What fish to keep with yamato and cardinals?

[Jungle-mania]

I have a heavily planted 2 footer with about 20 cardinals and equal number of yamatos, I am looking for a particular larger fish to be placed inside. Thinking of an apisto or a ram, but I am open to suggestions.

[illumnae]

a pair of rams would be beautiful. my experience is that apistos tend to be more aggressive than rams, and while some have had success keeping yamatos with them, my apistos tend to tear the yamatos into pieces within 2 weeks of being put together

[Shadow]

my pair of apisto killed my yamato within an hour.

[Aeon]

Rams are nice.

[Jungle-mania]

Rams it be then.

[Shadow]

let me know if your rams friendly yo shimps. I don't dare to put shrimps to my rams tank after apisto incident

[illumnae]

haha Robert, i know how you feel about your apisto incident...i've lost over 10 yamatos already due to my persistence and saying "well....MAYBE it'll work THIS time" haha

rams should be generally less aggressive than apistos though from my experience, even the male to male fighting between rams is alot more subdued than between apistos...of course your mileage may vary depending on the particular individual...

[Puffer]

Rams it be then.

Hi Jungle-mania, have you bought your rams? which rams - bolivian, german, or holland rams? Where did you get your rams from? How did you tell if it is a pair? Sorry for asking so many questions at one go as I'm also starting to get interested in getting a pair for my 3ft planted tank with only 10 cardinals and some shrimps. Thanks in advance.
Rob

[illumnae]

do a search on the forum, there are some threads on how to sex rams =)

german and holland rams generally refer to the same species of rams, while bolivians are a different specias. most LFS do carry them, but increasingly i find that the normal rams are being rejected for the balloon version. if you want to get good quality pairs of the normal type, try Biotope for both farmbred (cheaper) and german grade ones...or c328 also has german grade ones and the balloon type of farmbreds

[Puffer]

Hi Illumnae, thanks for the prompt advice. I did the search here but what I hope is to get a confirmed pair, rather than based on what I could observe from my shallow knowledge. Yes, I've actually seen rams in many lfs but they are usually blown-up ones. So, based on what you've mentioned, I think I should visit Biotope or c328 for true german grade ones. Should it be safe if I were to get a pair directly?
Thanks,
Rob

[illumnae]

C328 and biotope should both be reliable sources of ram pairs. i've heard the pair currently on display in c328 has bred before in their little tanks, so that should be a confirmation. my personal preference is for biotope as they keep their fish in much better conditions and thus tend to be healthier

[Puffer]

Right. I shall make a trip to Biotope (used to be near my house) then. Any brother/sister interested to join me? Thanks for the advice Bro Illumnae. Let's hope Jungle-mania has updates on his new rams...

P/S: This is my 100th post - I'm now 'promoted' in AQ from 'Regular' to 'Veteran'!!

[illumnae]

i will be at biotope on thursday or friday to collect my tank if stocks are still the same as thursday, you should be able to get either a farmbred pair or a german grade pair at biotope. i saw both types sold in pairs there on thursday and both are beautiful in their own way