New blue ram!

[Raechal]

Okay so I bought a very small female at the LFS for my male blue ram and he has been out swimming around ever since I added her. The only thing I am kind of worried about is that she is so small and he is chasing her around. Just like short chases, like he will chase her for about 10 seconds them stop. Then do it again a few minutes later. Is this normal?

I believe she is a female because her belly is pink, rather than orange/yellow like my males.

Should I be worried or is it natural?

He also isn't chasing the tetras anymore and only focuses on her. She is about an inch whereas he is about 2 inches.

 

[DannyBoy17]

I'd say he's courting her!

--Dan

 

[FrAnK3333]

My male ram does the same but I have no fry.

 

[Raechal]

Is that a good thing or will she get really stressed out by it? Does this mean they will become a pair or is he just lonely?

I am thinking about either getting 2 more females or maybe a male and another female. Next week or the week after, I don't want to add too many fish at a time.

He seems to want to "lead" her into his cave/planted corner. She never goes in with him though. She will follow him to the cave then dart to the other side of the tank and he will go right after her.

 

[parker313]

In a tank that big, she should be fine. If they were in a little 10g, then yes, she could get overstressed. In a tank that big, assuming there are lots of hiding places then she should be able to get away from him when she wants to.

 

[nc_nutcase]

Sounds pretty natural to me. He is establishing that not only is he the king of the tank, but he is a strong male worth mating with. She, being smaller/younger, isn't yet interested in mating so she isn't responding with open arms(?). I would presume they will get in sync with one another soon and get along.

Congratts and looking forward to hearing about them!

 

[Raechal]

In a tank that big, she should be fine. If they were in a little 10g, then yes, she could get overstressed. In a tank that big, assuming there are lots of hiding places then she should be able to get away from him when she wants to.

Well that is the thing...The tank is fairly new as I just started adding fish about 2-3 days ago because that was when it ended it's fishless cycle. So it has one planted corner it has one fake plant and two live plants then a rock/cave infront of the plants. The male ram always used to hide out there so I suppose he has "claimed" that spot as his own. And then there is a pot at the right corner of the tank with a small fake plant behind it. The rest of the tank is just open swimming space. I should get some more live plants next weekend or something.

 

[Raechal]

Sounds pretty natural to me. He is establishing that not only is he the king of the tank, but he is a strong male worth mating with. She, being smaller/younger, isn't yet interested in mating so she isn't responding with open arms(?). I would presume they will get in sync with one another soon and get along.

Congratts and looking forward to hearing about them!

Well she should be lucky to be with a male that big! The tank she was in had males smaller than her. She was the biggest one in the tank so I picked her. Now she is in a tank with a male twice the size of her and she doesn't know what to do. She is following him around now and he doesn't seem to mind that but when he is at one side of the tank and she is at the other side doing her own thing he will dart at her and chase her around for awhile. Then when I fed them they were perfectly fine together.

Their behavior confuses me.