Hi FrAnK333 my name is Curtis and I guess I got lucky with my rams for they have bred 3 times in the lst 2 months mine don't seem to care to much about water PH all I do is feed them well bloodworms,brine shrimp live or frozen mine is frozen also flake I just mix it up when i see the females belly is real red and fat I do a 1/3 water change it simulates when it rains in their nat hab signaling it's time to breed. Thats how I get mine to breed now the only problem I have is the eggs hatching they don't at high PH idealy for a ram spawn to be succesful the PH should be low 6.2-6.8 and low hardness i just found that out and i have a real hard time keeping my PH down my tap is 7.8-8.5 sucks my rams 3rd spawn are hatching as I write this i got a method which is working so far I got it from aquatic hobbyist.com so go there and check it out ant way thats how Iv'e done it Sincerly Curtis Good Luck