# blue ram bully - some quick advice?



## BaltimoreGuy (Dec 23, 2009)

Thats an amazing looking ram. Where did you get her? Sorry I dont know what to say about your situation though.


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## quezoxx (Mar 11, 2004)

I dont know man, it looks like you have two females. I see alot of pink on that other ones belly.


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## isaisepny (Nov 15, 2009)

And the picture does not come close. I've had some rams but her colors are extraordinary - there are oranges and reds and deep rich black accents on the fins. And the reflective blue spots are brilliant. Thanks for letting me go on...

I had a beautiful wild-caught ram a few months ago who caught a fungus after a little ich weakened her... My LFS told me these were commercially bred.

I always thought "she" was very friendly - always approaching the front of the tank when I'm near, and pecking at my finger when I drop micro-pellets in. Maybe it's aggression!?


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## isaisepny (Nov 15, 2009)

Quezoxx - Thanks for the opinion. That's what my eyes tell me too. But I was surprised to see a female act that way - I was told (and my previous female was) they were more "passive".


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

GBR females don't like each other. Rams in general are really tricky with each other. I had a breeding pair in a small tank too. Unfortunately, the female died from an infection, and I didn't even bother trying to pair him up again.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I think you've got 2 females, too.

And due to their disparity in size I doubt you can keep them in the same tank. The smaller one will just get bullied to death.

Rams are "passive" when it comes to most other fish- but not necssarily to each other.


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## OiZO (Feb 2, 2010)

I have bolivian rams in my 25g tall. I started with what i thought was a male and female pair. The larger of the two just bullied the other. It was so bad that the other ram couldnt come out of the plants or risk being chased off. I decided to add a third ram in there to see if it would divert attention from the bullied one. It ended up working really well. It made the more dominate ram have to work twice as hard to keep both out and eventually the 3 split the tank up in 3 zones.

Now they all squabble with each other but none of them seem to be overly aggressive. I dont know if it would work for you but maybe by adding one or two more you can mellow them out. Plus gbrs and bolivians are so pretty who wouldn't want more.

BTW your larger ram has crazy awesome color. I don't know if i have seen one so much color and yellow in the fins.


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## DavidZ (Nov 17, 2009)

Agree, looks like 2 FM GBRs


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## isaisepny (Nov 15, 2009)

Thanks for the input. After two days with the bigger ram in QT, the new one is coloring up and "she" seems to have all the signs of a female 
I will be re-introducing the original ram back to the main tank tonight but it sounds like things may still not work out based on what you're saying. 

That being the case, I'll either be looking for a trade or setting up another tank in the house for the new ram...


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## comatoast (Mar 11, 2009)

+1 on what others are saying- if you can find a male as large as the largest female (and it won't overstock your tank size) that might be the thing to do.


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## isaisepny (Nov 15, 2009)

That's an interesting idea, comatoast and OiZO. Maybe that's the "third way" here.

As of writing the reintroduced big female is still being aggressive but there seems to be some difference - could be that by tomorrow she'll be back to full throttle and full tank. But right now, it seems a much more perfunctory chase and then stop. And she only seems to be defending one quadrant of the tank (in front of a "marker" like the driftwood). Finally, the smaller female does not seem as cowed. She keeps heading back into the "forbidden" territory and acting almost indifferent even after a chase.

What do you think? Will this change or will this detente hold?

Rick


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## isaisepny (Nov 15, 2009)

So here's the interesting update. As I noted above I reintroduced the larger female after a 3 day QT and there was a change in her aggression patterns - her heart wasn't in it.
The next day the tipping point had been reached. The smaller, newer female was no longer acting scared and would just wiggle away and then pivot right back.
By the evening there was no more chasing at all. And as of today I don't see any aggression or even territoriality. They both swim together, swim in place next to each other watching me (like right now) and stake out places in all quadrants of the tank. The newer ram is coloring up nicely and the original Ms. Beautiful also seems as flirtatious, colorful and healthy as before her competition showed up.

Is this too good to hold?


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

same thing happened to me a few weeks back. I bought a (female) what i thought was a male to pair with the one I already had (female). They were about your size also, one small and one big. The larger one will chase the smaller one for a day or two. After that they will be fine together. The only other time that the larger one will chase the smaller one is when they are feeding. Now i just have to find a big male for them.


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