My 3 Yr Old Bolivian Ram

[Fishmanic]

Well fed, contented....hanging out on top of homemade flagstone/ rock cave...he will even let you pet him
 

 

[Akasha72]

aww ... he's lovely. I miss my rams. They were a lovely fish to keep. Mine were quite tame too ... not to the point at letting me touch them but they would come to the glass if I went near the tank. I found them to be quite interactive

 

[Fishmanic]

in my sig you will see the same ram about 18 months ago...his coloring changed quite a bit

now if I could only enter him in FOTM to get members opinions

 

[Akasha72]

he's not showing as much yellow as mine did but I've seen lots of photo's of various bolivian rams lately and  most arn't showing as much yellow colouring as mine did... maybe it was something to do with my lights 

 

 

[gmc1]

You can only see yellow on mine when lights are off.prob the white sand I have.
Great characters and yours looks great.

 

[Akasha72]

both of mine died ... been gone over a year now. I do miss them though. They were real characterful fish. If I didn't have my angels and wasn't considering replacing curviceps too I would consider another pair of rams but I don't want the hassle of too many cichlids in one tank. I tried the ram-curviceps-angel mix just once and it didn't end well. I ended up re-homing the angels cos I couldn't cope with the constant battle of territory

 

[Fishmanic]

I believe I found out why he looked so dark.    My large BN pleco usually stays on the right side of the tank in or under the cave or under the driftwood.   When he's hungry though, he ventures over to the other side of the tank and the bolivian ram has to move somewhere away from his usually hangout.  I think his turning dark colored is due to stress of the pleco nearby.  
 
When the pleco is not in his territory, his color is more like his color in my sig.  

 

[Akasha72]

could be ... my rams would change colour when stressed. Could you perhaps try feeding the plec in an area away from the rams territory?

 

[Fishmanic]

I do feed the plec in his own  territory.; but if I feed the ram,  the glutton comes over to the other side of the tank too, to pig out.

 

[Akasha72]

ahh I see. Not much you can do about that then

 

[Skae]

awww cute!!! 
my honey gourami isn't shy and always comes to the top of the tank to say hello !

 

[meghanbridget33]

I love my bolivian rams, I had four all ended up being males. Sadly after a year I lost one today, had them since they were super tiny. Totally bummed me out. The other three are thriving. I totally agree that their color depends on mood, the one I lost turned a dark mottled color, I had him in quarantine after I noticed that he was sulking in the corner of the tank, and I couldn't get him to turn around, he wouldn't even take blood worms . My other three are very beautiful and have nice bright olive colored heads, and they all have lyretails.

For someone who is eager too experience the wonderful world of dwarf cichlids I always recommend these guys. German blues are more flashy but these guys are so much hardier and peaceful. I have eight German rams, including a male electric blue and a female balloon ram, and they can be jerks! Another good choice are kribensis cichlids, but they do hide a ton, but they do have really nice colors, only downfall is that they breed like rabbits!

Here are some of my bolivians!