I take it they're going to be in the tank with the danios, glofish and tetra? The problem with importing is that the LFS really should quarantine the fish as imported fish should be. Otherwise you run the risk of infecting your other fish.

It depends on how big they are when they're imported whether you can sex them or not.

Good luck with the fish, they're great little fish with interesting behaviour :good:
 
Hope it all goes well. They are great cichlids for a small/medium tank.

Pics are are, of course, obligatory once they arrive !!!
 
Yes - these Rams will be in with the Danios, Glos, and Neons. From everything I have read they should all get along okay. I just have to make sure I use some food types that will sink down to the Rams, if they don't learn to come up top.

Oh, and I plan to ask the LFS about quarantining them prior to me picking them up, even if I have to wait longer. I've been lucky so far with no disease in my tank, and I'd hate to bring something in at this point that causes trouble.
 
A shipment of Rams arrived in Charlotte a few days ago. I'm off to try and pick some up! Wish me luck. About two hour drive time each way...will hopefully post pics of new Rams later today. :good:
 
Four Rams moved into our tank one hour ago!! All currently hiding back in the plants. Will update later with details and pictures.
 
The Acquisition

I drove 80 miles up to Charlotte, NC, to a big, awesome fish store called "Fintastic":

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The people who worked there were extremely helpful. One even went out of his way to take over helping another customer to free up the person that could best sex the Rams for me. Her name was Julie, and she took her time carefully looking at Rams. These Rams were older than the usual batches they received, so she was able to see some of the breeding tubes. She took about 10 minutes selecting fish, and she thinks she picked two males and two females for me.

She bagged them up in extra large bags (two per bag) since I had a one and a half hour drive. One of the Rams managed to poke a hole in a bag with a spine, so she then double bagged them. Then she put the bags in a Styrofoam-lined box to maintain temperature and keep them in the dark and calm.

Here is how they looked in the box:

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I got them home without any trouble, and I then started:

The Acclimation

I don't know if these steps are the prescribed best way of doing things, but I have had a lot of success with my fish doing the following:

I first floated the bags, unopened, for 30 minutes to match up temperatures between my tank and the bag water:

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(sorry for the odd ceiling fan reflection below)
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I then cut open the bags and attached them to the tank rim using chip clips:

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Since they had gone 2 hours without fresh air, I also added an air hose and air stone and moved it back and forth between the bags to agitate the surface and help get fresh oxygen in there:

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I took the time to test Fintastic's water from the bag, and was very impressed:
ammonia = 0.25 ppm (the fish were in the bag for 2 hours!)
nitrite = 0.00 ppm
nitrate = 10 ppm
pH = 6.8

My tank's stats are:
ammonia = 0.00 ppm
nitrite = 0.00 ppm
nitrate = 5 ppm
pH = 6.0

Then I slowly added tank water to the bags:

1. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
2. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
3. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes
4. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes

And then I netted them into the tank!

The Results

Upon first going in the tank, the bag mates stayed together - two on each side of the tank:

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Over the next hour or so the four Rams slowly separated to hiding spots across the tank. They pretty much picked a sheltered spot and stayed there all evening.

Comically, the veteran fish in the tank (Neon Tetras, Zebra Danio, and Glofish) spent the entire evening in the upper half of the tank. Sort of a "there be sharks down there - stay away!!!" attitude. :crazy: They want nothing to do with the large Rams yet. Normally half of them are down at the bottom looking for food scraps.

At 9 PM my main light went out and the Moonlight LEDs kicked in. Then the Rams made a move to get closer together rather than remaining separated.

I assume this timid behavior by the Rams is normal in a new environment like this. If you have any comments about what I can expect over the next few days, please chime in! I will attempt to feed some food into the tank this week that will get down to the bottom for the Rams, such as frozen blood worms and sinking pellets. The other fish consume all the flakes before they can sink.

I have a few short videos which I will post another time. I'm very excited to have these interesting fish in our tank now, and I hope they will do well!
 
All the Rams seem to be doing well. Most of today they seem to just hide out and sit still. I've only seen one or two moments of the Rams chasing each other. And they are very scared of us humans. Whenever one of us walks up to the tank, they dart out of sight back in the plants. I hope that behavior will change as they get used to us!!
 
I`m glad all seems to be going well with your new additions, your pics are lovely :good:

I had Bolivians a while ago, unfortunately I ended up with 2 males despite them being sold to me as a pair. One male constantly bullied the other one so I ended up taking them to another lfs where they have successfully rehomed them with someone who has a species tank. Apparently they`re doing well and very happy with all the other Bolivians they`re with now.

Mine were quite skittish when I first got them and I guess it was approx a week-week and a half before they began to come to the front of the tank when I was near. Once they get used to you and associate you with their feeding, they`ll be fine. They are pretty peaceful so I doubt you`ll have any bother with them.

Keep updating us on how the Rams are doing B-)
 
A very nicely put account of getting your new fish. I must say i'm very impressed with how they packaged them for you, very professional and they werent leaving anything to chance. Always fills you with confidence when things are doing in such a way.


Your rams will be a litte timid at first, this is usual. After a fornight or so they aught to be fine and you can truely admire their inquisitive nature. Mine used to swim around my arms as i vacuumed the tank during water changes :) Fascinating little cichlids. Hopefuly you'll be able to enjoy them for a long while to come.


Keep the updates coming :)
James
 
Thanks, Elise and Verminator, for the kind words and feedback. I will be patient and give them time to get used to us. You will laugh at me, but yesterday I wanted to see how the Rams were interacting, yet when we approached the tank they scattered to the back and hid very well in the plants. So last night I pulled out some 9x binoculars, and, sitting on my couch about 12 feet away, I could perfectly zoom in and spy on the Rams!!

I still have to get to know them as individuals, and also observe to try and sex them, but so far there is not a lot of territorial behavior. Last night all four of them cruised in a line across the front of the tank. They only nip at each other periodically.

I am impressed with their coloring considering that they are in a new environment and not comfortable yet. The red coloring on the edge of the fins is nice.

Oh, and the other fish in the tank have decided that the new giants are not going to eat them. The zebras and glofish swim around the Rams without fear now, and the Rams pretty much ignore them.

I successfully fed them on day 2 (today is day 3). I distracted the other fish with flake food on the top, and then threw in some 1 mm sinking pellets. Many of the pellets got to the bottom, and I saw the Rams eating some of them. So that's a good sign. I still have a couple videos that I want to upload and will post links to.
 
No, I won't add pictures every day, but I did manage a group shot yesterday:

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And this morning I thought this shot of one framed in the cave was nice:

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This is a video summarizing what I did above to get the Rams home and acclimatize them to the tank.

 

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