Raising rams

[garcia]

Beginners Info Sheet
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Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 60x30x45
Tank Temperature : around 27 degrees in the evenings, slightly higher in the day
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : cannister
Filter media used : rings, floss
How long has your tank been set up : 4 mths


Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
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Carbonate Hardness (kh):
Total Hardness (gH):
PH : 6.5
NH4 (ppm):
NO2 (ppm):
NO3 (ppm): 12.5
PO4 (ppm):
Fe (ppm):

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)
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20 fish (neons, pygmy gouramis...mostly small fish). Tank is packed with plants.

Describe your problem :

I'm having trouble keeping rams. I got 2 balloon rams and they appeared fine for a couple of days with no visible signs of distress, although their colours weren't very pronounced. Then they just crashed and died in the space of a few hours. Do these fish have some special requirement that I am not observing?

Thank you.

[prec]

maybe u din acclimatised them properly? or they were not healthy already in the first place. from what u provide, it seems fine to me. maybe you can reduce the number of fishes in there.

[hirowen]

Maybe your tank water chemistry and the fish shop where you bought the rams are different. The 2 rams might not adjust to the sudden change of water chemistry, the dull color they shown is a hint, when rams are stress-free, their color will be brighten. Just my suggestion.

[eriond]

Rams are very sensitive n kia si at the beginning. Try using the yamato method to acclamatised them. Put bag in tank to even out the temperature. Put some tank water in bag to let them get used to, then slowly released into tank. Maybe sometimes, different water parameter so not used to it.

What kind of gouramis u have ? Some of the bigger lace or opaline are quite a bully at times.

Water must also be clean, otherwise KO too.

Dun know how true is this, some say balloon ram are less hardy.

[garcia]

Trichopsis Pumilus, pygmy croaking gouramis. They're small and don't seem to bother the other fish.

The balloon rams were the second batch I got which I took special care to acclimatise slowly. First 2 I bought died pretty fast which may have been due to insufficient acclimatisation.