Dead German Ram But His Mate Looks Great.

[sorgan]

So on Saturday I bought 2 german rams to go into my community tank, we tried our best to sex them and got what we believe was a male and a female (looked at the fins and blue on the black spots, please correct me if this is crock )

Just got in to find the female doing upside down loopy loops around the tank, this went on for a minute or two them she stopped, sank and ceased to live.
The male however looks amazing, really bright and puffed up, he seems to be real happy.
Testedmy water and I've got
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Ph - 7.8 ish

The tank is heavily planted with co2 and is stocked with 4 glolight danios, 4 otto's and 1 GR now.
Should I chalk this one up to poor stock or are rams a bit hit or miss?

 

[kizno1]

What temp is the tank? they tend to do best at higher temps (28-30) although some are fine in lower temps. Maybe it was just a mix of stress from being moved and lower temps that did it. How did you acclimatize them?

 

[sorgan]

Tanks on 28, I float them in for an hour much like I do with my marines.

 

[kizno1]

Tanks on 28, I float them in for an hour much like I do with my marines.

Do you add tank water into the bag as well? Do you know what the LFS PH is.

 

[karin]

I think the "loopy loops" is not a good sign and points to disease. Hopefully it was internal and did not infect the tank. Keep and eye on everything.

 

[sorgan]

Yes kizno I add water to the bag, not sure what his ph is but an hour is usually enough to stop marines from going into OS so I figure as it's only being acclaimatized to ph the tropicals will be good with an hour also.

Karin let us hope your wrong hey lol, like I say all the other stock looks fine, sadly Im more clued up on marine fish so my 'fine' for tropicals could be on the verge of death.
Here's a piccy of him just incase

 

[kizno1]

Fair enough. im not to sure then. Did you notice and white stringy poo? Did she look skinny? Could have been something like internal parasites.

 

[stevereade]

Was gonna say to you check your lfs's ph, mine has a section of the best looking rams in soft water and are a little more expensive too and the hard water ones are cheaper and less pretty.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

@steve sound like a great idea. rapid pH changes can lead to stress.

swim bladder maybe?

 

[hamfist]

Most rams on the market these days are quite inbred and are often pretty delicate. Their speciality seems to be to look fine one minute and then croak it the next.
They really do not do well in hard, alkaline water either. My local water's pH is much the same as yours, and I simply have given up trying to keep rams in it (not including bolivians in this).
Many LFS keep them in hard, alkaline water but, of course, they never have them for more than a few weeks, so they never have the "failing to thrive" syndrome, as they simply don't keep them long enough. In my water, I seem to be able to keep them alive for about 3-4 months and then they always die .... always suddenly with no apparent warning too.

As for acclimitisation, an hour should be OK.

Personally, I'd go for bolivian rams in your situation. They are much more sturdy, and seem to cope with hard, alkaline water much better.

 

[sorgan]

Ok cheers bud, I will watch the male like a hawk. Can you mix rams?

 

[hamfist]

Can you mix rams?

With enough space and territory, should be fine. Although with cichlids there is always the chance that they simply will not get on.

 

[JoshuaA]

I seem to be able to keep them alive for about 3-4 months and then they always die .... always suddenly with no apparent warning too.

My girlfriend had this happen, with 2 GBRs. Each lasted about a month (not in the tank together). The second was even more beautiful than the first up to the day it died. I have never such vibrant colours on a fish in my life than on this ram. Then one day... my girlfriend came back to work and it was dead. She had only been out 4 hours and she had just fed the fish before she went out and the ram ate just as much as usual.

Both deaths and the water stats were great, bar the pH which was 7.4. However after asking around it really didn't sound like the pH had anything to do with it.