My New Gold Rams

[chrisbassist]

Wow, those colours are great! Really nice looking fish.

I'm still waiting for a full tank shot showing discus in there, healthy plants starting to take over with the odd tetra just visible... And these guys swimming around. I can just imagine it now. You'll get there. But I think a lot of members here are frustrated with the wait almost as much as you. Want to see it finished, you deserve it.

 

[markandhisfish]

thanks chris believe me nobody else on here can even get close to being as frustrated as i am it has just been setback after setback tank should of been finished ages ago
as i saiid i could go to chens discus any time i like , but if i did then i wouldnt get the strains i have my heart set on and would end up regretting not waiting for david to get back from malaysia .
but rest assured once i have my discus i will put up so many pics youl all probably get sick of the sight of them

 

[PDSimon]

whats your pH like keeping those guys?

 

[markandhisfish]

mate i havent bothered testing ph for about 18 months , but if i remember rightly its somewhere around 7. to 7.2 i personally think people worry far too much about ph etc . with delicate species such as rams i find that water quality and stability are the key along with slow gradual acclimatisation . with these boys i just floated the bag to temp match then gradually added tank water to the bag a shot glassfull at a time every 10 mins or so over about an hour . this way the water paramaters in the bag are slowly and smoothly matched to that of the tank and the fish isnt suddenly shocked if there is any difference. ive used this method for several so called delicate species such as these rams , 2 other rams previously , golden nugget plec etc and all have thrived .
no doubt there will be members who disagree and say that keeping the right ph is crucial , but i think the colours speak for themselves , i have yet to find a species i cant keep using this method.

 

[kaivalagi]

Do you think this would work equally well with either F1 or F0 wild caught fish? Just curious what you think as I think it really wouldn't matter for any fish too much as long as things are taken slowly.

I am sure many others will agree with you too. Stability is what really matters, so long as the water is around neutral (i.e. not extremely acidic or alkaline) it should be no real problem...I have Geo red head tapajos, the oldest I have had for almost 5 months and they all seem well happy, they're in a pH of 7.5 when all the profiles say < 6.5 etc. Clean water, good filtration and a happy environment are what count most I think. And yes slowly slowly on the introduction, I think I managed to acclimatise in the same way you've described over 30 minutes or so which worked out okay but probably an hour would be best, especially for rams such as you have.

I would love to see a tank shot with those rams and cardinals in view...all those cardinals must look real nice

 

[markandhisfish]

i dont see why it should be any different for w/c fish . my green sev was w/c altho to be fair sevs are much hardier than rams .

i need to get some batteries for my camera ( its an old stone age 1 that still takes normal batteries lol) then i will try and get a good full tank shot . altho to be fair the cardinals spend a lot of time hiding in the plants at the back . altho since i upped the numbers again they do come out a bit more .

 

[PDSimon]

Cheers mark, my pH is similar too... i'd love some electric blue rams but tank is just to new for them I think.

Amazing fish I agree with kaivalgi, pictures!

 

[markandhisfish]

well just to be typical when the camera comes out evrything decides to hide behind the big bit of wood but heres a tank shot anyway. i know it looks a bit bare at the left hand end but i took out some plants that were not doing well . i am going to get another amazon sword to fill the gap .

 

[PDSimon]

You don't have any fish at all

Whats the plants at the back behind the wood?

 

[markandhisfish]

lol it looks empty dont it , little buggers all hiding if you really squint tho you can just about make out some cardinals on the right . honest!!

the plant behind the wood is hygrophilia polysperma

 

[Enna]

I've started adding food just before I take a picture, they are too interested in the food to bother about the camera.

Lovely fish btw, beautiful colouring.

 

[markandhisfish]

here at last proof of life

 

[markandhisfish]

can you believe this? my girfriends daughter just came round . so i proudly said hey check out my new fish. ............... what is it she asks so i tell her its a gold ram , she said it looked like a goldfish!!! i mean a #135## goldfish!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PDSimon]

She wouldn't have said that if you had discus

 

[markandhisfish]

june 5th there will be 6 to 8 shiny new discus in there