German Blue Ram Advice Please

[KrystaK]

Hey there! I got a pair of German Blue Rams about a week ago. The guy at the store said they were a male-female pair, but I couldn't tell the difference. Unfortunately one of them (Smaller and more colorful) didn't survive the ride home

The other is still alive and kicking, though is very shy, and I've noticed recently he/she isn't eating his/her flake food.
He/she is the only fish in my 20 Gal thus far. I would really like to get him/her a a mate, but first things first, I need to take care of him/her better

The tank is cycled, there were fish in this tank before I got my Ram, I moved them to my 30 Gal community.
Temp is 82 ish
pH is high

8.0ish, but it's better to have a steady high pH than a spikey one, and my Ram seems to be doing okay, to the best of my limited Cichlid knowledge.

So first of all, he/she isn't eating - or well he/she is, but then will spit it back out again. I've been feeding him/her TetraMin brand flake food. I'm thinking I should switch to a Cichlid specific food, like Omega One brand or something (Either Flake or Pellet) . If someone could explain why he/she isn't eating very well that would be great, and any advice on how to convince him/her that food is good and should be gobbled up would be fantastic

Also, I'd really like to know if it's a him or a her; it's not necessary, I'd just like to know.
I've sort of done some research on determining gender, but when I look at my boy/girl I can't really find any distinguishing characteristics. He/she is pretty shy so it's really hard to examine him/her. I did my best to get to get good pictures, I'm sorry about the quality...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The one didn't survive the ride home?!

How long was the ride? Where did you get it? Was the bag insulated from the cold? Such warm water fish are susceptible to big swings in temp. I would say buying a GBR in winter is a dangerous situation unless you are ready to take it home in an insulated container.


I've heard that some GBRs can be finicky about food. I'd try a different food. Ask what they were feeding them at the store you got them.

 

[KrystaK]

The ride was about 30-40 minutes one way. It's not my usual LFS. I went there specifically to get GBR's as my more local one doesn't have them. No, the bag wasn't insulated. I had the heat on in the car, but I suppose that wasn't enough, me living in Canada with our cold winters and all...

The idea of feeding them what the store feeds them is a great idea! When i get my replacement I'll have to ask Thanks for that tidbit

 

[eaglesaquarium]

In the future, bring an insulated container to put the fish bag(s) into to keep the temperature as constant as possible. It doesn't have to be fancy or anything, but it sure will help.

I bought fish from a store 2.5 hours from my house in the summer. If I hadn't had the insulated cooler, I don't know what temp the water for the fish would have been, but as it was, they barely had a change, and then I was able to acclimate them slowly by floating the bag for a bit, then drip acclimating them after that.

 

[sebn]

It is quite hard to tell from the photos but does "black spot" have any blue flecks in it? If it does then that indicates that it is a female, no blue in the spot indicates a male.

I hate to say but it looks awfully stressed, the black stripes on its back (behind its spot) indicate it isnt happy and it is showing very little colouration elsewhere on its body. I suspect the high ph is partly to blame for this stress, how did you acclimatise it, what was the water like in the fish shop where you bought it? I know my rams were raised in water of 6.5 and incredibly soft so i had to very slowly introduce them to my ph which is around 7.2.

Here is an image of my male gbr the day after i introduced him. Apologies for bad qulity of phone camera

As you can see he doesnt have any of the banding behind his spot, only very small marks down his flank. Now that he has been in my tank for a month or so they arent visible at all.

(Notice he doesnt have a properly formed lower lip either, i didnt notice it in the shop but i dont mind, he eats fine and seems happy enough, i have a cory with only one fin which i am very fond of. it gives them character! The female ram doesnt seem put off, they have been building a nest together for the past week or so, hopefully getting ready to spawn.)

Hope that helps!

 

[KrystaK]

I'll see what I can do about a cooler next time I go to that particular shop..

As far as Gender, I think it may be a male. It doesn't have a pink tummy or anything, and when I was watching it in the tank I didn't see any blue reflected over it's spot. I'll wait a while and maybe introduce the other fish I was planning to stock the tank with first, maybe it will mature more and display more noticeable signs of gender.

I drip acclimated ...him? for about 30 min before introducing him to the tank.
I had to move the tank across the room so it wouldn't be in direct sunlight, and I didn't want to risk anything so I took him out of the tank and put him in a 1 gal container - and I took some pictures because that was the only chance I had to get the pictures.
He? normally doesn't have stripes - but then again is rather pale.

I have no idea what the pH at the shop is, but I know my pH is high, it always has been. I'm debating on getting a tap water filter, like this one; http/www.bigalspets.ca/fish/hi-tech-department/tap-water-filter.html , it's a little expensive but I've been trying to lower my pH for a few months and nothing has happened. The only problem is that I'd have to use chemicals to get the pH lower afterwards and I'm not a fan of using more chemicals than I need to. I';d be really disappointed if it didn't lower the pH of my tank.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm not a fan of adding chemicals either. Too hard to deal with constantly. If that's something I wanted to do, I'd have a marine tank.

 

[phantomlink]

I have a single GBR in my 20 gallon tank, 2 hour drive from the fish store but it was in an insulated box. At the start it didnt eat the flake food, it would swim around then spit it out, try some blood worms, algae wafers or shrimp pellets. I've found mine will go for anything I put in the tank now. It takes time to adjust them to flakes but they will do it, I've had mine for less then a month and it'll eat flakes no problem now

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've heard that they can be very finicky about food. Personally, if I were to get one, I'd ask what they are being fed at the store and see if they are eating a variety of foods, or just one thing.

 

[phantomlink]

stores should always have a variety of foods they're feeding, a fish should never eat one type of food

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Should is a different thing from practice, though. Walmart "should" never sell fish, because they can't (or don't) care for them properly.

And, being fed a variety, doesn't necessarily mean that they are EATING a variety. ;-) My son is offered a variety of foods, but there are certain foods he gobbles up and others that he tries to avoid.

 

[KrystaK]

It's a good thing I stock a variety of foods that I feet to my tropical community. I've tried...him? With the shrimp pellets, and I'm sure if he realized they were edible he would go for them, but he seems to like to chase his food before he chews on it and spits it out, and it's really hard to chase a shrimp pellet once it's on the bottom of the tank. It may be worth it to give him some blood worms.

As far as pH, which is becoming my main concern as I notice he is starting to not spit out EVERY piece of food. I think I may try using Peat, eater under the substrate or in the filter, as well as the Tap water filter.
I'm thinking I'll stock the tank with the other fish I was planning, and seeing how my (I think Boy) does with it all before i consider buying him a lady friend.