Bolivian Rams

[mr_walker]

My initial experience with Bolivian Rams was not so good, with only 2 out of 4 surviving my first purchase, and then after that the bigger one bullied the other survivor to death within a couple of weeks :( He settled in nicely on his own, however, and is displaying good colour. Pretty aggro little fella, and holds his own against angelfish twice his size (nobody steals his dinner).

I decided to get another Ram after seeing some good stock at the LFS, and the shop owner and I gave our best guess on which one was a female - looks like we got it right! I gave this fish a good hour of acclimatising to my tank conditions by dripping a little water into the bag every few minutes. When I netted her and put her in the (dark) tank, it took a good 3-4 minutes for the two Rams to meet (4 foot tank). What a fascinating experience to watch. They went nose to nose and stared at each other for a good 10 seconds, and then the male immediately started to show off in front of her. He has spent the whole afternoon following her around.

I'm so stoked - I hope they pair up OK. :)

Walker

[Mick John]

Sounds promising Mate. Hope it all works out for you this time. I believe one of the good things about these Rams are their life span. I think they live for up to 8 years in good conditions. Good luck.

[mr_walker]

I managed to get a couple of photos:

1 - male in front, female behind
2 - female

[Mick John]

Beautiful fish Mate. I used to have a pair of Golden Rams which spawned regularily but being in a Community Tank they were never successfully reared. You will notice them cleaning vigorously a leaf or rock etc. before the Female starts to deposit her eggs so as the Male can then fertilize them. If they do spawn try and leave on a light at night so they can defend their fry and also remove any large snails that may be in the tank to give the fry a chance at surviving. You'll then need to be fed with the appropriate food. Very hard to breed fish in a Community Tank. Too many predators in a confined space. Much is the case now for my two pairs of Discus. The eggs mine produced just become a protein source. lol. Good Luck.

[Woodsy]

I have a similar problem with a tank at work - both tinanti's and krib's will spawn in there, but between them and all the congo's, clutches tend to disappear rapidly. Having said that, there are a few little krib's in there who have managed to survive :p

[joz]

Rams being such small little things really don't need that much space.
as a suggestion set them up in a small tank of their own.
For breeding I would always use a sponge filter and a bare tank (easy to clean) never a cannister or any other power filter.If you must,use an under gravel with plenty of fine substrate so that the fry won't get sucked down into the the filter between the gaps in the gravel.

[mr_walker]

Thanks for the comments. I really love these little guys!

There was a bit of biffo going on in the tank this morning. The female Bolivian decided to stake a claim in the corner near the filter intake, and the male wasn't too happy about being denied access. Most of the time they seem to get along OK and hang around together, but the male frequently chases her at speed. Not sure if he's establishing dominance, or if he's frustrated :D

I know they've only been together in the tank for 3 days now, but how do I know if/when they're paired up? Does a pair usually display this level of aggression?

Cheers,

Walker