Is My Golden Ram Dying ?

[nicky1200]

So i had a normal ram in my tank and thought it was  a bit lonely so went to my pet shop to get some more but they only had the golden ones in so i bought 2 golden ones. I added them into the tank and i noticed the next day the one golden on died. So now i have one golden one and one normal one. I know that the normal one is a male. So its been a few weeks and i have noticed the remaining new one and old one are doing fine but i have woke up today and have notice the golden on is now hiding in a cave and its gills are going fast compared to the other ram. It would not come out of the cave yesterday ( most of the time its out and up to the front of the glass ) So i woke up this morning and have noticed it is now hiding under some driftwood still gills going super fast. I don't know if its giving birth or dieing ?? I have not changed anything or done anything its been fine for weeks...
Also when its hiding its very close to the bottom of the tank....

 

[BerryAttack]

how big is the tank?
what do you mean by normal one? blue German ram? electric blue ram? Bolivian ram? etc, there are a lot of different kinds of rams.
how long has the tank been set up? what type of cycle did you do?
what are the stats of the tank?
 
what i'm thinking is that the "old" ram is picking on the new rams that you have brought in... bullying them and trying to kill them because the tank is small and it already made its territory. rams are not a schooling fish and do not need friends, but should be around other schooling fish to allow for more comfortable environment.

 

[nicky1200]

how big is the tank?
what do you mean by normal one? blue German ram? electric blue ram? Bolivian ram? etc, there are a lot of different kinds of rams.
how long has the tank been set up? what type of cycle did you do?
what are the stats of the tank?
 
what i'm thinking is that the "old" ram is picking on the new rams that you have brought in... bullying them and trying to kill them because the tank is small and it already made its territory. rams are not a schooling fish and do not need friends, but should be around other schooling fish to allow for more comfortable environment.

 
 
I have one of these " normal ones "

 
 
And then a golden one. The normal one and the golden one use to come up to the front of the tank once you walk up to the tank. They would come out.The tank size is 6 x 2 x 2 so loads of room for both rams to swim away from each other.

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

That's a German Blue Ram. Have you tested the quality of your tank water?

 

[BerryAttack]

i personally wouldn't mix different types of rams together, if you have German rams, then its German ram tank with other fish etc, but not another type of cichlid.. German rams are usually more aggressive then the gold rams.
it could be the water quality, that is why your fish is acting weird.. also how is the sight line for your tank? the whole front shown.. fish can see down the tank etc... is it densely planted? are there caves?

 

[paradiddle]

+1 to the german blue ram,
 
they should be the centre piece fish of your tank, in a sexed pair if size will allow, 
they should be kept with schooling fish that are fish friendly such as neon tetras, lampeye, headlights, basically most tetra's
Ones to avoid in my knowledge are fin nippers like barbs and serpea tetra

 

[mark4785]

 So i woke up this morning and have noticed it is now hiding under some driftwood still gills going super fast. I don't know if its giving birth or dieing ??

 
What colour is it while it's gills are moving quickly? If it is a pale colour with a black horizontal tar mark, something is definitely stressing it out. Stressors include other fish nipping at it's fins or chasing it, sudden changes in water temperature or quality, parasitic infestation.
 
You need to test your ammonia, nitrite, PH, KH and GH levels to ensure your water quality is appropriate for both the rams. The ammonia/nitrite level should be 0 ppm, the pH should be between 5 and 7 and the KH and GH should be between 4-5 dH.
 
If your water quality is within range you need to treat the water for suspected gill parasites very quickly with a solution called malachite green (you will find this in a product called WaterLife Sterazin). Gill parasites damage the gill tissue causing it to inflame and not be able to function normally which leads to inevitable death. This is why it needs to be treated QUICKLY.