Bolivian ram?

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#1
Jun 27, 2010
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#1
How do these look for stocking (20 G high tank, AquaClear 30 filter):

6 zebra danios
2 guppies (not sure about this...see disease forum)
2 Bolivian rams

Aqadvisor says 86% full, 118% filtration capacity.

OR

6 zebra danios
3 guppies (again, not sure)
1 Bolivian ram

82% full, 127% filtration capacity

OR
A honey gourami or two instead of a ram
88% full, 114% filtration capacity w/ two gouramis


when I tested my water today before my water change, ammonia & nitrites were 0, nitrate was 10 (slight possibility might be wrong because I may have put an extra drop of test solution in), and pH was 7.6 for normal test, and between 7.4 and 7.8 using the high range test.

Thoughts?
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#5
Aug 12, 2008
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#5
How would that be bad with the guppies? I see no reason why any of those plans would fail unless the OP couldn't find a female gourami to make the 2 honey gouramis a pair, if that's what they eventually went with..

Fishwish, I think I'd go with the first, personally, provided you bought a male and female ram or two females to form a pair. All of the above though look like nice community plans.
 

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#6
Jun 27, 2010
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#6
I was thinking one male, one female...or would it be better to have two of the same gender? I thought maybe two males wouldn't get along very well, but perhaps I'm wrong. I was leaning towards having just one ram anyway, but thought I would throw out the idea of having a pair.

Fishman, why do you say they won't work with the guppies? And why wouldn't a honey gourami be okay with guppies and zebra danios?
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#7
Aug 12, 2008
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#7
fishwish34 said:
I was thinking one male, one female...or would it be better to have two of the same gender? I thought maybe two males wouldn't get along very well, but perhaps I'm wrong. I was leaning towards having just one ram anyway, but thought I would throw out the idea of having a pair.

Fishman, why do you say they won't work with the guppies? And why wouldn't a honey gourami be okay with guppies and zebra danios?
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I think the male female pair sounds great. They'd be happier for the company, you're probably right about two males not getting on but they're hardly aggressive by cichlid standards.

I also don't understand why fishman doesn't think they'd work. The plans you listed are pretty standard peaceful community plans for which I see no issues.
 

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Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
#10
May 11, 2010
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#10
il just tell you what i think. When a male and female cichlid are together they have baby's. Now unless im wrong most cichlids that have babys protect them, now my guppys i had went to the bottom of the tank and pecked around to. Now whats gonna happen when the guppys run into the rams?
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#14
Aug 12, 2008
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#14
Fishman1995 said:
im sure the guppys will become comb tail guppys ;)
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I doubt it, have you ever seen a ram full-on attack? It just doesn't happen. I've seen them get a little bit stroppy but unlike more aggressive cichlids they won't do damage, they'll just false-charge at the fish until it swims away. The guppies won't have an issue, I certainly never had issues with guppies and rams.
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#15
Aug 12, 2008
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#15
And just to add, you can't class all cichlids as one and the same. They're a huge, diverse group which contains everything from huge predators to small shoaling cichlids. Rams are actually at the peaceful end of cichlids and are widely reccommended as good additions to a mature community tank because of this. It's like trying to class all characins as one and the same. Sure, they contain red bellied piranhas, but it also contains neon tetras. See where I'm coming from?
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#17
Jan 1, 2010
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Vancouver, British Columbia
#17
I have a male/female pair of rams in my community tank, and they are extremely peaceful towards each other and everyone else. When I did have a problem it was with one male, two females - both the male and the dominant female picked on the odd girl out. One I removed her, the other two were fine.
For the OP, all scenarios look good, and leave you a little wiggle room - teehee - for adding an algae-eating critter of some sort later on . . . .
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#18
Aug 12, 2008
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#18
lauraf said:
I have a male/female pair of rams in my community tank, and they are extremely peaceful towards each other and everyone else. When I did have a problem it was with one male, two females - both the male and the dominant female picked on the odd girl out. One I removed her, the other two were fine.
For the OP, all scenarios look good, and leave you a little wiggle room - teehee - for adding an algae-eating critter of some sort later on . . . .
Click to expand...
Off-topic, but I totally forgot to say, glad to have you back laura :)
 

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fishwish34

Medium Fish
#20
Jun 27, 2010
84
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#20
What sort of algae eating fish do you recommend, Laura? I've had ottos, but they've all died...I suspect they didn't get enough to eat. I put algae wafers in for them, but the zebra danios ate a lot.
 

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