Male ram still chasing female

[Elisabeth83]

Alright my male and female ram had been seperated for about 1 1/2- 2 weeks. She was in a 30 gallon and he was in a 14.5 gallon. She developed fin rot a few days after I brought her home but it's now cleared up after treatment and clean water.

So today I decided to put the male back in with the female in the 30 gallon. Well at first she seemed to be in charge but that only lasted about a minute and then he begain chasing her. I listened to what others said that as long as the chase doesn't last too long and he doesn't make her cower in a corner then they should be ok. Well the chase was constant and he was chasing her into corners where she would stay for a few seconds until he'd nip her side or tail and she'd swim out again where it would begin all over again. I only let them do this for 30 mins because she was getting paler and starting to breath heavy.

I put him in a breeding net and she's gotten her color back and has been going up to the breeding net kind of checking him out/showing off to him. He's not a happy camper though he's ramming into the bottom of the net trying to get to her

So what should I do? Should I let them do this whole chasing thing? Should I leave him in the breeding net? If so for how long? day or days?

I'm getting so fed up with all of this I thought they would finally like eachother as she laid eggs (ate them all now) and her belly has been very pink.

 

[freddyk]

It would be worth installing a divider that they can see through and letting them get used to each other through it (you'll be able to tell by their behavior when and if it might be safe to remove the divider - a technique that sometimes, but not always, works. Failing that you may need to add more females and let the male choose one that's compatible with him.

 

[pseud]

What Freddy said ^^

 

[Elisabeth83]

I feel bad about this but I'm thinking of taking them to my lfs. I just don't feel like dealing with this anymore. I've had problems since I bought the 2 over a month ago. Yes both were males and I did swap for a girl but that's given me just the same amount of grief but more because she got fin rot

I feel tired

 

[pseud]

You could try taking them back and getting a pair that already are paired off in the tank...

 

[Elisabeth83]

Ya know what that sounds like a good idea What do I look for if they are a pair?

I just rang my lfs and they said I could bring them in. I told them everything that had been happening and how I'm just tried of dealing with them.

 

[pseud]

Looks for a male and female in close proximity together in the tank, without showing signs of aggression. I call it 'sticking', cuz it's like they're sticking together. You might not see a pair like this in teh tank, in fact, in a tank full of Rams you almost certainly wont. Just go for the most healthy looking male and female.

 

[Katchan]

As I've said before this is NORMAL behaviour you may need a target fish, something for the male to focus his aggression beside the female. A butterfly ram would work well as they are a very hardy species and tend to be larger as well . Also YOU NEED tomake sure the tank has lots of hiding places for the female to rest from the males attentions basically caves/rocks/ornaments and good planting. I hesitate to suggest it but you already have a target fish, your apistogramma macmasteri (sp?) may do yell if the tank is well set up, I generally use an apistogramma euntos (sp?) as the target fish for my rams as mine are hardy little things.

Katchan

 

[Elisabeth83]

As I've said before this is NORMAL behaviour you may need a target fish, something for the male to focus his aggression beside the female. A butterfly ram would work well as they are a very hardy species and tend to be larger as well . Also YOU NEED tomake sure the tank has lots of hiding places for the female to rest from the males attentions basically caves/rocks/ornaments and good planting. I hesitate to suggest it but you already have a target fish, your apistogramma macmasteri (sp?) may do yell if the tank is well set up, I generally use an apistogramma euntos (sp?) as the target fish for my rams as mine are hardy little things.

Katchan

[snapback]890238[/snapback]​

I believe some chasing is normal yes but I don't think you understand just how badly my male was chasing the female. After I put him in the breeding net I checked her over and almost all her fins were torn up especially her ventral fins they were all split into pieces He was chasing her right into the corners biting her body and fins. I did have some target fish in the tank and yes the male and female would chase them too but that didn't help their aggression towards eachother at all. The male would just take a 1 second break from chasing her to dart after the halfbeaks but it wasn't long enough for her to be able to get away or rest.

I do have pots, wood and plenty of plants in the tank. He'd only loose sight of her for maybe 10 seconds and he'd find her straight away. He was patroling the whole tank looking for her so even when she did find somewhere to rest/hide he'd find her straight away

Believe me I read, posted and tried a lot of stuff but to no avail. I didn't do the dividers because I was just tried of it all. I'd like to get a real "pair" someday. I don't think I'll go with the german blue rams though. A guy I know sells the real wild caught kind. I don't know what they are called but they arn't bolivian and they arn't the german blue ones either.

Anyways I did take mine to my lfs where they had about 15 others in a tank. They all seemed interested in them while they were floating in the bags. I didn't stay long enough to see them be let out of the bags but I am sure they are ok.

pseud I'll look for everything you next time I am at the guys shop. Who knows he might already have some pairs for sale. That would be great!!

 

[pseud]

Awwww, don't give up on them, they're awesome fish! You just had a bunch of bad luck with them. Take a break, and try coming back to them in a month or two...

 

[scrappy]

I know this is a silly question but were you sure that the "replacement" was definitely a female. In most LFS they are only stocked with either one or the other (this is to stop homebreeders doing the far east out of business). Rams are difficult to sex until they get a little more mature.

In the UK the only way i could get hold of a female was to barter with my LFS manager (who had a few females in his private tank at home).

Now (as in tonight) my female is spawning and i may have a batch of rams swimming about in my tank in the next couple of days.

Ive never had the trouble your talking about with a pair (male & female) only ever experienced this kind of problem when there is more than 1 male in the tank.

==============UPDATE==============

Ignore above as ive just read your other thread about laying eggs

The last time i read up on rams it wasnt possible for a male to lay eggs

 

[Barrydwise]

My lfs said that they only get male rams - all the females are kept back in the far east for their own breeding programs.

Scrappy - where in the UK are you? Are you planning to sell babies once they've grown a bit - a pair would be nice? What type of rams are they?

Cheers

Barry