Keeping German Blue Rams

[xautomaticflowersx]

Hi all,

I'm soon going to swap the tiger barbs out of my 30"x12"x16" tank (leaving just 3 polkadot loach and some amano shrimp in there) and start a new community, so I've been looking at all the fish that I like in as much detail as possible in books and online. I want to know what will and won't thrive in my tank before I commit to any particular species.
Basically I'm a little unsure at the moment. I've read information from several different websites about german blue rams and a lot of it is conflicting. Some resources have said high pH, others have said low pH. Some say soft water, some say hard. Some say warmer water, others say cooler. Consequently I now don't know what to believe!

So I thought I'd ask the people who are keeping them, what their tank stats are and how difficult or easy they have found keeping these beautiful fish. I don't have a kit for testing water hardness, but our kettle gets scaled up a little bit so I'm guessing it's reasonably hard here. Other than that my water stats are:

pH = 7.6
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite= 0ppm
Nitrate= 35ppm (I know most people would want it at 25ppm, but it just comes out of the tap that high... I don't have any resulting algae problems, but even so I've recently added some faster growing plants which should help to use up some of the nitrates that are in the tank)
Temperature= 26C

So, would this be condusive to ram keeping? If it wouldn't suit german blues than would it suit bolivians? Or neither?

Also... can you keep just one ram (be it bolivian or german blue respectively) on it's own among a community tank? Or must they be in pairs or groups?

Thanks very much in advance!

 

[lyotim88]

my blue ram is kept in a pH of 7.0. Germans do like lower pH at around 6.8. You could keep some gouramies happy with the pH you currently have or you can use what i used (i initially had a pH of around 8 and had to GRADUALLY lower it) I used neutral regulator and acid regulator and it successfully lowered the pH in about the span of a week or so. I do keep mine by itself and he seems ok. as for the temp, i keep mine at 80F, dont know exactly what they prefer however. HTH -Tim

 

[minxfishy]

I dont have my rams anymore, not because they died I might add, but I rehomed them, my ph was 7.8, 0 ammonia & nitrIte ,20ppm nitrAtes - this is from tap, 2 x weekly water changes, temp 26. Mine thrived, never had a problem with them. You dont have to keep them in pairs, one would be fine on its own, my water is hard also.

Your tank stats seem fine to me, maybe nitrAtes a little high, but if you buy from the local area they probably have the same stats as you do. Most rams you can buy from LFS are locally tank bred and therefore dont need the lower ph, soft acidic water as stated as preferable on websites.

 

[Truck]

temperature 27oC, bit warm for my neons but they seem ok

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
PH7.6
dKH 12

i keep mine at 80F, dont know exactly what they prefer however

should be kept at 27/28oC

to prevent disease and slowing of metabolism, thats why rams normally die in community setups

 

[TigerIssey]

German blue rams

pH = 7.0
dKH= 8.0
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = Between 5 and 10
temp = 28 C
My tap water has pH 7.2
dKH 6.1

I add 1/2 tsp Bicarb occasionally at a water change if I don't the KH tends to drop. I test KH before every water change to make sure it is okay.

pH 7.0 is fine as this is what they were in previously being tank bred.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Thanks for the replies! Righto... so I guess if the ones near me have been tank bred then I'll probably be OK as they'll be used to similar tank conditions. Even so I'd like to get my nitrates down using some faster growing plants if possible. Maybe I should get some Hygrophila polysperma!

Any other ram keepers feel free to post your water stats and experiences!

 

[Truck]

before you get GBR's what else are they going to be housed with?

 

[Johnlenham]

Would Bolivians Not be a better option? Hardy and alittle less forgiving when it comes to water temp but I dont blame you GBRs look stunning!

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Would Bolivians Not be a better option? Hardy and alittle less forgiving when it comes to water temp but I dont blame you GBRs look stunning!

Bolivians are lovely. I like them a lot too... especially as they are a little less sensitive. It's really only the fact that they get that much larger and I like the smallness of German Blues. Though I'm looking at both species really.

before you get GBR's what else are they going to be housed with?

I'm not ready to swap out my barbs just yet. In fact I may not even get rid of my barbs and start again at all. So I guess you could say that I'm just hypothesising at the moment! I'm information-gathering. So I'm not just about to rush out and get new fish. This is the only reason why I'd been thinking of a different setup: Tiger Barb issues!

But to answer your question, I had in mind a group of peaceful little praecox rainbows. I also have 3 existing polkadot loach (Botia kubotai) and some amano shrimp. I understand German Blue Rams aren't to be kept with anything aggressive or semi-aggressive.

 

[Truck]

before you get GBR's what else are they going to be housed with?

I'm not ready to swap out my barbs just yet. In fact I may not even get rid of my barbs and start again at all. So I guess you could say that I'm just hypothesising at the moment! I'm information-gathering. So I'm not just about to rush out and get new fish. This is the only reason why I'd been thinking of a different setup: Tiger Barb issues!

But to answer your question, I had in mind a group of peaceful little praecox rainbows. I also have 3 existing polkadot loach (Botia kubotai) and some amano shrimp. I understand German Blue Rams aren't to be kept with anything aggressive or semi-aggressive.

its not aggressiveness you should be worried about, german blue rams need to be kept at 28oC other wise you could face one or more of these problems
slower metabolism
premature death
disease

bear this temperature in mind when choosing tankmates.

 

[smegforbrains]

I keep Rams in a PH of 8.6 and a temperature of around 25 C without any problems at all

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

its not aggressiveness you should be worried about, german blue rams need to be kept at 28oC other wise you could face one or more of these problems
slower metabolism
premature death
disease

bear this temperature in mind when choosing tankmates.

From what I've been reading online my Botia kubotai and my amano shrimp would be fine at that temperature, as well as the praecox rainbows. Obviously as long as I took the temperature up gradually. Although as I said, my tank's already at 26C so it would only be a case of raising the temperature by 2 degrees.


EDIT: Also, the spray bar from my filter faces upwards and breaks the water's surface and I run an airstone at night. So my water is well oxygenated and a small increase in temperature shouldn't affect things too badly.

I keep Rams in a PH of 8.6 and a temperature of around 25 C without any problems at all

Wow that's a high pH! It's really interesting... how long have you been keeping your rams?

 

[Turguin]

Hello, new here and would just like to add to this thread!

I have 2 GBR's in a 10 gallon at home. I've had my male one for about 3 - 4 months and my female for about 2 months. So far they have been doing pretty well. They even mated a couple weeks after I introduced the female to the tank. Unfortunately the parents ate the fry a couple days after they hatched and now it seems like they don't like each other's company anymore.

When I first bought my male, he was paired up with a female who died a couple weeks after I had bought them. I have no idea why because my water stats were the same as they are now. The tank was/is established which is why I think these fish are sometimes considered delicate. I, on the other hand, believe otherwise since my male and the current female are doing pretty well.

Water Stats:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
PH - 7.4
Temp - 80F(28C) - 84F(29C)
25% WC weekly

 

[CichlidGuy]

My tank stats are nitrite0. ammonia0. nitrates0. PH 8.0 Temp 29-30 deg C, 25% WC every 2 weeks. i also breed them but with low hatch rates because of the PH.

 

[bagu]

pH 7
amm 0
NitrItes 0
NitratEs 10-15ppm
temp 28 deg celc