Another Rams Question - Sorry

[Doryfan]

Hi all. I have a Rio 125L tank that currently has 2 bolivian rams (thanks to KathyM, think probably 1m, 1f), 4 platies and 5 cardinals (will be upping the number to at least 8 over the next week).

Can I also have 2 blue rams or is there not enough room/wouldn't get on with the bolivians?

(This is all in my head atm and will have to stay there unless I can find somewhere in south Hampshire that stocks blue rams!)

As always, any advice/thoughts are much appreciated
Many thanks!

 

[Katchan]

Rams (either blue or bolivian) need at least one square foot per pair, so a 125L tank should easily handle a pair of each, the only thing to watch for is bolivian can get bigger than blue rams (in fact they usually come from the shop bigger) so you may need to watch this, a liitle extra cover and or plants would help lots here or even a dither fish (they can help with breeding to , kribs are always a good choice of dither for rams)

HTH

Andrew

 

[Doryfan]

That does help thank you. This tank has loads of plants (plastic for now) and plenty of hideouts so hopefully will be ok. If any trouble, will get more plants etc.

Only problem now is where to get them from! The 3 shops I use don't stock them at all.

So i anyone knows a shop that stocks Blue Rams - within a reasonable distance of Southampton, would love to hear from you

Thanks again!

 

[willtang3000]

try searching as many websites as you can because some will deliver such as www.trimar.co.uk they will usually have a wide range of dwarf cichlids

That does help thank you. This tank has loads of plants (plastic for now) and plenty of hideouts so hopefully will be ok. If any trouble, will get more plants etc.

Only problem now is where to get them from! The 3 shops I use don't stock them at all.

So i anyone knows a shop that stocks Blue Rams - within a reasonable distance of Southampton, would love to hear from you

Thanks again!

 

[newtotropical]

That does help thank you. This tank has loads of plants (plastic for now) and plenty of hideouts so hopefully will be ok. If any trouble, will get more plants etc.

Only problem now is where to get them from! The 3 shops I use don't stock them at all.

So i anyone knows a shop that stocks Blue Rams - within a reasonable distance of Southampton, would love to hear from you

Thanks again!

Hi im in soton as well. Where have you tried??

 

[911man]

Mixing bolivian rams and blue rams would not be a good idea, your tank is too small.

A few years ago I tried both in the ame tank and the bolivians managed to beat the blue rams into submission so much so I had to rehome them

 

[Katchan]

Mixing bolivian rams and blue rams would not be a good idea, your tank is too small.

uhuh

 

[odannyboy]

Mixing bolivian rams and blue rams would not be a good idea, your tank is too small.

uhuh

re ;where to get rams. check out maidenhead aquatics.there a very good award winning chain all around south england ,im sure there would be one near you.ive got friends in guildford and theres two near them(sorry if thats not that close to you but my geography is rubbish!) there a chain store but are very good and would def be able to get rams. also check out practical fishkeeping magazine.both there mag and there very good website should be able to get you in touch with some good specialists near you. id be cautious of getting mail order fish especially rams as there so delicate.you really need to test the fish stores water that they are in to match your tank to and give them a very long transition period while you gradually add more of your tank water to the bag they came in etc.
do your homework and best of luck!

 

[Doryfan]

Yay - I got a pair today! (Many thanks to newtotropical ) They're gorgeous. Settling in well & checking out the tank. They're sticking together and whenever the male Bolivian comes near they just turn and look at him and he gives up and goes away!

911Man - Thank you for your advice. I'll be watching the tank for problems - if a problem does develop, I have a larger tank that one of the pairs can go into eventually.

Many thanks to you all for your advice
jen

 

[newtotropical]

Glad i could help!! Ill be getting mine next week.

 

[Doryfan]

Very nice shop - with lovely owners, thank you again. Will def be using there for fish now - my not so local lfs

jen

 

[Rhiannon]

To find my blue ram, I had to email so many LFS and aquariums around my area and finally found some and they only had 1 male left.

They can be hard to get their hands on.

But for future reference, if you cant find something, email around the place and hopefully someone will have what you want.

 

[demonmagus]

let us know if it works out, I was always told a tank around that size couldn't support the territories of two pairs of dwarfs.