Gold Rams

[saz326]

Bought 2 gold rams for my community tank on Saturday. They are both around an inch in size, and I believe they are 2 females due to the blue markings overlapping (shining through) the black marking in their sides, and neither of them have enlarged rays on their dorsal fin.

...anyway. I apprecieted that these ladies may take a while to settle as they are sensitive fish. I have kept an eye on them and they are now swimming with good colour all around the tank and infront of their co-habitants..

..problem is - only one is feeding, and only some of the time. The most colourful one ate brine shrimp yesterday and ignored flake (1st time it had eaten) but the second one wasnt interested.

Is there a favourite food I can tempt them both with? Is there usually a 5 or so day period in which these guys settle and start to eat?

The shop they came from wasnt running RO water in their tanks and we do live in a hard water area... will they not eat until their water softens?

 

[Truck]

try some boiled chicken, or canned tuna...then again i would also try flakes/pellets, along with a few live foods.

unfortunately, german blue rams (you have this species but a different colour morph) dont make very good community fish, they need to be kept at temperatures above 28oC or their immune and digestive systems run the risk of slowing down and making them susceptible to disease.

 

[saz326]

Thanks for that. I shall give the chicken / tuna a go tonight.

Yeah, the community thing is a little on the "pushing it" side. The one lively one is truely tucking into her grub at the mo, the second is sadly not still.

Thanks for the info on temp - had read 24 to 27 degrees for these fellas. Hmm - had better check a few more sources and work at an average temp. I will be sure to separate them off (I have another tank ready if required) if I find the other fish in my tank cannot be maintained at the slightly higher temp (my community is at 25 at the mo).

shall keep an eye out for "digestive discomfort" as the activia advert puts it!

 

[Truck]

all the sources on the net are old...very rarely have i found a correct one, these fellas really do like it high, neale will more than likely come along to back this up.

 

[ALW]

Agreed GBR's (Gold Rams n Electric Blue too) need a temp of a min 28c

 

[saz326]

Sorry to bring this one up again but I need a bit more help - along the same lines too. Please see my post in the emergency section.

FYI - The first thriving fish is still thriving and exploring, The second fish simply will not settle. When I went back to the store I picked them up from to find out the temp that they're kept at I noticed most of the fish were gone. Lots died aparently.