Our newest addition Jumbo Rams

[caribexr2]

Lovely looking rams.

I had serious issues getting rams in. They would always come in loaded with ICH. Tried a few suppliers but gave up until I purchased a few F1 fish from someone local and just ended up breeding them in the back of the shop.

Didnt think they were particularly susceptable to ICH, just surprised that everytime I got them in they were covered, no matter where I got them from.

All the other fish I used to order were always fine.

 

[Diogenes]

I've kept rams but never for longer than like 6-8 months. Is this a failure of my keeping, or is it just a function of their natural life span?

 

[djm761]

are you sure...? the length of a credit card is around 3"... i find it extremely hard to believe that a ram can grow to that size. i'd saying 2" is already pushing the envelope on this fish.

I have to agree with ewok. I don't think it's possibile for Mikrogeophagus ramirezi to attain that size, half that size would be more the norm for them. Having said that they are very nice looking fish however the possibilty of juicing with harmones to intensify colors, size or force early maturation is always a real issue with these fish, they look great when purchased and then with in a week, two, a month they start to fade and crash or just up and die for what would seem to be no apperant reason. With Rams you have to be very careful as to the sorce. Unless you know a reputable breeder or purchase wild cought stock juicing is a real issue. I am currently keeping a small group of F0 rams that are very healthy and active while not nearly as colorful as yours they have been around for while now. These fish are not very longed live to begin with and 3 years would be a pretty old fish, so I'm sure some fish are also purchased towards the end of their lifespan which could also account for some of the attrition in fish bought from LFS. In my experiance I've never had luck with LFS purchased rams I realize experiances may vary but it all comes down to the sorce. Good luck with them.

The more we watch the Rams the more we think juicing may be an issue, they are very aggressive, they continually chase the labs, even going into their rock/caves after them. I have some footage on video.(my first fish vid so excuse the quality) but you can see the rams chasing down the lads at the beginning and again at 1:40
video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB_M8a7ckZ4

 

[darth pike]

I've kept rams but never for longer than like 6-8 months. Is this a failure of my keeping, or is it just a function of their natural life span?

Probably source you are getting them from. As noted by Aquanero, getting quality stock is darn near impossible. And as he mentioned, they don't live long to begin with. Most people keep them in too cool of water as well, these are warm loving cichlids, in nature their waters will hit 90F. I never had luck until I read that and kept them in at least 84F water.

 

[Aquanero]

The rams I'm curently keeping are from TUIC and are of excelent quality and very healthy. I think Jeff has them on his list now. I've found that stable conditions in an aged tank and warm water is the way to go, I keep mine at 85/86 degrees in a planted tank, I only do about a 25% weekly water change in this tank as the plants keep the nitrates in check and they seem to like the stable conditions it provides. This is my experiance with them anyway. I should point out mine have not spawned, I supose if I did a large cool water change it might get them in the mood but I'm ok with them not.

It might be best not to keep them with Africans long term, I think they'ed be better off in their own tank.

 

[Ancient_Fish_Master]

my lfs has a tank of the same fish. 20 dollar each, thought about getting a couple though.

 

[ewok]

The more we watch the Rams the more we think juicing may be an issue, they are very aggressive, they continually chase the labs, even going into their rock/caves after them. I have some footage on video.(my first fish vid so excuse the quality) but you can see the rams chasing down the lads at the beginning and again at 1:40
video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB_M8a7ckZ4

it's a simple matter of scale. look at that rock cave thing you have at the start of the video. when the ram is on top of that rock cave it's around 1/5 the length of that thing. so unless that's a 15 inch rock cave i'd say these fish are 2.5" max.