# Blue Rams keep dying



## E. Simpson (Oct 18, 2003)

I've been trying to get a breeding pair of blue Rams.I have had a female for about 1 month and it's doing really great and is growing.Now my problem is I've bought 3 males since then and all of them died within 1-2 weeks.The 1st Ram looked healthy and fine in the petshop.It showed no visible signs of disease.Well a week later it had 1 eye swelled up like a balloon and then died 3 days later.I now know it was popeye.No other fish in my tank has been sick of this disease ever since i've had the tank 2 years.

So I decided to try another Male Ram from a different batch but at the same LFS.This was a little guy but he looked real healthy for about 2 weeks.Then I noticed what looked like a spot of fungus or something on it's top fin.Then after a few days I didn't see the spot anymore but the fish had clenched fins.Like it couldn't spread them apart to swim with.That fish eventually also died after a couple more days.


Finally I tried a 3rd Ram I got from a LFS in the next city over from me.I was thinking maybe the problem the place I had bought the other fish from so wanted to try this place.This Ram was also healthy looking by my eye.This guy also ended up dying but this one never showed any signs of being sick at all.It was fine one night after a week of having it and then literally 1 hour later I looked again and it was fricken dead...I couldn't believe it.


Do these fish have same inbred health issues that are causing this to happen?I can't believe it's my tank.I always keep this tank in tip top shape.Weekly 35% water changes that I never miss.It's a 20 gal tank with a ph of 6.8 and I keep it at exactly 78 degrees.Another thing is I have 4 cory's,1 female Ram,2 japonica's and one flower shrimp in there and none of these animals had any problems during that time period.It's also a planted tank and the plants do great.My co2 is at 23ppm so I don't think it's that causing it.

It's real mystery to me what the cause is and it's driving me nuts.Anyone have experiece with these fish who might know what I'm doing wrong?




Ernie


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## E. Simpson (Oct 18, 2003)

Sorry for the typos in there I was typing fast.




Ernie


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## m.lemay (Jul 28, 2002)

What are your water hardness levels? They like soft water. These guys are also very sensitive to nitrates. They like warmer water temps.It could also be where they come from. A lot of rams are imported from asia from fish farms and bred for thier color which usually entails hormones. Plus the flight over from asia can be pretty stressful in its own rite.

Try to find out if they come from a local breeder or from overseas.
Check your water parameters. Clean soft water is what they want.
80+ degrees water temp.

Marcel


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## admin_old (Dec 4, 2003)

What is the best possoble water conditions for breeding/keeping blue rams.

-Admin


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

Low nitrates, under 5 ppm, soft water under 3 dkH and 3 dgH, pH under 7 and closer to 6 if you can manage it.


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## admin_old (Dec 4, 2003)

Is a dgh of 6 to high and a ph of 6.8-7.0 to high to breed blue rams in?

-Admin


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## m.lemay (Jul 28, 2002)

The fry simply wont survive in any water with a TDS of 100+ppm. TDS (total dissolved solids) includes all impurities including kh gh. With a GH of 6 you're already at 108 ppm TDS, thats besides any other impurities. They might breed but you'll probably never get eggs to hatch in that water. 

I'm using deionized water with peat filtration to get the water favorable (ph 6.0 and TDS around 30 with peat)for breeding these guys. I got about 20 fry that are about 3 1/2 weeks old now. Out of 150 free swimming fry I ended up with 20 survivors that look like they're gonna make it to adulthood.

My rams are prolific egg layers (They lay new eggs about every 8-10 days)but getting fry to survive is a different story altogether. I'm still trying to improve survival rates.


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## admin_old (Dec 4, 2003)

What is the easiest way to lower the GH and KH and can tetras survive in lower PH?


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## E. Simpson (Oct 18, 2003)

Well I finally got a male acclimated.Within the 1st week the 2 Rams mated and the female laid a bunch of eggs on a rock.An hour later all the eggs were gone from fish eating them including the parents.Now since then the male Ram has been chasing the female non stop.That's been going on for close to a week.Is that normal behavior because before the egg laying they were always together and the male didn't do this chasing all the time?

The female looks like she's full of eggs again already too.




Ernie


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Are there other fish in the tank. If there aren't you may need to put a couple back in to get the rams to pair off again, then take the others out. I had this problem until I added fish. However, you must remove the other fish if you want to raise the young.


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## E. Simpson (Oct 18, 2003)

I've got 3 cory's in the same tank and a few japonica shrimp.Also this is in a 20gal size tank.Thats the same setup as they always have had.Nothing has changed really except their love has gone bad. :lol: 

Ernie


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