Help with rams plese

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Tsouthwalds
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Hi. My tank is currently at 3 weeks. I had some neons after the first week and then dome rummy nose. My partner bought home 2 rams. Thinking because of the different colours one was male and one was female but it appears one is a German blue and other is golden (very new to this myself so just tried to identify from Google pics) my question is however, do blue rams o ly pair up with other blue rams ect or (hoping one is male and female) would these two rams pair up or are they completely different species. Sorry for the lack of knowledge but got to start somewhere. :swim2:
BigBen
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Tsouthwalds wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 20:42 pm Hi. My tank is currently at 3 weeks. I had some neons after the first week and then dome rummy nose. My partner bought home 2 rams. Thinking because of the different colours one was male and one was female but it appears one is a German blue and other is golden (very new to this myself so just tried to identify from Google pics) my question is however, do blue rams o ly pair up with other blue rams ect or (hoping one is male and female) would these two rams pair up or are they completely different species. Sorry for the lack of knowledge but got to start somewhere. :swim2:
They're the same species - Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi, just different colour strains. If the tank is new you will need to do regular water changes (daily) to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down for a while until the filter is able to remove them, Rams are sensitive fish. I have have read it correctly and the tank is 3 weeks old I wouldn't add anything else for a while until the filter is built up.

Ignore most of that if it's not a new set up :grin:

And welcome. This is a good forum.
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Tycho
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Hi and welcome!

Please tell us some more about you're tank... like how big is it, what temp do you run it at, do you have plants, etc.

Also, sounds you didn't cycle your tank... which sadly is very common as pet shops usually give out terrible advice when it comes to setting up new tanks.

As for the rams... not sure about the breeding but if you can post a couple of pictures and maybe some of the more knowledable members will be able to sex them for you.
codheadjohn
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Blue rams and gold rams will pair up if they are male and female and like each other. The offspring might look quite attractive if they did. This is actually what breeders try to do to diversify the genes and make the strains stronger whilst keeping the desirable traits.

If your tank wasn't cycled first, which it sounds like it possibly might not have been, then I wouldn't hold out much hope of them lasting very long. Rams are a delicate fish at the best of times and certainly not suitable for a fish in cycle.
Tsouthwalds
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I'm using a 240ltr fluval roma with a 307 external filter.
Temp is approx 26. Planted live plants with hope they will establish. I added bioboost for the first 3 days of set up and I've added some flourish. I plan on using a co2 pressure regulator in the next few months and wouldnt mind a uv sterilizer as well. The tank has gone a murky brown colour since adding new wood but I believe this is just the tannis? I did boil first and dried. Just noticed a White fungal has appeared on the wood and gravel also. Fingers crossed the rams make it. I won't add anything new for quite a while. I've added a pic of tank set up
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Tsouthwalds
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I will post pics of the rams tomorrow 🙂
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OK, if you've added rams to a tank and haven't cycled it first, you will need to be doing water changes very regularly. It could well be daily or more.

Do you have a water test kit? Most importantly you'll need to keep an eye on Ammonia and Nitrite levels. With rams you want to keep them both below 0.25ppm as much as possible during the cycle and at 0ppm once cycled.

While your tank is cycling (which means establishing bacteria in the filter to process the Nitrogen based fish waste into non toxic chemicals) you need to check those levels at least once a day and if they are over 0.25ppm you will need to do a water change. Bigger water changes are better. For instance if the tank was at 1ppm, you would do 1 75% change or 2 50% changes or 5 25% changes. During this time do not clean the filter, and whatever the manufacturers instructions say do not throw away or replace your sponges or ceramic media until they are falling apart. This is where the bacteria that keep the water clean live.

It would also be useful to check your pH. For the three species in your tank the water is best if slightly acidic, between 6.2 and 7.0.

With a fluval 307 the tank will not be able to be heavily stocked. Once cycling is complete you should bring the schools of tetras up to 6 of each species and those 14 fish would be pretty much 1/3 of that filters maximum bioload.
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2 female Bristlenose Pleco, 24 Cherry Barbs 7M:17F, 4 Reticulated Flying Foxes, 17 Neon Tetra, 15 Lemon Tetra, 11 Yellow/Orange Cherry Shrimp, 1 Zebra Nerite Snail, 3 Olve Nerite Snails, 4 Horned Nerite snails, 25 Amano Shrimp, Many Malaysian Trumpet Snails - AqAdvisor
codheadjohn
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Your tank looks nice. A background would help the contents stand out better.

I don't know whether Bio boost is a proven to work product or not. It certainly claims to do what you want it to. I'd be tempted to buy some Seachem Stability or Tetra Safe Start that we 100% know work. The Seachem product lasts longer and is useful to use every time you add fish if you've got a low bioload to start with, which you have.
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plankton
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Welcome to the forum. :)
You've had good advice, so I'll add nothing. ;)
Tsouthwalds
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I've tested this morning again. As I've said I do struggle to always read the chart. What do you guys think.
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