nitz

I've just recently cycled my 29 gal tank (with a lot of trouble) and now I'm ready to stock it. I know for sure that I want rams (I heard bolivian are a little easier than blue so any suggestion here would help too) and one of my female gold gouramis.

I've been considering a few cory cats and rosy or cherry barbs but haven't completely settled on them and wouldn't mind going with completely different fish if they go better with the rams and gourami or are just a better fit/look for my tank.

Any suggestions?

Cody

i cant be exact but, from a article i read a few months ago i think that bolivian rams are easier to take care of, either way though i think if you can find a store with good stocks of them, they both are very attractive. how many rams did you want to have. you could most likly keep corys in the tank with no problem. swordtails normaly go well with peacefull dwarf cichlids, like rams

Coryd55

I know you said you are set on rams but you might want to look at some other apistogrammas if you like rams.

I think some cories would go well with whichever dwarf cichlid you pick. Presonally I don't think any smaller schooling fish would look "right" with dwarf cichlids. Get 3-5 cories, pair of dwarf cichlids, and your gourami.

platy ben

Maybe you could get a pair of bolivian rams and breed them in their, and just have a few cories and maybe a bristlenose pleco to keep it all clean

nitz

thanks guys!! you've all given good ideas so i'll write to each of you separately...

Cody - ya i was thinking of getting at least 2 rams. i've heard that you can get a male and 2 females. is that a good idea or just get a pair?

Coryd55 - which would you suggest? are they usually easy to find? are they peaceful (well kinda) like the rams? do you think that i should maybe take a shot and get a male dwarf gourami? i'd quarantine it (and all the other fish too) before i put it in but i've heard that there's a disease going around among gouramis.

platy ben - how easy is it to breed them? i'd love to do it because the rams are such beautiful fish and because i've never bred any fish before. sounds exciting. would the pleco get along with the gourami? and how big does it get?

platy ben

plecos can get very big , ive seen one atleast 25 inches long. It would get along with the gourami.

Rams are quite easy to breed in the right conditions, you just have to wait for the mto pair up and mate .

Coryd55

Most of them are very peaceful and 3-4 inches. Apistogramma borelli is neat. Apistogramma brevis. Apistograma pertensis. Apistogramma viejita. Apistogramma gibbiceps. Apistogramma guttatta. Thats just a few. They are not commonly sold at LFS but fairly easy to get online from places like Aquabid and from private sellers.

Peresonally I wouldn't put the gourami with the apistos but thats just me. Wouldn't get a male, might be aggression between the apistos and gourami. Not sure...

When breeding them they need very good water parameters and a place to spawn. From what I have heard from people getting them to spawn is not hard but raising the fry is and the less chance for predation(other fish in the tank-hence my inclination to not add the gourami) the greater chance the fry will survive.

So I would suggest a pair of apistos and some cory's or some other bottom dweller that will fit in your tank. Possibly an ancistrus sp. 3?

There are over 400 types of plecos. Not all get 25 inches as platy ben said. He is more than likely referring to a common pleco. Most ancistrus(bristlenose) species stay between 4 and 6 inches. There are other plecos that stay under 7 inches: L333, L18, L107, L144. I could go on forever. www.planetcatfish.com is a good resource for plecosand all other catfish(corydora, otocinclus, synodontis, etc)

Cody

with livebearers its ideal to have 2 females for every male. but with cichlids normaly once they form a pair it can cause issues in the tank. unless the tank was bigger i would just go for one pair

Amanda

If you want a small pleco that is easy to find, go with a clown pleco. They only reach 4 inches. I have one & he's a good addition to my tank.

Coryd55

Not always true. Not all cichlids form pairs. Thats why you so commonly see trios for sale. Depends whether the fish is monogamous or not.

Cody

thanks for the correction

nitz

Wow Cory...you really know your stuff!!
just took a look at aquabid.com...i think i'd probably be charged customs on the fish. would the shipping be ok for them? would they be healthy once i got them?

how would i know whether or not to get 1 or 2 females??
and i don't think i'll get a male gourmi. i have 2 females and 1 is a big bully. i'll keep the bully in my other tank so she doesn't bother the rams.

so for the clown pleco, would it be recommended to get just one or a few?

lots of info coming in and it's all so good!! i thought i was almost set to get some fish but now i'm not so sure which ones i want...

Cody

one clown pleco would be good. do you not have any very good fish stores in your area that you wanna buy of aquabid

nitz

Oh I do have some pretty good fish stores around here but Coryd55 suggested checking out aquabid. I don't know if I'd go the aquabid way but just thought I'd ask about it.

Cody

normaly after shiiping, its not worth it, unless its somthing hard to find, or if its just a good deal in general, and somtimes the sender will pay the shiping for you

nitz

I think I'll just stick to stores. I heard about a privately owned shop somewhere around that my friend bought rams from a long time ago so I'll take a look to see if they're still around.

Cody

you could still go the aqua bid way and see if there is anyone close enough for you to do a pick up. but most lfs have fish like that. the petcos and petsmarts have the basics normaly. im not sure what fish stores you ahve in canada

nitz

We have petsmart, i think petco, and big als. Those are the ones I know of in my area at least. All the fish I have so far are from big als. They have pretty good selection and the tanks are usually healthy. They have blue rams but I think I'll look around for bolivians because I've heard they're a lot easier to take care of.