Tropical Fish Forums

[jasmas]

Would a pair of Dutch Rams go in a community set up.
we have Tiger Barbs, Burmese loaches, Bristle nose catfish, Boesemani and Yellow Rainbows.

would these dwarf cichlids go? Cannot find much info on the Dutch Rams tho don't think they are major aggresive.

Know they would require a mature set-up. Is 3-4 months mature enough (with good filtration) or more like 6+?

Does a pair mean one male one female ?

[Cathy G]

Dutch rams are simply rams that are bred in Holland (or the Netherlands...)

The rams themselves are either Blue (Mikrogeophagus -German spelling, or Microgeophagus - English spelling Ramirezi), or Bolivian ( Microgeophagus Altispinosa).

These are 2 different fish, if you post a picture we can tell you which one you are looking at. They have 2 somewhat different water requirements. Bolivians being hardier and somewhat better suited for cooler -upper 70's water with some hardness, Blues requiring WARM soft water - mid 80's.

If you are looking for a community fish, you might have trouble with the blues if you don' t want to keep your tank at least 82.

If your tank is absolutely fully cycled and you have a consistent weekly water change schedule, you would be good to go with either one of these fun fish depending on the temp and hardness of your water. (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and consistently less than 20 nitrates)

Hope this helps,
Cathy G
Oh, a pair does mean 1 male/1female
I assume you have a good size tank?

[fishlover888]

I would be a bit concerned about your tiger barbs. They are fin nippers and your raimbow fish will have some damaged fins for sure.

As for the ram, I love them and they stay at the lower end of the tank. The rainbows are most likely be at upper part of the tank. Just make sure there is enough food for the rams. Rainbows will get most of the food before it gets to the rams.
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125 g discus tank 13 discus, 5 Sterbai cory, 3 clown loaches, 1 Albino BN pH 6.3 50% WC x2/wk
2 g nano tank 3 Danio, pH 7.6 80% WC/ 2 days

[jasmas]

Tank is a Juwel Rio 400L (60x20x24"dp).
Fishless cycled with prawns. 10-15% water change weekly. Temp is 76-78F. Amm 0. Nitrite 0. Nitrate 20 or below. Not sure on hardness.

In 3 weeks gonna add an Eheim 2128 Thermo filter in addition to the internal box filter

Tank is 5 weeks with fish. We might have stocked too quickly but so far no problems, readings always zero, zero.
Started with 10 Tigers and 4 loaches. Then after 3weeks added 3 bristlenoses and 3 rainbows which we thought were boesemani but 2 of them were yellow rainbows (herbertaxelrods). Then had to add 2 more boesemani as the single looked stressed and hiding a lot. The extra two solved this. All fish seem to be doing very well.

Due to the number of the tigers hoping they won't bother the rainbows. Plus the rainbows are fast.

Think we are about 10" from being fully stocked. The introduction of a pair rams seems the perfect idea, with the bolivians seeming the way to go. Will find out more info on the ones we were looking at.

Been told elsewhere that it's difficult to sex them when young. Is it okay to have all males? Also is it possible to have more than 2.

If we go with them it would be after the new filter has about a month to establish itself. So tank would then be 3 months old.

[Cathy G]

Bolivians sound like the way to go. Your best bet for getting a pair is to buy the biggest and the smallest one. They are hard to sex! You would be able to buy 2 pairs or perhaps 3 fish and let them pair up. (I wouldn't buy 3 males if I could help it! Any leftover females should be OK, however if she does get too picked on, you might be able to return her.

Cathy