German Gold Rams

[campbellmay]

I was browsing through the cychlids for sale over at www.liveaquaria.com, and happened upon a new addition to their inventory, the German Gold Ram. They list it seperately from the German Blue Ram, and categorize their care level as "Moderate" where the German Blue Ram is categorized as "Difficult." Otherwise they seem to be the same thing (apart from coloring, of course).

I've done a little googling and I've searched the forum, but haven't come up with anything else to distinguish the two. I'm interested in buying the Gold Ram, so can anyone offer some additional info? I'd really appreciate it!

 

[Dwarfs]

The two fish are indeed the same, the only difference is color. I don't think the color would make it more difficult to keep one and not the other though

 

[campbellmay]

Yeah, I thought that was a little odd. Must be a typo or something. Do you know which is right? Moderate or Difficult?

 

[soggysandwich]

yeah they are both Papilochromis ramirezi the gold prob a color morph like the gold and blue gouramis

 

[xJake]

They are indeed the same species but like discus the species Papilochromis ramirezi was bred for its color; this involved inbreeding which made the german blue ram less hardy than it's predecessor the german gold ram, hence the difference in care difficulty.

 

[Dragonscales]

As said, the difference is indeed due to line breeding. That said however, I personally wouldn't class the blue strain as difficult to keep, more along the lines of moderate. As long as you don't overstock them (they need a suprisingly large amount of territory for such a small fish - around 2 feet square, less if planted, etc), do regular water changes and have slightly acidic water then you shouldn't have too many problems. I have kept these guys on occassion in the past and have never found them overly hard to keep compared to alot of other fish which are classed as difficult to keep.