rams, apisto's, and parrot

[tropicalcrazy]

ok 3 questions?

how much difference is there in aggression from a german blue or yellow ram compared to a bolivian ram in a community tank as long as they have proper territories?

and in a community tank will german or bolivian rams (or which one is better and why) work well with apisto's in a community tank?

and how well would a blood red parrot go with rams and apisto's?

thinking of getting rid of a few fish and adding all these guys. was wanting to do 1 german blue ram, 1 german yellow ram, 1 bolivian ram, maybe 3-4 apisto's, and 1 blood red parrot. now i know all these guys wont fit in with what i currently have so i want to get rid of rainbow shark, gold algae eater, and transfer my hi fin in another tank maybe even throw the shark and gold in all together in like a 30 and thats it and get maybe some Otocinclus Catfish like 5 for the 55, what do you think of this stocking combination?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

ok so i just realized that i would be way overstocked. so make it 2 apisto's, 1 parrot, 3 rams, 5 oto's, bichir, bala shark, clown pleco, and determining on albino rainbow.

heck maybe what ill do is get a 30 drop the hifin, albino rainbow, clown pleco, and add maybe a small fish or 2 and trade off the gold algae eater and rainbow for the new fish. there i would be fine on room for both tanks and fully stocked with many fish in both tanks. what do you all think

 

[unwritten law]

sounds like you need to think more about this...

 

[tropicalcrazy]

that 2nd part is what i want to do. i did their full measurements at full maturity/growth and they would fit for what that. in the 55 the 3 rams total 9", 1 blood parrot 6", 2 apisto's total 7", bichir 12", bala shark 12", and 5 oto's total 10" that equals 56" just a tad over the limit

and with a 30 hifin 15" max i figure, clown pleco 3", albino rainbow shark 6" and that equals 24 so just about the max, maybe add something that doesnt get bigger than 3" and thats it

 

[tropicalcrazy]

now my question is will all in the 55 do fine together? they are all community semi-aggressive fish

 

[big54bob]

That bicher is going to make an expensive snack of those apistos and rams. Ditch the bala shark and and scratch off the blood parrot. Blood parrot are known to get nasty.

 

[1077]

The german blue rams and apistogramma need soft water with pH values between 6.0 and 6.8 to do well in the long term. They also prefer to occupy the bottom of the tank. I cannot see them getting along with sharks or bicher.

 

[Orion]

Don't even bother with the "inch per gallon" when dealing with cichlids. It doesn't apply in any way, shape or form.

Unlike most community fish, most cichlids (especially males) will seek out and vigorously defend a territory. Any fish that it does not deem OK will be chased out of said territory. If the tank isn't large enough, other fish can quickly be stressed out by this when they don't have anywhere else to go and the cichlids in the tank have claimed all the tank.

When a male and a female form a pair and begin to spawn or are protecting a spawn, the aggression levels can go up dramatically depending on the species. I've seen a 2.5 inch fish put a 5 inch fish more than 3 times it's body mass up in the corner of a tank before because they were protecting eggs. It can be amazing to watch the parental care of cichlids, but if your not prepared for it, it can end up a blood bath.

In a large enough tank you can have some control over this by setting up territories for them, and by breaking them up by having them out of the line of sight of other territories, and giving other fish in the tank places to hide.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

Don't even bother with the "inch per gallon" when dealing with cichlids. It doesn't apply in any way, shape or form.

Unlike most community fish, most cichlids (especially males) will seek out and vigorously defend a territory. Any fish that it does not deem OK will be chased out of said territory. If the tank isn't large enough, other fish can quickly be stressed out by this when they don't have anywhere else to go and the cichlids in the tank have claimed all the tank.

When a male and a female form a pair and begin to spawn or are protecting a spawn, the aggression levels can go up dramatically depending on the species. I've seen a 2.5 inch fish put a 5 inch fish more than 3 times it's body mass up in the corner of a tank before because they were protecting eggs. It can be amazing to watch the parental care of cichlids, but if your not prepared for it, it can end up a blood bath.

In a large enough tank you can have some control over this by setting up territories for them, and by breaking them up by having them out of the line of sight of other territories, and giving other fish in the tank places to hide.

thanks for the always great info. yeah maybe ill do a little reconfiguring and maybe do a couple rams and make sure they arent both different sex so i dont have to deal with them breeding, and scratch out the apisto's, do 1 blood red parrot and do a couple schools of some mid to high level fish maybe barbs and angels

 

[tropicalcrazy]

That bicher is going to make an expensive snack of those apistos and rams. Ditch the bala shark and and scratch off the blood parrot. Blood parrot are known to get nasty.

are they really known to get that nasty then maybe not. i will be transfering my current bala and adding a couple friends for him. and take off the blood parrot and maybe just do school of barbs and angels w/ rams and the others that i wanted. the bichir shouldnt mess with the rams as long as i add the bichir close to last and at a small size and the rams at almost fully grown size. the bichir shouldnt put something of that size 3" in their mouth.


oh and i forgot their will be many territories that i will create. i think for this theme i will go with white rock, black background, live plants, LOTS of driftwood, rocks and maybe a couple sculptures (was thinking sunken ships them covered in plants) ah yes that should do it. i cant wait. i will definitely do some more researching before completely starting to stock. much much more reading and questions to come over the next couple months as i do my research

 

[Orion]

I don't know much about bichir's other than they seem to be highly preditory, and can grow large. And I think they can eat like a snake, as in dislodging their lower jaw and such to fit much larger prey into their mouths. I would be very weary about them and do lots of research.

The safest bet for multiple cichlid species in a tank this small would be to just get one of each. Angels are cichlids too remember, and they can be VERY nasty when they want to be despite there gentle looks.

I had a three year old angel in a 45 gallon several years back who was fine even with medium sized cardinal tetra's. Wasn't the least bit aggressive to any other fish, and the tank was borderline overstocked at times. However, every time I tried to introduce another angel, the older one would kill it within a matter of weeks. No matter what size, what I did to the tank, it would kill the new angels.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

interesting. yes i know they are also of cichlid species. ive heard mixed stories on angels. if i do any it will be maybe like 2-3 and thats it max. good idea on doing 1 of each on the rams. i was wondering if i should do that. i think if i do 1 of each ram, 1 blood parrot (MAYBE), a school of angels, balas, and barbs aught to be fine and then maybe do a school of like 8 oto's and a couple smaller dwarf pleco's so they wont hurt the plants. heck i might even be able to throw in a gold gourami and opaline or blue and they should be fine with that much room.