# Rams and plants



## SarahSedaii (Feb 7, 2018)

I put my ram in an uncycled planted tank. He never showed signs of stress when I let the water go too long.

He did eat ALL the babies that were born. ALL the babies. An entire batch of endlers and pleco fry that were born in the tank (after it cycled obviously).


----------



## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

Gouramis might use some of that hornwort for nest building. 

Your GBRs should be ok with 10ppm nitrates, but adding fish to the bioload will of course increase nitrates if you don't increase PWC's as well.

If you don't have a setup for demanding (high-light, high-tech) plants, java fern is pretty easy to grow, though it won't consume as much nitrate as a faster growing plant. If the light is at least halfway decent though, amazon swords are good growers. Easy stems like hygrophilia will do a really good job at helping keep nitrates down, as well as providing hiding places and sight breaks.

Just remember rams need frequent water changes, even in planted tanks. Plants just help a lot buffering the quality of the water between changes.


----------



## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

SarahSedaii said:


> I put my ram in an uncycled planted tank. He never showed signs of stress when I let the water go too long.
> 
> He did eat ALL the babies that were born. ALL the babies. An entire batch of endlers and pleco fry that were born in the tank (after it cycled obviously).


Are you positive that it is a German Blue Ram?


I have not had much luck keeping GBRs alive lately.


General Cure is ok. I feel that ParaGuard is a better preventive for parisites.


----------



## Tiger15 (Jan 7, 2018)

Nitrate at 20-40 ppm range isn't directly harmful to fish, but an indicator of overall pollution of other unknown and untested pollutants if high nitrate comes from fish waste, not from dosing.

The challenge in keeping Rams is that they demand warmer temp than common tropical fish, in the low 80s, to thrive.


----------



## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

Tiger15 said:


> Nitrate at 20-40 ppm range isn't directly harmful to fish, but an indicator of overall pollution of other unknown and untested pollutants if high nitrate comes from fish waste, not from dosing.
> 
> The challenge in keeping Rams is that they demand warmer temp than common tropical fish, in the low 80s, to thrive.


Clearly clean water is needed ,but I agree with above.
80+ with 82-84 being a sweet spot for rams.
Get your rams from a breeder not LFS...


----------



## frshwtrguy (Feb 25, 2018)

I've had Rams in my 55g - Gold, Blue and Electric Blue. Lots of plants they never seemed to bother. My params were ph:6.8; amonia & nitrite:0; nitrate:30-40. The key is that those parameters never changed, i.e. I maintained a consistent environment. That said, you MUST be diligent with water changes and ensuring what you're adding doesn't throw off the parameters. My rams were ALWAYS sensitive to this in my 39g and I couldn't figure out why the more PWCs I did, the worse they'd be. It turned out that my [well] tap was way off from the tank and the volume of the change was enough to throw it off. Once I moved to the 55g, it got easier - but I still did lesser, but more frequent changes to keep them happy. On another note, as Coralbandit mentioned, you need to pump up the temp a bit. For me, that was hard to do with the other species I was wanting. Good luck - they are pretty, fun and interesting characters!


----------



## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

Gouramis will destroy plants for nest building and tend to do so more often in warmer >78° water. Gouramis are also very territorial and most wont tolerate rams or other territorial fish in their tanks.


----------



## apoli744 (Jan 23, 2018)

Thank you everyone for the responses! 

Just a weekend update: 
Added a nickel sized Cobalt Angelfish! I also added a male and female Dwarf Gourami. I know they are skiddish---but never had a fish that I couldn't really find due to hiding. The female does come out more for feeding a bit then quickly goes back to the hornwort, the male not really. I only have three stems of hornwort that have reached the surface so far (so maybe need more cover to feel safer up top?)

Back to focus---I do weekly 50% water changes and gravel cleaning and even with the ferns (slow growing) and hornwort (ok growth rate) with NitraZorb, I am still at 20-40ppm (before the new addition of the fish) Any other suggestions for faster absorbing nitrate plants? Are floating better than 'planted'? 

I did dose the tank with API General Cure to be on the safe side.


----------



## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

What is the scientific name for "El Nino" I know PetSmart sells that one... but I don't think its actually even an aquatic plant. 
1st get your Rams from CoralBandit and save yourself some expense and heartache. The Rams at most LFS even the good ones are normally less than pristine stock. 
2nd Get some ludwigia (any kind) and some wisteria. They grow quickly and aren't very demanding and will be excellent plants for maintaining water quality and they are easy to propogate. Hydrocotyle Japan is a good one. Nice small vine growing plant with little clover leaves. Bacopa is another good one. Check out the Sale Section here and I'm sure youll be able to get several very nice species in one package that will cost less than 2 of those little crap packages from petsmart. 
I would stop using nitrozorb. Plants and weekly water changes and let the tank reach equilibrium. You don't need those crap chemicals. Instead of spending money on that, get a gallon of metricide on Amazon for $26 shipped and dose 3 - 4ml a day and watch your plants grow!!


----------



## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> What is the scientific name for "El Nino" I know PetSmart sells that one... but I don't think its actually even an aquatic plant.
> 1st get your Rams from CoralBandit and save yourself some expense and heartache. The Rams at most LFS even the good ones are normally less than pristine stock.
> 2nd Get some ludwigia (any kind) and some wisteria. They grow quickly and aren't very demanding and will be excellent plants for maintaining water quality and they are easy to propogate. Hydrocotyle Japan is a good one. Nice small vine growing plant with little clover leaves. Bacopa is another good one. Check out the Sale Section here and I'm sure youll be able to get several very nice species in one package that will cost less than 2 of those little crap packages from petsmart.
> I would stop using nitrozorb. Plants and weekly water changes and let the tank reach equilibrium. You don't need those crap chemicals. Instead of spending money on that, get a gallon of metricide on Amazon for $26 shipped and dose 3 - 4ml a day and watch your plants grow!!


bolbitis heteroclita is the real name of "el nino fern".


----------



## Qwedfg (Mar 7, 2012)

I had a pair of electric blue rams and they were a terror when they spawned. They dug out a huge hole in the back corner of the tank and uprooted a bunch of plants.


----------



## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

Any of the hygros are good. "Wisteria" is a common hygro, but so is "Temple", which is also easy to find. Add a sword for your angel too.


----------

