Aggressiveness?

[CichlidLover1995]

I have a 10 gallon tank. In it there are 2 Spiketail Paradise fish and 3 platys. I want to get a pair of Bolivian Rams. In that setup on a scale of 1-10 how aggressive would my Rams be? 1 being a cory catfish and 10 being a Male Red Devil Cichlid. All the fish in there leave each other alone and never fight. My male Paradise fish dont even see each other but like once every 2-3 days. One stays in his cave and the other roams the tank. So let me know what you think. Thanks

 

[thereverendturtle]

On a bad day, mine are a 2.5-3. Usually not aggressive at all.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I'd say 10g is on the small side for 2 Bolivians. They are not aggressive fish, but if you have two that are not a mating pair they will establish a heirarchy between themselves......this could lead to bullying which would be amplified in such a small tank.

 

[Zante]

Ok, maybe I'm talking out of my behind, but aren't platys hard water fish and rams soft water fish?

 

[Wills]

Ok, maybe I'm talking out of my behind, but aren't platys hard water fish and rams soft water fish?

Your right in a way Blue Rams are softwater fish but Platys can live in neutral, the OP is on about Bolivian Rams which will happily like in neutral as well.


OP - what is the species name of your spike tail paradise fish Im not familiar with them and a few results come on google. I have to agree with Zod though a 10g is a bit small for Bolivians - what are the dimensions of the tank?

Wills

 

[CichlidLover1995]

Its a standard 10 gallon. The species name is Pseudosphromenus dayi. They are very peaceful. If there is a chance for amplified aggression, then il get just one Bolivian. My original plan was to go back, get 1 more Paradise fish and 1 more centerpiece fish, but i highly doubt they have any of the paradise fish left, if they do, il get one and a Bolivian, if not il get a Bolivian and 1 more female platy and call it stocked. I will also be picking up an API Liquid Test Kit that day as well.

 

[ZoddyZod]

contruary to some information on them, Bolivians are quite a social fish and I find the best thing about keeping them is how they interact with others of their kind. I also doubt the specimen will be encouraged to show its best colours without anyone to impress.

as for the addition of a prardise fish, I thought these had similar personailities to Bettas, and that keeping two was not a good idea.

I could be wrong though, I really don't know much about them.

 

[CichlidLover1995]

The common normal Paradise fish species, which is blue with red fins, is, and will attack other fish and is quite a mess. I had one when i was younger. These are a different species, they have a brown body with red and blue fins. They stay over an inch or two smaller and can be kept together. There is a thread on them with information in the fish information section

So I was told by another member here in another thread awhile back that it would be okay to keep a pair of Bolivians, or any pair combination of German Blues, Goldens, or Bolivians (Just not a male female pair of any because of the breeding risk) I thought it sounded good to me LOL! I just dont want to have aggression issues develop. My paradise fish are passive and the platys, as with most livebearers, only care about when the next meal is LOL!

 

[ZoddyZod]

well a lot of fish keeping 'rules' are widely open to debate as they are certainly not definitive. Stocking and tank size suitability will always be topics open to discussion on almost every fish we keep. One person might say that 2 BR's in a 10g is acceptable, but I would not agree. Are either of us 100% correct? Nobody will ever be able to say.

However, I am going from personal experience of keeping these fish and seeing the difference in behaviour from keeping two together to that of six.

 

[CichlidLover1995]

So are you saying if i keep just one Bolivian by Him/HerSelf that they will move less and be less colorful?

 

[ZoddyZod]

I would say that there is a chance of that occuring, yes.

 

[CichlidLover1995]

I kept a Bolivian in a 20 gallon about 2 years ago by herself. For the time i had her, she didnt move ALOT she generally stayed on the bottom of the tank, in the back and didnt move. But i belive that was because the tank wasnt healthy because after about a month of being stocked, it crashed and everything died. So you dont think aggression will be an issue if i have just 1 Bolivian. What do you think of the mixed stocking idea? 1 Bolivian and 1 German Ram, or 1 Bolivian and 1 Golden Ram. ect.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I think you've answered your own question - you had a Bolivan for two years that did very little, just sitting in a corner all the time. That should tell you that getting another on its own is probably not a great idea to try it again.

As for mixing a Bolivan with other Rams, I'm not sure. But the Gold/Blue Rams do require acidic water and higher temps than most other fish like.

Isn't the paradise fish sub-tropical as well? So that wouldn't work with fish that require higher temps.

 

[Wills]

Rams are one of those fish with plenty of conflicting information... Even within this forum some people say 10g is fine but I really think it is too small....

Just to add something else in to consider - Rams are part of the Mikrogeophagus family so do have a reasonable gregarious nature - which means they do well in groups.

Adding gold or blue rams to this mix will only complicate things further.

Wills