Electric Blue Ram Bully

[dprids]

I have a 50 gallon tank with: guppies, 4 xray tetras, 4 Corey's, 6 ottos, and 1 electric blue ram. See picture, I think its a female. If anyone knows for sure, let me know.

Problem: I feed twice a day, assorted treats. I also put blanched cucumbers in once a week for my ottos. The ram is not letting the other fish eat. Super bullies even the ottos. I have a fair amount of plant cover and a large cave-ish structure.

Any advice on how to get my other fish fed?

 

[Stefan3289]

I looks like a female to me

But when you say he doesn't let them eat, do you mean he hogs the food, chases the other fish if they try to come up to eat, etc..

 

[Metalhead88]

It's a male. You can tell by his dorsal fin. The 2nd blade will be taller.

Breeders try to keep the females for breeding so most rams at the store are male. (unless they are small)

 

[dprids]

She will nip and chase other fish (especially the pristella tetras) and coreys and guppies to the point where they dont get food. I had a tetra die yesterday. Floating upside down, maybe swim bladder issue? I checked water parameters and they were all good.

But, I tried to put food in two sides of tank this morning, but that didn't help either. So, she is not hogging food, just very aggressive to other fish where they are too stunned to eat...

 

[Stefan3289]

It's a male. You can tell by his dorsal fin. The 2nd blade will be taller.

Breeders try to keep the females for breeding so most rams at the store are male. (unless they are small)

I was basing it more of the acara where the males have a elongated edge on their top fin while females have a rounded edge

 

[Stefan3289]

She will nip and chase other fish (especially the pristella tetras) and coreys and guppies to the point where they dont get food. I had a tetra die yesterday. Floating upside down, maybe swim bladder issue? I checked water parameters and they were all good.

But, I tried to put food in two sides of tank this morning, but that didn't help either. So, she is not hogging food, just very aggressive to other fish where they are too stunned to eat...

I haven't ever had an issue of food bullying but I did resolve an issue where my two fish wouldn't come up to eat. Maybe @essjay or @Deanasue could know

 

[FishGuest5123]

Try this...Next time you see her acting that way, scoop her up and put her in a breeder net in the tank “time out”. Leave her for a few hours. Then let her back in the tank. If she does it again, place her back in breeder box for the day. Move your decor around so that when she comes back the tank will look new and she won’t be the alpha fish. We use to have to do this in betta sorority tanks. If that fails, you’ll have to permanently move her.

 

[Stefan3289]

This is a method that I did in terms of one of my acaras was being highly territorial of the entire tank (only to the acaras though). It did work for a bit but he ended up getting swim bladder so I never knew it that method worked or changing the aquasacape of tank is definitley also something to try after any cichlid will view something as their "territory." So if your tank had a lot of empty space with no "dividers", such as plants, tall decor, etc.. then it views that entire space as its territory, and that could be a reason why it won't let the others eat in his "territory"

 

[HoldenOn]

This is a method that I did in terms of one of my acaras was being highly territorial of the entire tank (only to the acaras though). It did work for a bit but he ended up getting swim bladder so I never knew it that method worked or changing the aquasacape of tank is definitley also something to try after any cichlid will view something as their "territory." So if your tank had a lot of empty space with no "dividers", such as plants, tall decor, etc.. then it views that entire space as its territory, and that could be a reason why it won't let the others eat in his "territory"

Yep. Especially something like a ram. It goes in, and it owns the tank. Big sight breaks will help a lot.