True German Blue Rams

**Cacatuoides** · 14th Dec 2005, 01:06

Hi folks,

Want to ask around if anyone has seen any true german blue rams around in LFS these days?? Not those ballooned bodied ones....looking for the normal cichlid body shaped rams....

**aquarius** · 14th Dec 2005, 02:29

The true holland rams have faces which are more rounded. The one in the pic is the normal male rams which LFSes say is holland but is NOT. Haven't seen the holland rams around for quite sometime.

**joopsg** · 14th Dec 2005, 09:58

Rams can be seen @ Biotope.

**vinz** · 14th Dec 2005, 10:37

How German or Holland (sic) do want them? FYI, they are not native to Germany or Holland... I believe the country prefix is because they were initially bred commercially in these 2 countries or that these 2 countries produced the best quality captive-bred Blue Rams.

Rams are actually native to Venezuela and Colombia.

So, are you particular where they are bred? Most of the local supply comes from local and Malaysian breeders? Or are you just using the German and Holland monikers to refer to non-mutated rams (i.e. natural body shape).

"Natural" Rams can be found at Biotope as mentioned above. I think I've seen them at Wuhu (aka. Ben's aquarium) too. You can call to check if they have them in stock.

p.s. I think most LFSes use the Holland or German prefixes indiscriminately to refer to "natural" shaped rams too. Either ignorance, or indifference (i.e. customer call it Holland Ram or German Ram, then I also call them the same).

**Wackytpt** · 14th Dec 2005, 12:14

TB Ben should have them (saw some in his tank last Sat during my weekly recce). Can call Gan's Aquarium (not sure it is balloon ram or holland ram)

**valice** · 14th Dec 2005, 14:01

Originally Posted by Wackytpt

TB Ben should have them (saw some in his tank last Sat during my weekly recce). Can call Gan's Aquarium (not sure it is balloon ram or holland ram)

Gan's ram are the balloon type and not the holland type.
Ben has the holland rams. They looked fabulous. Too bad I have too many fishes already.

**Cacatuoides** · 16th Dec 2005, 23:40

I've collected the rams on Tuesday night.....the quality is great! Damn happy and thrilled to see these beauties again after a few years ever since I first started planted tank....

Within 2 days, 2 pairs were formed and on the 3rd day, I was kinda wondering why these 2 fellows were hiding at the corner. Upon a closer look, I saw them guarding a pool of eggs spawned on the substrate....very happy indeed! Let's see what happens next!!

Actually I was planning to transfer the 2 pairs with 2 extra females into another bigger tank for breeding tonight but decided to hold on due to the spawning......will update again...

**Emg** · 17th Dec 2005, 12:36

I've raised one batch of blue rams successfully. Very beautiful and hardy batch of fish too !

This is a pic of the parents. I bought them at PetCo, they were labeled German Blue Rams. They produced over 70 fry which I was able to raise successfully and sold to an lfs when they were about 1.5 inches.

Here's a few pics of some of the juvies from that batch. I kept one pair for myself and they are the healthiest looking little fish I have ever seen...fat and happy they are !

Here's some pics of the pair I kept from that batch, not the greatest pictures...but the lighting in the tank isn't the best..

**Cacatuoides** · 18th Dec 2005, 00:40

Wow, that's a really beautiful pair of parents and fry you got there.......How long did it take for you to raise the fries to a reasonable size? What do you feed the fries with?

**Emg** · 18th Dec 2005, 06:27

Thanks Ca...they are nice...I lucked out when I bought them. They are a pretty hardy lot.

I think it took about 4-5 months to get them to sellable size. I kept the water very clean, doing changes at least twice a week. I fed them infusoria to start and then bbs for a short time. When they started to swim around pretty well I fed them on powdered fry food...then micro pellets when they were large enough for them.

I had fun raising them and actually....had a hard time bringing them to the lfs...lol...I got sort of attached !

**Cacatuoides** · 18th Dec 2005, 18:03

wats infusoria?? its kinda troublesome to hatch bbs ourselves too..... i only seen the pair spawn and den the eggs will disappear w/o any reason....no chance of raising them at all....only had experience with trifasciata

**Emg** · 19th Dec 2005, 06:43

Infusoria are tiny microscopic organisms that you will find on all plants. If you have a good amount of plants in your tank, you don't need to worry about having any, they're in there. If you don't have plants, you can soak some lettuce leaves in water for a few days in sunlight. The water will start to become cloudy..that's your infusoria. To be sure, if you shine a light on one side of the container...after a bit you will notice the cloud move over to the side where the light is strongest. Syphon out some of the cloud and put it in your tank with the fry.

If you want to try and raise a brood, you could remove the eggs after they lay them and put them in another setup cycled fry tank. That is what I did to get the batch that I raised.

**Sergio** · 19th Dec 2005, 13:56

What was your pH level ? I hear that german rams need low 6.0 pH ? Is that right ?

**valice** · 19th Dec 2005, 15:51

Originally Posted by Emg

Infusoria are tiny microscopic organisms that you will find on all plants. If you have a good amount of plants in your tank, you don't need to worry about having any, they're in there.

Is tat why frys can always be seen pecking at the leaves? But where does these organisms come from in the first place?

**Emg** · 19th Dec 2005, 19:26

Sergio, my PH runs from 7.8-8.2.....and I have never had a problem with my rams in any way. They have a great color, spawn regularly and have even raised 3 or 4 batches up to the free swimming stage...but after about a week or so....they eat them ! It's fun to watch the parents as they herd the fry around the tank...and at night they hussle them all together into a little ditch they dig..to put them all to bed. They take them into thier mouths and spit them back wherever they want them to be if they wander too far from the batch. Very interesting parental behavior...it's just too bad they forget they're parents..lol...

Valice, infusoria are just there....lol....and that is probably what the fry are snapping at when you see them picking at plants. If you look very very closely and your eyesight is good...you can actually see them swimming around in the water. Watch the fry very closely and you can see a little white dot in front of them just before they snap it down.

**Cacatuoides** · 19th Dec 2005, 20:24

Thanks for sharing e great info Emg! i'm now setting up a bigger breeding tank to house 3 pairs of rams.....hope everthing works out well...

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