saki

I got 2 rams recently... at first they were all buddy buddy so I thought they might be a male/female pair. Now they are starting to squabble a bit and aren't together as much in the tank which leads me to believe they are both male. I would really like a breeding pair but I'm not sure if I could realistically put any more in the 20 gallon tank if I found a female would I be able to introduce her into the tank with the two males? Would that be too many rams for a 20 gallon? I've also got 6 neon tetras in the tank.

dvc_r

Welcome to fishlore. I had a very similar episode with my two German Blue Rams. After loosing two Golden Rams a few months back, I replaced them with these two. I thought I had a male and female but now that the colors are "Coming Out" (no pun intended) I think they are two males. They started hanging out together when I first got them, now they either chase each other around or usually have a plant of driftwood between them. Adding one female may not be the greatest idea, you have plenty of room to add a few females. The one inch per gal rule, you're only at 10 inches. Leave some room for "maintenance fish" maybe some catfish (I personally love corys), also later when the algae starts you will need a small pleco or a few ottos. I keep a lot of maintenance fish, i think that's the secret to having clean/clear tanks.

I would also get a few more neons so they school together... it looks nice.

harpua2002

The inch per gallon "rule" is pretty flawed IMO. I wouldn't personally keep more than one pair of rams in a 20 gallon. I think the easiest thing to do here would be to rehome one of the males and add a female and hope for them to pair.

dvc_r

...yeah... I agree, since you have other tanks to relocate one of the males. As for the inch per gal rule, do you think it's "flawed" because it's too many or too few?

harpua2002

It's flawed because it is irrelevant and misleading in so many instances. 13 tetras is a far cry from a 13 inch oscar in terms of bioload.

dvc_r

Great point... I think if you have a fish that large in a tank you would you most likely have the experience to understand it. But for someone starting in the hobby they usually are dealing with fish ranging 1-5 inches. And in that cast it would be a good "guideline". I have the opposite situation. I have 3 tanks of guppies which I breed (all male tank, most female tank, and a fry tank), I also have a 55 gal tank with all sorts of fish and I'm way over the 1 inch rule but I have an oversized HOB filter and a UGF. I also have a Discus tank (with the Rams) and the water is Pristine because of the water changes 3 times a week. So what I'm trying to get at is it's all relative, but still a good guideline.

harpua2002

You'd be surprised!
I've seen some crazy stock lists from people on Craigslist and on other forums.

saki

Thanks for the replies everyone! So my next question is... if my local fish stores only have male bolivian rams where does one get a female? I think I read somewhere that to get a viable female you need to get one from a breeder. Is this true?

Also, what can I do with the other 2nd male I want to get rid of? Do fish stores buy or take fish from people? How do you get rid of the fish you no longer wish to keep?

Beth1965

You can ask your LFS if they will take the fish you no longer can keep.
Beth

jdhef

Depending on where you live, you may even find someone on this forum who lives nearby that would be willing to take him.