ok so i have a 20g long and i would like to either do apistos or rams......apistos are alot harder to find in my area. i have seen 4 diff types of rams..german blues, bolivians, golds......and i guess it was a german blue but it was veil tail and rather round looking like a parrot cichlid. so i am wondering how many rams i could do in that tank. i would like to have some of all types to make it interesting, also i was wondering about adding a school or cardinal tetra??? is this doable if not i will go w/ just rams. also i was told they like kinda darker substrate, and slow moving water, also i think they like there ph around 6.5......i may try to do some plants but i'm not really great at keeping plants alive in tanks.
Dwarf Cichlids!!!!
- Thread starter Ak-Kronic
- Start date
I'd actually suggest two pairs of the same species (GBRs if I was to choose) - you'll see a lot of interesting interactions (i.e. displaying and mild disputes).
Just for clarification, they are Blue Rams, not German Blue Rams. "German Blue Rams" is a name thrown around a lot to try and pawn regular Asian or otherwise imported Rams off as if they are a higher quality (German bred imports). Unless they're from a respectable source they're Blue Rams.
There are a lot of colour morphs of this species, such as the Gold Ram you've seen, as well as many line bred mutilations (or should I say features?) such as Balloon/Shortbodied varieties and veiltail/longfins.
Cardinal Tetra will do well with Rams. I'd go for numerous of the one type - just your regular Blue Rams. Bolivians get quite large and the Blue's would do much better in that sized tank.
They like relatively high temperatures and very good water quality, in a tank with sand substrate that provides plenty of shelter and live plants. I would do either 2 or 4 Rams, with a small shoal of about 8 Tetra, and some Corydoras in that sized tank.
There are a lot of colour morphs of this species, such as the Gold Ram you've seen, as well as many line bred mutilations (or should I say features?) such as Balloon/Shortbodied varieties and veiltail/longfins.
Cardinal Tetra will do well with Rams. I'd go for numerous of the one type - just your regular Blue Rams. Bolivians get quite large and the Blue's would do much better in that sized tank.
They like relatively high temperatures and very good water quality, in a tank with sand substrate that provides plenty of shelter and live plants. I would do either 2 or 4 Rams, with a small shoal of about 8 Tetra, and some Corydoras in that sized tank.
I've bred bolivians in a 20 gallon long, but tetras just wouldn't work with them. I'd go with a pair of blue rams, a school of 12 cardinals, and a couple of oto's for algae with a sand substrate ... remember, Microgeophagus ... though blue rams tend to blow water into the sand more like discus do than actually sift, but it's still fun to watch.
thanks for the replies guys!! yeah i see what you mean about the whole "German" Blue Ram thing alot of pets/fish are talked up to be more than what they truely are. and i didn't know that bolivians got larger than the Blues.....i like the blue and the gold could i do a pair of each??? with like a dozen cardinal? mabe a trio of corys....or like half a dozen of the dwarf pandas corys??? um i allready bought some really small gravel for them will that be ok? and i know they like lots of hiding spots.....i think i will do the terra cotta pot look in this one mabe 4-5 small or broken pots placed so they can be used as hide outs. the veil tail ram i saw was labeled a balloon ram and was like 18.99. can the sub-species of the ram family interbreed like having a pair of golds and blues?? wonder what their offspring would look like!! also is it the male that has a kinda spike on his dorsal fin like 2-3 rays back? thank you mainly i am wanting to know if the really small navy blue gravel i bought is going to be ok ( i've already washed it and it's in the tank and can't return it) and what kinda filtration do you guys recomend for these lil guys, i don't wannt blow them around........i'm not to familiar w/ sponge filters......i don't like undergravel filters either. prefer the HOB. thanks for the help guys
so is the one w/ the veil tail in this pic a blue or bolivian?? i'm leaning toward blue...
these look like bolivians
nice pair of golds
believe these to be the balloon rams.....so are they a varient of the blue??
so is the one w/ the veil tail in this pic a blue or bolivian?? i'm leaning toward blue...
these look like bolivians
nice pair of golds
believe these to be the balloon rams.....so are they a varient of the blue??
- Veiltail Longfin Blue (and probably line-bred for the red, as well as fed on Tetra Colorbits I bet 
)
- Blue
- Gold (Possibly somewhat Balloon?)
- Balloon Blue (Yuck)
I'd personally ditch the blue gravel and go for some natural sand, Play Sand is perfect, and it's cheap as chips so you can save the blue gravel for another tank if you still want to use it down the track.
I think darthpikes idea to keep Oto's instead of Corydoras is a better idea, as Corydoras do best and are most fun to watch in groups of at least 6, which might be stretching that sized tank a little with the Rams and Tetra.
2x Blue Rams (get regular ones, not the 'fancy' varieties, they'll be hardier)
12x Cardinal Tetras
3x Otocinclus sp.
Would be a very neat little tank.
)- Blue
- Gold (Possibly somewhat Balloon?)
- Balloon Blue (Yuck)
I'd personally ditch the blue gravel and go for some natural sand, Play Sand is perfect, and it's cheap as chips so you can save the blue gravel for another tank if you still want to use it down the track.
I think darthpikes idea to keep Oto's instead of Corydoras is a better idea, as Corydoras do best and are most fun to watch in groups of at least 6, which might be stretching that sized tank a little with the Rams and Tetra.
2x Blue Rams (get regular ones, not the 'fancy' varieties, they'll be hardier)
12x Cardinal Tetras
3x Otocinclus sp.
Would be a very neat little tank.
I agree, go with the regular blue rams or even the gold rams if you like them. I would avoild the veiltails and angel (what the balloon rams are usually called) as both varities are even more sensitive than the blues and golds. All the ones you posted up are all versions of the blue ram, none are bolivian.
As for filtration, becuase blue rams are so nitrate sensitive, I would do a biowheel on your tank. I use a Penguin 150 on every 20 long I own (or the older Penguin 170).
As for stocking, if you want 2 pairs, you'd need to drop the cardinals to 8 and leave out the cories. But personally, in that size tank I'd only do one pair on a perminate basis. Of course you can get 4 and let them pair of and then return the unneeded pair.
As for filtration, becuase blue rams are so nitrate sensitive, I would do a biowheel on your tank. I use a Penguin 150 on every 20 long I own (or the older Penguin 170).
As for stocking, if you want 2 pairs, you'd need to drop the cardinals to 8 and leave out the cories. But personally, in that size tank I'd only do one pair on a perminate basis. Of course you can get 4 and let them pair of and then return the unneeded pair.
Just wanted to toss out their that if your in Anchorage anytime soon and want to change that substrate-I got 5 black tahitiam moon sand bags unopened---I could sell ya one or two-
Or you could also just have the tahitian moon sand I just yanked out of my 90 gal tank......It would need to be washed---But certainly isn't dirty...Only had a single Piranha(very clean fish) in it for years......
Up too you though....the moon sand locally to me sells for $30 a bag (20 pounds)-I'll go half on that if you wanted one......
Or you could also just have the tahitian moon sand I just yanked out of my 90 gal tank......It would need to be washed---But certainly isn't dirty...Only had a single Piranha(very clean fish) in it for years......
Up too you though....the moon sand locally to me sells for $30 a bag (20 pounds)-I'll go half on that if you wanted one......
Hi.. I agree with Japes.. go for sand... the pool filter sand is very cheap and clean and has a nice color when wet.. You can find it at Ace Hardware etc..
I would also only plan on one pair of the blues unless you plan on doing a lot of aquascaping.. Over many years, I've had a lot of fish including Bolivians and raised discus in the past but just recently was my first time with blue rams and I got 4.. I thought that 2 pairs in a 120 gallon would be fine. Because of my aquascaping for the geos I only had a few plants but lots of driftwood.. It only took a few days for one of the pairs to claim the entire tank as "their turf" and bully everyone but especially the other pair. I had to remove the other pair to another tank.. They are very colorful and can be very feisty little guys.. They were bullying the geos and angels more than twice their size..
I would also go with a school of 12 or so either rummynoses (my favorite) or cardinals.. Both the blue rams and these schooling fish like the high temps. Then maybe some smaller cories like sterbai that can take the heat.. Ottos need to have an established tank to flourish and IME so do the blue rams.. So I would start with my schooling fish first in.. The main thing is consistent parameters and lots of clean water.. Good luck whatever you decide to do. Sue
I would also only plan on one pair of the blues unless you plan on doing a lot of aquascaping.. Over many years, I've had a lot of fish including Bolivians and raised discus in the past but just recently was my first time with blue rams and I got 4.. I thought that 2 pairs in a 120 gallon would be fine. Because of my aquascaping for the geos I only had a few plants but lots of driftwood.. It only took a few days for one of the pairs to claim the entire tank as "their turf" and bully everyone but especially the other pair. I had to remove the other pair to another tank.. They are very colorful and can be very feisty little guys.. They were bullying the geos and angels more than twice their size..
I would also go with a school of 12 or so either rummynoses (my favorite) or cardinals.. Both the blue rams and these schooling fish like the high temps. Then maybe some smaller cories like sterbai that can take the heat.. Ottos need to have an established tank to flourish and IME so do the blue rams.. So I would start with my schooling fish first in.. The main thing is consistent parameters and lots of clean water.. Good luck whatever you decide to do. Sue
another point, blue rams and gold rams are perfectly interchangable as they are the same species (so if you wanted gold and blue but only wanted a pair a possible option). all pics so far posted are Mikrogeophagus ramirezi below is a bolivian or Mikrogeophagus altispinosa
