Butters

I've been contemplating about getting one GBR for my 20 gallon south american tank. I have some stuff that needs awnsering please. If I just get one will it be fine or should I get a pair? will they go well with black phantom tetras or should I go for the smaller fish or maybe pencilfish? Can they live with cories since they are both always on the bottom? How difficult is it to keep these fish? thanks for the help!

Butterfly

They are really beautiful and sensitive fish. They might nip at the Corys, I really don't know as I've never had them together. Mine nip at the Bristlenose when he gets too close , rams can be very territorial. They also like the water temp right at 80F so this might be a problem for your other fish.
carol

dking271

I keep Cories with Blue Rams, and only had problems with them while my Rams were spawning. My tank is heavily planted, which my help as the Cories have plenty of places to hide out of sight.

04_si

one on its own is fine, but if you do get two, make sure you dont get 2 males. I had 2 males in a 20 gallon and they squabbled a lot. One made about 3/4 of the tank his territory and the other just hid in the back corner behind the driftwood.

Ive had 2 females together with no males, and they were fine together, no fighting.

as far as difficulty to keep... they are fairly easy to keep, you just need to keep up on water changes. instead of doing a 25% water change every week, do 10-15% twice a week.

Butters

Thanks for the help guys! I was planning on doing more frequent water changes and not as big becuase it kinda sucks hauling around big buckets of water.

04_si

haha, its true. thats one of the good parts!