Rams in Community Tank

[Nuts4fish]

I was wondering if you can mix Rams with Tetras and livebearers? I have a community tank which I'm looking to add something special. I have only ever kept Angels from the Cichlid family.

The tank in question is a 30 gal with 4 Head n' Tailight Tetras, 2 Serpae Tetras, 6 mixed Platys and 2 Corys.

I am in the market for either a Bristlenose Pleco or Siamensis Algae Eaters to help with algae.

The rams I have seen at the LFS are the Blue and some very nice Bolivian.

Any suggestions?

 

[fishdude07]

im not sure if the rams would be ok with those fish, but lemme just warn you...if you want rams, be sure to keep the water at EXTREMELY good conditions...and be extremely careful if/when medicating the tank and adding any chemicals...they can be very sensitive

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I think you could do 1 pair. No more. They could be a nice addition to the tank. And yes the water needs to be pretty darn good to keep these guys.

 

[ecotank]

Rams often conflict with cories though, and are known to pop the cories eyes out. Just so that your aware of that going in.

 

[blueturq]

First off I would like to say Welcome to the tank!

I've never kept bolivian rams, but I have kept the blue rams (and they are picky about water)

I have kept them with smaller fish and they were fine.

But I think if you had pair (male and female) then in the longterm you will be asking for trouble when they want to breed, because they'll become VERY defensive and aggressive (just like any other cichlid)

So basically, Rams are relativley peaceful (NON - BREEDING), they are bottom dwelling fish and in my experience (IME) they DO NOT like fish that share the bottom, so Ecotank could be right because I had a similar incident happen to me, (except there was no eye gouging).

I remember one time I had a 55 gal community and I purchased two young blue rams and they attacked my 6 young keyhole cichlids (which are also bottom dwelling cichlids)

 

[Firebug]

Hi IMO, it'll be fine, but keep in mind what Ecotank said.

 

[Nuts4fish]

Thank you for your replies. I'm thinking better safe than sorry for now.

 

[Swordtail8]

I'd go ahead and get the ram.

I've heard about alot of people that keep rams with tiger barbs so fin nippers shouldn't be too much of a problem. If you've had your tank for several months without too many problems then a ram should do fine.

I got my first ram a week ago and he doesn't seem to have problems with the other fish. (my cories aren't in my 29 gal anymore). Even my rainbow shark hasn't picked on him yet.

 

[Michele]

I have two rams in a community tank with neon tetras, five corys and a betta (20 gallon).

The only aggression I have seen is between the two rams themselves; the female will chase the male out of her territory.

They often spend time with the corys (especially when there are sinking wafers in the tank!).

I do a 30-40% water change every week and keep feeding to a minimum. Over time the colours of these rams have become spectacular. They are two of the loveliest little fish I've seen.

 

[RobD]

I have had 4 blue rams (3f/1m) in my 46 gallon community tank without any problems to the 7 cories. The rams had spats with each other to figure out territory, but other than that they left everybody else alone. Even during a spawn, the rams only bugged each other.

Once my ick clears out (lesson learned, now own a quarantine tank) I'll have 3 male rams to add to my existing 3 females. I know it is pushing it with 6 in the 46g tank, but I really like the personality of these rams.