What's the difference between the rams?

[Mturner615]

I plan on trading my angelfish at the LFS because they're outgrowing my 30g, and I've been looking at the rams, but I wanted to know the differences between the different types...

What's the difference between the Bolivian Rams, German Blue Ram, and German Gold Ram?

Would rams be able to go into my 30g after my angelfish are relocated?

 

[Chris_A]

The differance between the blue and gold is nothing but breeding. They are just selectively bred to look different, still the same species though. Kinda sad actually... It's been so long since I've seen a wild type ram I don't even remember what they look like lol.
Fishbase Page: Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, Ram cichlid: aquarium

The Bolivian Ram (sometimes also called Ruby Clown Cichlid) is a completely different species. They get larger (but still not huge) and the general concensus is they are hardier... I've never seen a differance though most have.
Fishbase Page: Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, :

So long as your water quality is stable, either should be fine in your 30 gal.

Chris

 

[emmanuelchavez]

The differance between the blue and gold is nothing but breeding. They are just selectively bred to look different, still the same species though. Kinda sad actually... It's been so long since I've seen a wild type ram I don't even remember what they look like lol.
Fishbase Page: Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, Ram cichlid: aquarium

The Bolivian Ram (sometimes also called Ruby Clown Cichlid) is a completely different species. They get larger (but still not huge) and the general concensus is they are hardier... I've never seen a differance though most have.
Fishbase Page: Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, :

So long as your water quality is stable, either should be fine in your 30 gal.

Chris

The wilds look just as beautiful! At least to me. There's one guy here in Houston (Well Stafford, really) that had some wild-caughts at one point, I would've gotten some, but that's when my 100g cracked.... but enough derailing.

If you go with Bolivians in a 30, I probably wouldn't put more than 1 in it. I have 6 in my 100g, and they nip at each other constantly. If it wasn't for all the plants they could hide in, who knows how much worse it would be.

 

[unwritten law]

I dont have anything really to add to what those guys said besides that there is an awesome 3-4" wil ram at my LFS. It's white, blue, and black and I wish I had space for it.

 

[simplyfish]

I love the german rams, found them to be great tank mates for all kind of other fish. I don't know if it is the same in the US, but these have been very heavily bred and now tend to be fairly fragile...

The bolivians though less colourful may be hardier.