Bolivian Rams Not Eating

[Deleted member 55926]

I have some questions about the general health of my Bolivian Rams.

• Neither of them have eaten any flakes since I introduced them 5 days ago. When the other fish go nuts at feeding time, the rams just stay quietly at the bottom or maybe rise up a little to the middle of the tank, but don't seem interested. They don't even seem to be interested in catching any falling pieces. Most of the time they do seem to be picking at the bottom, and nipping at things in the gravel, but I'm worried they are starving or that I don't have the right food.
  
• Over the last 2 days, the male seems to be harrassing the female a lot. He is constantly chasing her around the tank. Initially they didn't do this.
  
• The female has lost a lot of her colour over the last 2 days. Her blacks have faded to dark grey and the yellows and red patch on her tummy was nearly gone yesterday. I think it might have come back a bit this morning (I will have to check properly this evening) but whatdoes this mean? Is she unhappy/stressed?
  
• The male has a ragged-looking tail fin. Is this from being nipped by other fish when he was at the shop? Will it heal?

 

[jacko32]

what are your water perameters and temp like
i would try feeding them some live food like bloodworm or tubifex worms
also beef heart is good for fussy eaters if you are in uk there is a guy on ebay that sells beefheart in 5 different reciepes

 

[Deleted member 55926]

24°C
pH 7.6 - 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <= 10ppm

 

[jacko32]

waters a bit cold i would say 26c is best for bolivian rams 26c-28c i would say

 

[mattlee]

fins will heal best with new fresh water so do more or bigger water changes

 

[Deleted member 55926]

waters a bit cold i would say 26c is best for bolivian rams 26c-28c i would say

Worried that'll be too warm for my other fish (dwarf gourami, neon tetra, zebra danio).

 

[karin]

I don't know what to say about not eating yet...but I will say this about behavior. I have a pair of Bol. Rams and the male pesters the female by chasing her. It isn't constant but it is often and especially during feeding. Odd think is that when the lights go off he tries to snuggle up to her (okay that was a bit anthropomorphic) He comes in closer to her and doesn't chase her but seems to want to be closer to her.

Her color seems to have faded since I got her, his is getting more and more intense and he is growing faster. She has a roundish belly but I worry.

I feed flakes to distract the danios and the male BR and then I drop in some sinking cichlid food trying to get it to the female. She is not an aggressive feeder and I worry she is not getting enough. She picks at the bottom.

I'm going to get some sinking cichlid sticks this weekend and some live food to see if I can get more in her.

 

[Gilli]

If you dont up the temperature you will get problems with them - they tend to get sick if not kept in the correct temp. Also they need plenty of meaty frozen foods in their diet such as shrimp brine, bloodworm, chopped muscles or beefheart etc as well as flake. Mine never tocuhed cichlid food - turned their noses up!

Faded colour is when they are stressed or unhappy. Once they have settled in their colours will improve with a good diet.

Dont worry too about the chasing - it will sort itself out, just make sure you have plenty of plants and places for them to hide..

 

[jacko32]

personally i think there stressed because its too cold i would up the temp to 26c all the other fish will also be fine at that temp

 

[Curiosity101]

Just a note, I've tried my rams on loads of different live foods which they take very readily. But the only 'dead' foods they'll eat are cichlid pellets and algae wafers. They wont touch prawns, mussels or anything else like that.

Personally I think anyone trying to feed a bolivian ram flake food needs a slap on the wrist. Equally if they were trying to feed them floating pellets same deal.
Rams feed from the bottom (hence cichlid pellets that sink) so if this is all you are feeding and they're not responding then that'll be why. Not only will they never feed from the top, but they wont neccesarily associate it with being food.

A slightly more tailored diet and slightly higher temperatures should hopefully sort things out. But you shouldn't need to raise it anywhere above 25C

 

[Deleted member 55926]

OK, well I'll up the temperature to 26 then. I hope this isn't too hot for the danios. I already had one die this week.

I'll pick up some bloodworm tonight.

This fishkeeping lark is so stressful

 

[jacko32]

OK, well I'll up the temperature to 26 then. I hope this isn't too hot for the danios. I already had one die this week.

I'll pick up some bloodworm tonight.

danio will accept temps up to 27c so they should be fine and the dwarf gourami anywhere between 24c-28c

 

[philak]

25C is fine for Bolivian Rams.

As others have said, algae wafers and sinking cichlid pellets are all mine eat, oh and bloodworm by the fistfull if you let them!

They will also take cooked shelled peas once in a while but unless it sinks below halfway down the tank they aren't interested.