New German Blue Ram

[rayjay1234]

I just got a new German Blue into my 10g tank with Neon Tetras and Ottos. Its well planted and there's a terracotta cave and driftwood. I think it might be a juvenile, just based purely on the small size. I am not 100% sure of the sex, but I'm leaning towards female because of the slightly pink belly...slightly. Its about 1.5inches long at the moment.

Im only concerned because there is very little colour on the fish. I was thinking stress but she/he's been swimming around the tank quite comfortably, digging up and cleaning up the gravel around the opening of the pot (although i've never seen it go inside) and dug a pit near the base of one of the plants. It rarely eats either. I have been feeding fr. dry bloodworms, flakes and pellets which i have mixed so that every feeding has a bit of each. The tetras love it, but the ram just picks at it.

does anyone have suggestions for a really good quality (but not uber expensive) food that rams love? Also any suggestions why it would be so colourless?

ph 7.5 (i've been told that many captive bred rams are not that sensitive to more alkaline water)
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
gh <130

Just to note I have ordered Hagen Peat Plates from Big Als to soften and acidify the water.

 

[joloco]

i feed my ram sinking pellets for discus which i discovered accidently that he loves infact he'll sell his soul for them, also daphnia - he's very keen on these too and got more colourful after i started feeding him both of these.

i wouldn't worry too much about the lack of colouration, mine was quite pale when he first came into the tank but coloured up nicely as he grew.

if you want to speed this up you could add some lady friends although in such a small tank maybe not - i'm sure i've read one per ten gallons for cichlids but maybe thats an old wives tale - check with someone else i say.

males have two long spikes in the dorsal fin (at the front of it) where as females only have one i believe.

 

[RadaR]

Rekon its due to the GH being high. I wouldnt use things like peat because in my opinon they arent that good and are un-predictable. RO water would be way way better and you would then know what you would be definetly getting. But give the peat a go and monitor the Gh and ph closely to check for any large swings.

 

[xJake]

I've never kept Germans but my Bolivians love frozen bloodworms and freshly hatched baby brine shrimp. They also seem to lean toward the algae wafers I put in for my plecos in terms of dry food.

 

[TigerIssey]

I use New Spectrum sinking pellets for medium sized cichlids, they are not large as my tetras can manage to catch them however the colours on my rams have really come out since getting this food.