German blue rams

Also just saw one scratching gills??????????? :dontknow: I did use tetra dechlorinator . I don't know these fish to well so im a bit worried, the big male has lost colour and stresses constantly , he is hanging around the top for the last 2 hours , did feed them flakes and a bit of bloodworms today, all did seem to eat, but after the waterchange all went wrong, tank temp is 28 , will the gravel have change the ph? but did water changes on all tanks and pond and all looks well but the rams ray:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdGvXTs52I0

 

Rams likes aged water and a lower PH (6-7)
Reduce the amount of water changes to 10% a week.
The plants should take care of the excess nitrates in the water.

 

I just cleaned the filter, seem like white spot starting,Added some fungel meds just incase, , ph is high , 7.6 , but a friend of mine has his for over 4 months already and ph same as mine . ...... Very disappointed at the moment :shrug:

 

I really hope your fishies get better :worried: seems like everything was fine until that water change...? Could the municipality have been doing something like working on the pipes in your area? Sometimes they put more chemicals in when they do that. Don't change more water for a few days just in case. What percentage did you change with cold water? For my discus I always warm the new water a bit (kettle, not geyser water, as geyser has copper). If it was a lot of cold water, that may have something to do with it. White spot is often caused by the fish being chilled. Turn the heater up a degree or two while you're treating the white spot. Make sure the water is well oxygenated while treatment is going on. Fungal meds will help prevent secondary infections, but for the white spot you'll need either specific ick meds, or you could go the salt and heat route. There are lots of guides online that discuss treating ick.

 

I added enough salt aswell, ill try to get some meds from scotty tomorrow If I find a lift. acriflavine ? or what meds should I ask for? had some ick meds but cant find it. From now on ill age the water for 3-4 days with heater and earthstone, will normal buckets work? Here the municipality never fix anything so doubt it, all the guppies and goldies are fine,i hope, will do proper check tomorrow. Also hope they will be fine. I changed about 15perc but 10l and 10min later 5l again. So its safe using kettle water? :nurse: nice to know,also if you use aged water and use some kettle water to heat it up a bit, will this work aswell?

 

Metronidazole also works for ick.

 

I always do exactly that, never had a problem, but check what other people say about it.

 

Thanks yet again. Gonna get something bit cheaper,spent more than half my salary for the last 5 months on fish,time to save some money sadley,just hope its not getting worse, blonde lyre tails are in there, most of my blondes aswell.

 

Hi Marius

Try not to let your Rams stress you out too much. GBR's are a finicky bunch. Sometimes you win with them but unfortunately more often than not you will lose them. That has been my experience with them.

Regarding the Ick, if it is Ick, depending on tank mates but you can just increase the temperature to 32 degrees with no meds for two weeks and it will be gone. If you increase the temp make sure you increase airation/oxygenation in the tank.

 

Airiation is at max for now, getting some type of tablets later but will check if it gets worse. 2 of them are fine, but now they are stressing the other 2, keeps fighting with them. Maybe put them in a net or so? just to let them rest?

 

I think the problem is that your tank is a little small for so many rams (4?). Keep a pair in the 100l and house the others somewhere else or they will continue to harass each other. I have a pair in my 100l and a pair and a lonely female in the 300l. The lonely female has no colour at all and is harrassed whenever she is seen by the other 2! I will probably sell her soon.

 

I think that will be the only way, but they have to heal before I can move them. Added jungle tabs, for ich. Hope they get well soon

 

So the male was still the same lunch, but sad news, girlfriends mother said the female chased him like craze and somehow he hit head on with a rock and from there he was swimming weird, 10min later got home and he was dead :saint: Got the female in a small container for now, have no place. :cry: Part of the hobby I guess. 2 looks very good,but the female is chasing the male around,he is bigger then her.

 

Female(sick one) is busy kicking the bucket :cry: Male is okey but scared of the other female. Don't know what to do, she is chasing the guppies like craze . If there was ick btw it must be gone, no sigh on him or any other fish. But why is this female going all craze?

 

Hi Guys,

I havent been commenting on threads on tasa for quite a while, not that its related. I have however browsed this thread and have noticed some misconceptions and bad fishkeeping advise related to keeping them.
I feel sorry for these poor fish and my passion for M. Ramirezi goes a long way back, so I wish to say a few things about them here.
For those interested - I have bred hundreds of Rams in all their available colour morphs, and Im almost certain some members still have some Rams that came from me.

Contrary to belief, these are NOT easy fish to keep!
As said before on TASA somewhere, Rams come from water which borders on distilled water, with ph levels so low it will scare most aquarists.
To now dump them in SA tap water with ph levels in the mid 7's and expect them to flourish is just not going to happen.
To then suggest adding chemicals to make the water "better" further compounds the underlying issues. All that this does is push the TDS of the water up even further.

Added to this - I can confidently say that 99.9% of all Rams imported into SA will probably not survive past the first year. Ive seen it hundreds of times, they land here looking wonderfull, people buy them, they even spawn (which they can do from about 14 weeks of age by the way), and suddenly they seem lifeless, hang by the water surface as if gasping for air, and then a few days later they are dead. Its a very common occurrance. I have dissed this issue with a comment that Rams now come standard with an expiry date, no extra charge!

If quality specimens are found, they should be kept in very soft water, with a ph as low as 5 if possible.
I kept all my breeding stock in pure RO water with a ph of around 4.5 and they flourished.

In summary - it gets an expensive excercise to maintain Ram stock with what is available in SA. Some might get lucky and have a few that last longer than I indicate, that is not the norm however, and should not be seen as such. I further believe that for reasons unknown to me, the behaviour and characteristics of these fine fish has also suffered, and we now end up with fish killing each other and females behaving silly etc etc. Hormones? Who knows?

Regards

Marco

 

+1 @Marco These are very if i can use the word "brittle" little fish and and VERY finicky. I have 4 in my tank with fairly soft water and a ph around 6.8- 7.2. With luck my rams are well and display very nice colors and are lively.

Fishkeepers tend to mix fish together and don't look at the compatibility and needs the fish requires. (No direct point to @Maruis Swart) i also have rams in my community tank.
But rather other types of fish mixed together. Fish fight and other gets eaten and then they wonder why...

But good write up about the rams and i hope we can keep these wonderful fish successfully in the future.

 

Welcome back @Marco and thanks again for the advise/information.

 

Thank you @Marco , I agree, all say they are easy to keep, Dirk told me not to get them because most are imported like you said, I see one by one they went hanging above and I see they are irritated and I think its the high ph. So the male I have left did eat a bit but he is doing the same like the rest of the 2 that died, so Marco, did you hear of other females doing the same? she is seems healthy and colourfull but is making me mad about the guppies so If the male die I don't know if I should keep. So also maybe I did not do something wrong? Ek stem Willem, maar baie mense het gese dit kan werk saam met guppies , maar voel sleg oor die vise, geld gewys pla my nie, die vise is onsetend mooi en intresant , maar 2 is dood , een hang , kan niks doen nie, maar so leer mens, sal defnitief n langer besluit neem volgende keer voor ek vise kry. Vir nou gaan ek maar net an die tank werk en an die gang hou , is maar n bang mens as dit kom by nuwe vise. Wat sou jul se as die male dood gaan, en die female bly oor, wat doen ek? n pel hier het 4 n paar maande lank al en syne lyk orait, hy se hulle het onlangs begin agresief raak en dan n uur daarna weer rustig, sorry about the language change, did not notice . Ai I wanted them so bad for so long.......... :cry:

 

Its sad and frustrating when things dont go your way. I know the feeling... maybe try and focus on one pair on their own and see how it goes. Try and catch some rain water up somewhere... that will help with the softness of the water. Try and avoid any calcium stuff as our coast contains a lot of this that could make the water to hard. as for the PH maybe get a ph buffer and some ph strips and test it reguarly. although you had bad luck with them doesnt mean you must stop with them! Aanhouers wen!!!!

@Hilligenn came home to an awesome surprise that 2 of the 3 pairs he has had laid eggs so holding thumbs... Just shows you it can be done...