Ok To Keep Male Ram Alone?

Hi,
I had a pair of gold balloon rams, but the female died yesterday. Is it ok to keep the male alone, or should I get a new female?

 

You can keep him alone. In the future, I'd avoid getting balloon rams - they are deformed and inherently unhealthy because of it. You don't want to encourage their breeding and sale.

It looks like you have a stocking issue, if you'd like to discuss it What's the tank size and full stocking? What temp do you keep the tank?

 

You can keep him alone. In the future, I'd avoid getting balloon rams - they are deformed and inherently unhealthy because of it. You don't want to encourage their breeding and sale.

It looks like you have a stocking issue, if you'd like to discuss it What's the tank size and full stocking? What temp do you keep the tank?

 

Hi. I didn’t know until recently that I shouldn’t buy balloon rams. My LFS made it sound like they were great fish to have, and this is my first experience at keeping cichlids. My tank is heavily planted 20 gal. I have an Eheim canister filter rated for 40 gal. My water parameters are: pH 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10. Temp is between 79-81°F. In addition to the ram, I have 3 platys, 3 zebra danios, 4 pristella tetras, 4 rasboras, 2 otocinclus, and a bristlenose pleco. Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated.

 

This is what my tank looks like currently-

 

Ive kept mine male alone for the last few months hes fine but a little aggressive nowdays

 

Your tank is overstocked with too many schooling species that are in too low of numbers (schooling species should be in groups of 6+ of their own species). In a 20 gal high like you have, I'd just go with one schooling species due to space constraints and their need to be in larger groups. The general rule I follow is one school in tanks 24" and shorter, and 2 schools in 25-48" tanks.

The platies, danios, otos, and BN pleco (which should be in a 29 gal minimum, since they get too big for a 20 gal) need cooler temps than the GBR, so I'd rehome all of them. They'll have a shortened lifespan and an increased susceptibility to disease at the higher temps.

What species of rasbora do you have?

The pristellas are temperature compatible. You could do something like this?

1-2 GBR
1x Dwarf gourami
8x Pristella tetra OR rasboras (depending on their species, if they're temp/size compatible)