# Natural German Blue Ram tankmates



## k3xx (Dec 27, 2011)

I want to set up a tank for a pair of german blues. I want it to look as natural as possible, maybe even getting plants from the area where they live. 
I was wondering what fish naturally occur where the rams do. (i cant spell the name of where the come from, the something basin?) 
any names, either common or scientific, would help so much!
if anyone also knows of plants that occur there, that would also be appreciated


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## kuni (May 7, 2010)

Orinoco basin.

http://www.aquatic-experts.com/ARTICLE_swimming_with_cichlids.html
http://www.aquatic-experts.com/morichales.html

It looks like you'll want sand, leaf litter, driftwood, maybe some Myrio, and perhaps a school of green neons or cories. Doesn't look like it'll be too hard.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

Cards and rummies are always a good bet, they seem to be everywhere in the Amazon River Basin.


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

Something small and simple. Dwarf pencilfish, smaller cories (although rams and the like seem to hate cories), green neons, black neons, cardinals, glowlights, and the like for tankmates, although they'd be fine alone and wouldn't stress out as much when they breed. Fine white sand, lots of decaying leaves and wood, fine-leaved plants, and either tannin-stained or clear water.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

sounds like what you want is a biotope setup, which I think is admirable since I could never have the patience to recreate a little slice of nature (unless I had a ton of tanks and just figured what the heck lol)
What size tank are you planning on this to be?


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

I'd go no lower than a 20 gallon long tank...


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## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

Rummynose have been seen near by rams in the wild. Both go well together. And several different cat fish. If you want biotope think black water. Mud leaf litter and mostly floating plants. Add wood for cover and looks and maybe some really low light plants.


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## k3xx (Dec 27, 2011)

ahhh, i love you guys. I have a 20 long that im going to use after all the fish in it kinda peter out (which hopefully will be a long time, but ive had some disease pop up lately and its stressing me out because IM NOT HOME! im 700 miles away and cant do anything for the poor babies) BUT i will totally do that. Im so psyched about the rummy noses because ive wanted them FOR FOREVER! yay! so ill probably do rummies and neons, because i have them in the tank currently. 
Does anyone know what kind of water current is there? ive been itching to try under gravel jets but i dont know if they would be suitable for this kind of tank


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## k3xx (Dec 27, 2011)

i was just on cichlid-forum and they suggested, for a 20 long, one pair of rams, 6 rummynose tetras, and 4 Blue Emperors (Microgeophagus ramirezi, Hemigrammus bleheri, Inpaichthys kerri) 
I googled the blue emperors are cool but the combination of rummies and neons is simply stunning to me, so i was thinking more along the lines of 5 rummynoses and 5 neons, or 5 and 10, my neons always do better in groups of 10. If not all of my neons make it until all the other fish are gone, i was thinking of having a mixed group of green neons and neons, just to keep things interesting.


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## MeatWithGravy (Oct 16, 2013)

k3xx, is this Orinoco tank up and running?

I'd like to do a 20 long Orinoco biotope myself with GBRs as the centerpiece fish -- added last, of course, after the tank has matured. I'd like to hear how it's going for you.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

Dude, bumping a more than year old thread with something you could have easily asked over pm? :/


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## MeatWithGravy (Oct 16, 2013)

ThatGuyWithTheFish said:


> Dude, bumping a more than year old thread with something you could have easily asked over pm? :/


Uh, sorry, ThatGuyWithTheFish. I didn't know bumping an old thread is a faux pas. New here. I'll not do it again. Wait. Should *this* have been a PM also? :redface:

Sorry, I'm long-time member of one other forum -- nothing to do with aquariums -- where nobody gets irked by a bumped old thread. The thread either catches fire again, or it doesn't and quickly falls away again. But, my bad I guess. New forum, new norms. I get it.


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## AntiSoberSam (Jun 8, 2013)

MeatWithGravy said:


> Uh, sorry, ThatGuyWithTheFish. I didn't know bumping an old thread is a faux pas. New here. I'll not do it again. Wait. Should *this* have been a PM also? :redface:
> 
> Sorry, I'm long-time member of one other forum -- nothing to do with aquariums -- where nobody gets irked by a bumped old thread. The thread either catches fire again, or it doesn't and quickly falls away again. But, my bad I guess. New forum, new norms. I get it.


I don't see what the big deal is about bumping an old thread with pertinent information Or to ask a question. Guess some of these old heads don't like reading a thread twice. Lol bump for the hell of it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

I'm a big fan of blackwater setups, so I, too, would like to see this, even if the thread is a year old. Big deal. A great looking tank is worth it for the community, regardless the age of the thread.


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## k3xx (Dec 27, 2011)

Ohey guys. I always wanted to set up this tank but it never came around. I ended up using all of my available tanks for a turtle and a snake and another little tropical tank... I really wanna still make this tank after college though


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