Blue rams

[Voylike]

Hi all , we added to 2 blue rams to our tank yesterday, tank is pretty lively with guppies and mollys. The rams seem very quiet and laid back in comparison, are they more of a ‘chilled out’ fish, are they a bottom column dwelling fish?
Thanks

[plankton]

I've moved this to the right section.
Yes rams are bottom-dwellers, and are really fussy about the water conditions. What are you water parameters especially exact softness (GH value), ph and nitrates. (I'll rightly or wrongly assume the ammonia and nitrite are both zero).
As you have livebearers I'm half-expecting hard water.....

[Voylike]

Hi thanks for the reply, water temp is 79 , ph is 7.5 , water hardness is 150 mgl, yeah ammonia and nitrates are 0. Also another thing, been using flakes only (occasionally) shrimp brine to feed , are pellets generally better??
Thanks

[LookoutTrout]

German blue rams like it warmer than that, because of that they aren't very compatible with most other tropical fish.

[black ghost]

150 mg/l is about 8.5 GH. It’s too soft for all the common livebearers, especially mollies. The Rams would be ok in it but they like it hot, in the low 80s, which is too hot for livebearers. Livebearers absolutely need hard water, and Rams are from very soft hot water. They’re pretty much opposite in their needs.

[plankton]

Would the rams really be ok nowadays in hard water due to the medical concoction they're usually bred in, and the water being soft?
I agree about the temps and that it's not hard enough for mollies. It's fine for guppies (My water is softer than that and I've kept them for 25 years now).
Also guppies and mollies will interbreed (both poecilia species) which will probably kill any female guppies you may have.
Rams would need a more mixed meaty diet with protein pellets as a supplement. The livebearers will eat just about anything....and may stop the food getting to the rams.