Should i move 2 or 3 rams into my 10 gallon

[roninmagik1]

Hi all,

I currently have 2 tanks.

1. a 15 gallon tank w/ 2 zebra danios, 3 blue rams (or bolivian rams, it's hard to tell the difference, but the LFS had them labeled as blue rams), 1 trofeus and 4 tiger barbs.

2. a ten gallon tank w/ 2 clown loaches.

Question: I originally planned on moving the 3 rams to the ten gallon tank. But from looking at their behavior it seems the male has bonded w/ one of the females, because those two are out and about. The other female hides all the time, and whenever she comes out, the favored female chases her all over the place!!! Should I move just the male/female pair to the ten gallon, or should i move all 3 to the ten gallon? I feel bad to have one female in the 15 gallon tank w/ no others of it's kind, but at the same time, if i move her in to the ten gallon w/ the paired off rams, i think she might be chased around. So that's my dillemma, what does everyone think? Thanks, Jason

 

[Emg]

Ron, you should keep the pair in the 15 and move the single female into the 10. The more room you give the pair, the better they'll like it. A 10 gallon is really too small for a pair of rams. They prefer at least 2 feet of space for their territory.

I wouldn't worry about the female being alone in there. If you don't remove her from the pair, they will likely harrass her to death...especially in a space that small.

 

[cdawson]

A 10 gallon is also WAY too small for two clown loaches as well. Clown loaches get to about 18". Your tropheus is also an african rift lake cichlid and will be very aggressive to your other fish. Not only that it will not do well under a ph of 8 and hard alkaline water.

I recommend returning the tropheus duboisi (full name), clown loaches and at least one of the rams. Then you'll be stocked to capacity. As it stands you're WAY over limit for those two tanks.

Having even a pair in a 10 gallon might be too much, as with most dwarf cichlids it's best to keep a pair to a 20 gallon long as they have large spacial requirements for breeding. 1 male or 1 female would be ok in a 10 or 15, but once you add a pair the male will chase the female when she doesn't give in to his courtship behaviour. You'll need alot of cover and places to hide. If you don't remove that other female she'll probably end up dead. However, once you remove her the male will probably not be so friendly with the other female he's bonded with when she doesn't want to spawn. He will definately chase her during this time. So make sure there's lots of cover and the pair will be fine in a 15g.

Also, those tiger barbs won't be ideal for breeding the rams. Danios are also coldwater fish and can't survive the high temps the rams require in the long run.

Moving the danios and tiger barbs to the ten gallon might be a good idea as well and replacing them with a species of pencil fish or other dither fish.

 

[mooman]

A 10 gallon is really too small for a pair of rams.

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I have to disagree with this statement. I have read many posts from experienced breeders that keep pairs of rams and apistos in 10g. Yes, it would be to small for a third ram, but for a bonded pair it is just right. I have 2 in a 10g and they are doing just fine. Granted you could not keep many if any dither fish with them.

As for separating rams, the odd female will be much happier by herself than she would be sharing a tank with a bonded pair. They could pick her to death if they started spawning.

 

[cdawson]

SOME species can be kept and bred in a 10 gallon, but rams are quite pugnacious when spawning. The male is especially picky when the female doesn't want to spawn.

Most people who spawn their dwarfs like that usually remove the female for conditioning between spawns as well or at the least put in a divider.

As a breeder I don't recommend keeping a breeding pair of Rams in a 10 gallon. The 15 is the lowest I would go.

 

[roninmagik1]

Sigh...i need to find someone who would take my trofeus and treat it with care. I bought him small, it was an impulse buy, didn't realize he'd get so big. I've decided to move the unloved female to the 10 gallon, and try to find a LFS that would treat my trofeus good. As for the pair in the ten gallon, i'm not worried about spawning, and they seem to get along fine w/ the other fish in the tank, now that they've settled in. If anything it's the tiger barbs that get chased around by the male ram every now and then....