# Are my water parameters suitable for German Blue Rams?



## hydrosparky (May 1, 2012)

I would get the temp up to at least 80. These rams need warm water. pH is fine and hardness doesn't matter for rams. Ask where your LFS obtains its fish. Quality German Blue Rams are not easy to find. Quality matters for these fish. Get the wrong ones and they'll die. Can you sex the German Blues?


----------



## pageerror404 (Oct 11, 2011)

hydrosparky said:


> I would get the temp up to at least 80. These rams need warm water. pH is fine and hardness doesn't matter for rams. Ask where your LFS obtains its fish. Quality German Blue Rams are not easy to find. Quality matters for these fish. Get the wrong ones and they'll die. Can you sex the German Blues?


I have been reading up on that. I'm pretty confident I can sex them.


----------



## hydrosparky (May 1, 2012)

The young ones at the LFS are so hard to sex! I hope you manage to get a compatible pair. What do you plan to stock the tank with?


----------



## pageerror404 (Oct 11, 2011)

The pair of rams, 5 black skirt tetras, 4 peppered corydoras, and 4 ottos.


----------



## hydrosparky (May 1, 2012)

Should be fine, I think. Though if you want to breed 'em, you'll need to take out the tetras, and possibly the corys too.


----------



## pageerror404 (Oct 11, 2011)

hydrosparky said:


> Should be fine, I think. Though if you want to breed 'em, you'll need to take out the tetras, and possibly the corys too.


Why is that? Do they eat eggs?


----------



## Aquaticfan (Oct 30, 2011)

They will try but fail as the rams will protect them.. Needless to say you could end up with some abused tetras... BUT.. In all The cory cats would be more apt to go after them. I had a group of 6 julii go bye bye as my GBR killed them after mating. 

GBR definitely need warmer water 80 to 82 is great. Can be hard to sex when young so you need to get a mature pair if possible.. 20 Gallons is about the minimum size for a pair. Provide some shelter and lots of cover for them. I have several wild caught mated pairs now. They can be sensitive so tank must be cycled.


----------



## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

ya I think your temp with be fine. Just keep the nitrates low as well.

and +1 to finding a quality pair of rams. I suggest a breeder. Locally would be even better


----------



## Aquaticfan (Oct 30, 2011)

Low nitrates is a farce. I run my nitrates dosing EI dry ferts up around 80ppm to sometimes 120ppm and no issues ever. They breed in it they have no issues. Even with the co2.


----------



## Taari (Jul 31, 2010)

GBR's are VERY sensitive to water quality. They like slightly acidic water that is very, very, very CLEAN. They also do not like sudden changes in water perameters (like a large water change, or even a medium water change). I killed 2 GBR's in QT with a water change.


----------



## Aquaticfan (Oct 30, 2011)

I think its impossible to nail down to specifics in water quality. My GBR all 6 of them have tanks with high co2 levels, high nitrate levels. I keep temps at 80. I do weekly water changes of 75 to 80%. Never one time have I had any issues and I've had them for quite some time and they continue to even breed.

To many say you have to have this and that. Experiences vary.


----------



## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

I think it all goes back to the quality of the fish. From what I have seen. low nitrates is essential with this fish. But with a hardy ram from a local breeder? Who knows?


----------



## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

they are quite hardy depend on how you acclimate them and what source you get them from. most of them now days comes from farm raised, they are not very picky about water parameter.

76F-80F is fine, but its always better to keep stable temp. they can also tolerate the high nitrate.

they breed in my tank every week, i change the water every week and little cooler water and this also encourage them to breed and feed them bloodworm.


----------



## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

Aquaticfan said:


> I think its impossible to nail down to specifics in water quality. My GBR all 6 of them have tanks with high co2 levels, high nitrate levels. I keep temps at 80. I do weekly water changes of 75 to 80%. Never one time have I had any issues and I've had them for quite some time and they continue to even breed.
> 
> To many say you have to have this and that. Experiences vary.


+1 there are lots of rumors out there


----------



## Aquaticfan (Oct 30, 2011)

Very true happi. It's like so many things it seems in this hobby. Lots of rumor and misinformation. 

I really think in the case of GBR's it depends where your stock is coming from. So many places be it places like Petsmart/petco or other big box stores as well as some lfs just buy horrible and poor quality in stock of GBR. Fish that die easy.


----------



## matt13 (Jul 17, 2012)

I personally believe that the water parameters where the fish are coming from is far more important than trying to maintain some "ideal" parameters. As noted on this thread, Rams will thrive on a pretty wide range of water conditions, but you want to try to match your water, to the water conditions in which the fish were raised. Most of the information available on the internet and printed sources say that the pH should be slightly acidic, around 6.5. That is the pH of the water of their native habitat, the Amazon River Basin. If the Rams you were putting in the tank were "wild caught" then it would be very important to match those parameters. Most of the Rams available here in the US are either locally bred, or farm raised in Florida (I know some are imported from overseas as well). If the fish you're planning on buying are locally bred, it would really help to know what the parameters of the breeder's water were and try to match those, or better yet, find a breeder with the same water parameters as yours.


----------



## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

I have my rams in soft-ish acidic water and high temperature. They were raised by a local breeder who got F0 parents so he maintained that same parameter for the babies. Luckily mine matched his so I agree with the above who say that maintaining their previous water parameter is better


----------



## mattcham (Mar 7, 2014)

I resurrected this 3 year old topic because it is one of the only threads like it. I was very interested in this topic just like the OP, because of my heavy nitrate dosing with Estimative Index.

However, when I inquired with two of the most productive specialized RAM breeders in the country (Yunite and Joe Gargas), both of them state that nitrAtes are bad for RAMS and they do not recommend them in a tank with greater than 10-20 ppm nitrAte. These breeders are selling rams and have an incentive to tell people that nitrate level is not relevant. The fact that they are discouraging purchase of their fish if nitrate levels are high suggests that nitrate is important.

Discus are also very sensitive to nitrates and most experts perform 50% daily water changes to keep nitrates as close to zero as possible, especially because they eat meat (beef heart) which eventually leads to high levels of nitrates.

I've seen impressive photos of discus and rams in beautifully manicured aquascapes, but I always wonder whether those fish are dead within a year, as opposed to surviving 8 to 10 years for discus and 2 to 3 years for rams.


----------



## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

^I'm glad you pulled this out also^
I am lucky to breed my GBR for just over a year now!
I actually mixed 10 GBR from Yunite last fall(lucky again!).
I tested my tanks today.Too many to list separate,but only the largest with largest fish (55g with aprox. 80 ranging from 1/2-1 inch)even came close to a solid 20 ppm.Actually all others were a solid 5ppm.
They breed like mad for me in "breeder" style tanks.Raising fry a little more challenging!
In my 180 they are not happy at all and slowly "fade".It is clear to see!I still consider these little gems diffacult to keep!
My 180 may get to 40ppm before 50% changes(I say may?) every week.
I have better luck keeping discus in this tank(still have 2 ),but the rams never lasted 4 months.It is kind of how I ended up breeding by pulling them from my dt!
Now when they come out of the basement they go to LFS.
I would like to have a nice species tank of my rams for display,but I get to watch the 80 in the 55 or my 15-30 keepers in my 40B.
They really do just do better in species tanks IMO.
I guess low nitrAtes do deserve a mention!


----------

