Rams!?

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Ryan75

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 25, 2011
502
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Illinois
So I'm reading up on "Rams" (Bolivian and German Blue).
I keep reading that Bolivian are much more hardy than German Blue. What is the difference between these two because I read that a "German Blue Ram" is a more colorful strand of a "Bolivian Ram". I'm confused :what:
 
The "German Blue" is a strain of the normal ram, Papillochromis Ramirezi. The Bolivian ram is just the Bolivian ram. They are much hardier than "German Blues" because they tolerate a wider range of temp naturally and haven't been mass-bred as long as the normal rams.
 
They have much different scientific names. Are they even closely related? I'm guessing they are in different countries in South America?
 
They are the same genus, just different species. Blue rams (and the color variants German Blue, Gold, and Electric Blue) are Mikrogeophagus ramirezi while Bolivians are Mikrogeophagus altispinosus. Bolivians, as their name suggests, are native to Bolivia while M. ramirezi are found in Venezuela and Colombia.

Bolivians usually grow a bit larger and handle cooler temperatures than ramirezi. Most of the rams you find in the trade will be tank-raised and probably have been for generations, making them more accepting of a wide range of conditions. My blues would spawn in my hard water with a high pH and I had no issues. The main thing to remember with ramirezi is that they appreciate warm water and low nitrates, so good water changes are a must. If you start with healthy stock and follow those simple rules there shouldn't be any issues.
 
Yep they are not a line bred form of Bolivian, I think they come from the Orinoco basin, and are a bit more difficult, but not much. Wild caught bolovians can be beautiful. Electric blue, gold, balloon etc are line bred variations and are the least hardy of the bunch IMO
 
I have had 25 golden rams 25 blue rams and 6 Bolivian in a tank on their own, after 3 months with no fish replacements I only had the 6 Bolivian left.

The gold and blue seem too be inbreed weak fish!

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Interesting! Thanks for the info guys!
It seems like the Blue Rams are inbreed with a very small gene pool. I'll stick with Bolivians!
 
I've had my Bolivians for 6 months now and their final coloration is beautiful. They even developed long dorsal streamers that look awesome. Great fish. They'll even snatch a worm out of my baby Senegal bichirs mouth.


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Bolivian rams are definitely hardier but I never had any problems with my GBR's, a lot of my friends had no luck with them tho and they do seem prone to sudden death syndrome but if your tank is set up perfect and you get some good ones then either are beautiful and fairly interactive fish


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