Dojo

Hi all, I'm gonna go to the fish store at the weekend to see if they have any kuhlis in, and on the off chance they finally have blue rams in I was wondering how many to get.
I want to keep my tank peaceful and I originally intended getting a male and female but now im thinking that might disrupt the peace if they pair off and get aggressive. Should I just get 1? If so, which sex is more peaceful?

carlos413

I have a 55 gallon community, I have four GBR’S I have two males and two females. I don’t have any problems I have had these rams for about eight months now. I would say you could keep a pair for every twenty gallons. Get a male and a female.

Butterfly

I would suggest in that size tank 1 male and two females. This will keep one female from being harassed and prevent fights between males. Lots of hiding/sleeping places also. Have fun!
Carol

Dojo

Really? That would be cool, there's a keyhole cichlid in there would that affect the number of rams I can keep? I'm not sure on its sex yet but im guessing male so far..

Butterfly

I think it will be ok. Just watch them when the rams spawn you may see some aggression and have to move the keyhole. I just have better luck keeping rams in Harems(more females than males)
Carol

Dojo

Cool i'll see what's in stock saturday anyway
I guess I could try a harem and give a female back if they don't get on

harpua2002

I don't think your keyhole will pose any threat to your rams. The ones I've kept are some of the most passive cichlids I've seen. I kept 2 with an apistogramma steindachneri pair in a 55 gallon community and had no problems with aggression. What size tank do you have?

Dojo

Hi it is about 48 gallons, and the keyhole is peaceful so far and has already picked out a spot where it hangs out the most on one side of the tank so I was thinking if I put a piece of flat rock the opposite side of the tank it will encourage the rams to pick that area. I'm now thinking it is a female because it was digging a hollow in the sand behind a cave yesterday that looked like a nest.. or are the male keyholes the nest builders?

Butterfly

I was more concerned the Rams would be aggressive towards the keyhole when they start spawning They may be small but the can be tough little cookies if they think another fish is intruding on their territory. I've seen them put angelfish on the run
carol

Dojo

Woooo they had rams! Only took like 5 months of searching lol
They only had males so I got a little guy and ill keep hunting for females.
He's so pretty

Also got a little black kuhli to keep my other kuhli company, ill get 2 more when they get the striped ones in. Somehow got talked into 4 guppies after I saw 1 beautiful sky blue one.. oh well lol.

They also had some fully grown adult keyhole cichlids in, and omg 4 inches did not look that big in my head when I was buying a cute lickle 1.5" one. And mine is already grown to at least 2.5".
Hopefully it'll stay peaceful when it grows up and not eat my smaller fish

I tested the rams bag water to check how closely it matched my q tank water so I could decide how long to drip tank water in, and although the bag pH was 7.5, the nitrates were only 20.. is that good for a fish store?
Was expecting higher, i've seen API test tubes in the local fish store during maintainance and there are always green and very dark red ones. Which is 1 reason I don't shop there!

harpua2002

Oh I know, apistogramma are the same way. Mine did fine with the keyholes even when they spawned. The other fish just have to stay out of the way. They'll figure it out.