Ram Feeding

[ALEXF]

hello,

i have a ram, and its has been staying pretty much at the bottom of the tank which is exspected from what i hvae read, but im having a hard time telling if it is eating or not, i swear it picks things up but spits iit back out. should the ram be surfacing for food? i am trying to feed it everything from flakes, to freeze dried blood worms, brineshrimp pellets, frozen blood worms, and chilid pellets... It seems to be a fairly active fish so i think it may be eating and im just not seeing it?? is there any signs i should be watching for to make sure that it is ok? any help would be appreciated.


Thank You,


Alex

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

hello,

i have a ram, and its has been staying pretty much at the bottom of the tank which is exspected from what i hvae read, but im having a hard time telling if it is eating or not, i swear it picks things up but spits iit back out. should the ram be surfacing for food? i am trying to feed it everything from flakes, to freeze dried blood worms, brineshrimp pellets, frozen blood worms, and chilid pellets... It seems to be a fairly active fish so i think it may be eating and im just not seeing it?? is there any signs i should be watching for to make sure that it is ok? any help would be appreciated.


Thank You,


Alex

Mine will normally surface for food. Is it by itself? Does it get bullied? What I am trying to get at is, is it it feeling stressed or insecure? Spitting out food for fish can be common. In Cichlids, it is probably just a niche from when they where wild. Those fish feed on little inverts, so it is an easy way to kill them without them biting back, I wouldn't be too scared unless he isn't swallowing them after 7 or 8 tries. This can sometimes be signs of internal parasites. If he has stress bars, and isn't moving much then I would start thinking about treatment...

 

[ALEXF]

hello,

i have a ram, and its has been staying pretty much at the bottom of the tank which is exspected from what i hvae read, but im having a hard time telling if it is eating or not, i swear it picks things up but spits iit back out. should the ram be surfacing for food? i am trying to feed it everything from flakes, to freeze dried blood worms, brineshrimp pellets, frozen blood worms, and chilid pellets... It seems to be a fairly active fish so i think it may be eating and im just not seeing it?? is there any signs i should be watching for to make sure that it is ok? any help would be appreciated.


Thank You,


Alex

Mine will normally surface for food. Is it by itself? Does it get bullied? What I am trying to get at is, is it it feeling stressed or insecure? Spitting out food for fish can be common. In Cichlids, it is probably just a niche from when they where wild. Those fish feed on little inverts, so it is an easy way to kill them without them biting back, I wouldn't be too scared unless he isn't swallowing them after 7 or 8 tries. This can sometimes be signs of internal parasites. If he has stress bars, and isn't moving much then I would start thinking about treatment...

he is with a single angel. it is jsut the 2 of them and the angel is just a little bit bigger than him. he seems fine. very active.. its a heavily planted tank with about 4 caves, one in particular that he has taken a liking to. At first i thought it was because of the airator i had it was causing alot of water movement on the surface, and when i changed to a smaller pump he started going higher and higher but has yet to go all the way to the top. It seems as if it kind of hangs out with the angel by following it, unless of course the angel goes to high. now do you know what i should be trying to feed it? i am trying flakes, pellets, brine shrimp pellets, freeze dried bloodworms and frozen bloodworms, am i missing something??? also what are stress bars??? thank you

 

[ox5477]

"stress bars" are something most species of cichlid have. usually they will be a consistant or patterned color. When they feel threatened or scared, their body naturally will react by creating vertical black stripes over their whole body.


If the ram is staying at the bottom and the angel hangs at the top, sound like they had a little territory dispute and the angel keeps him down at the bottom. Everything your feeding it seems fine. Only thing else that i feed is mysis shrimp. all fish love it and I even saw my adult jd gulping in a few dozen last night when I fed everyone....


I wouldn't worry too much as it is prob eating and getting nurishment, but as Discus said, make sure you keep an eye on it. If you supect that it is not swallowing then check into the parasite issue

 

[ALEXF]

thank you guys for the replies, my ram seems ok so im not gonna worry to much (probably still gonna) but i check them constantly. Last night when i got home (4am) i turned on the light to get a quick peak and watched as it just laided there which freaked me out til i realized.... its 4am its trying to get some rest. lol but to day it was active as ever so idk.]


Thanks,


Alex

 

[LosC519]

thank you guys for the replies, my ram seems ok so im not gonna worry to much (probably still gonna) but i check them constantly. Last night when i got home (4am) i turned on the light to get a quick peak and watched as it just laided there which freaked me out til i realized.... its 4am its trying to get some rest. lol but to day it was active as ever so idk.]


Thanks,


Alex

Turning the lights on suddenly will startle your rams. Turn the room lights on before you turn their lights and show some activity in the room, sort of gives them a warning. If you want to see your rams at night you could get a moonlight or make your own out of a blue L.E.D. strip light.