# feeding Blue Rams



## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

I bought two Blue Rams last night at Petsmart - a male & female had split off and were into a lot of spawning behavior. They had more than one pair in the tank, but these had the best color & were most vigorous. My ph is probably too high to see anymore spawning, but they aclimated well to the tank & seem happy, inquisitive, and in all around good spirits. The girl at Petsmart tried to warn me off about keeping them in a community tank (good for her, trying to protect all the fish!) and I could tell she was bothered that I still bought them. I put them in a well planted 55 heavy with large multi-branched driftwood & lots of rock outcroppings. The other inhabitants are 6 black tetras and 11 cardinals. Well, I forgot to get cichlid food. When I introduced them to the tank last night, I pre-fed the other fish, turned off the lights, waited the proper amopunt of time/water exchanges and let them go. All is great today - but the food. Since I forgot to get cichlid food, I didn't know if they would eat - but they ate my TetraColor tropical crisps with gusto. (I'm using this food because someone that works at Tetra gave me a ton of it)
So, do they need cichlid food, and what about the tetras eating the cichlid's food? 
PS, I've never had Blue Rams before, though I've always admired them. Petsmart had Kribs in the next tank - which I've had before - and I was hard pressed to decide which to get! I may get kribs for the 40b which has rosy tetras, tiger barbs, and rasboras. Would the kribs be too aggresive?


----------



## flip9 (Jun 16, 2011)

They are only territorial when in spawning mode.

Most fish food are made out of the same ingredients, just different balances in nutrition. eg Fiber, protein, etc.)

Rams will easily eat tropical fish food. They love bloodworms and brine shrimp even more. I didnt find the need to buy special cichlid food, seeing as they are dwarf sized equivalent to most tropical fish.


----------



## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

Thanks for the reply!

I believe the blood worms and brine shrimp would appeal to the tetras, too, is that right? I will have to see if I can get some at Petsmart, they have a frozen food case. 
I wonder how I could raise my own brine shrimp in a 5 or 10 gallon tank? isn't that commonly done?


----------



## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

I just added two GBR's yesterday (my first also), from my LFS and the owner told me the same thing that flip9 said. They should easily eat regular tropical flakes and he suggested I also give them frozen brine shrimp.


----------



## flip9 (Jun 16, 2011)

To raise brine shrimp you just need a brine shrimp eggs, salt, coke bottle and an airstone. Also a very fine net to catch them.

Frozen versions are fine too


----------



## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

I just fed the tanks again (I do 3 tiny feedings a day) and the rams were right there eating their share. I'm glad to know the flakes will provide their nutrient requirements. If I go out today I'll stop by & get some frozen shrimp.
I'll be reading up on growing brine shrimp!


----------



## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

petsmart feeds there cichlids a mix of blood worms weekly and omega one super color flakes daily, to see best colors i would go with live foods or a high protein cichlid pellet =p im partial to omega one super color cichlid pellets, my rams love them


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Frozen mysis shrimp was THE food that I found brought my Rams into breeding condition the most quickly by far.

I fed mine a rotating mixture of frozen, flake, and pellet/wafer foods.


----------



## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

3x a week frozen blood worms and brine shrimp.
every day Tetra Min Flakes + sinking wafers.

In the summer I have a bucket outside with mosquitos and other little waterbugs. I feed them life food every other day or so.


----------



## wetworks (Jul 22, 2011)

I feed my Blue Rams (which are also housed in a community tank with tetras and the like) with Spectrum Small Fish Formula, and all of the fish in the tank eat it. I throw in shrimp pellets a few times a week; even though they are too big for the Rams to eat on the way down, they dissolve and both the Rams and my Tetras seem to like it. (My Corys seem to like it too.) Regarding the Kribs, they can be aggressive, especially if you house them with smaller fishes. Also, they like alkaline water with a bit of salt in it; the fish you mentioned keeping with them in your 40 are all soft water fish with no tolerance for the level of salt the Kribensis like. For smaller cichlids Rams are one of my favorites, and they do not usually exhibit the aggressive behavior cichlids are known for. (There are always exceptions to this, just like some people have Kribs that do great with smaller fishes, but do you want to take a chance that they may kill their tankmates?)


----------



## flip9 (Jun 16, 2011)

I feed mine spectrum food as well, stuff is gold. Fish colour up nicely and they love it. I give meaty treats every second day or so with:

-Brine shrimp (frozen or live)
-Bloodworms (frozen)
-Blackworms (dry or live)
-Mosquito wrigglers

Live food is always best, fresh nutrition


----------



## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

Wetworks, if the urge to get kribs gets too bad, I'll set a few up in a 10g of their own - thanks for the tip.
And to everyone chiming in on food for rams, thank you! On my days off this week I'll go look into bloodworm & brine shrimp...


----------



## AdamP. (Sep 30, 2005)

Rams can be picky at first but once they get usedto a food they pretty much eat anything. I feed my tank New Life Spectrum small fish formula for the tetras, but the rams love it also. I also feed NLS TherA which all the fish like, and NLS H2O stable wafers for my Paratocinclus. 

I give frozen bloodworms 1 or 2 times a week.


----------



## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

something i thought i might add, i use orean nutrition formula one marine pellet for picky carnivorous fish and formula two for herbivorous, works really well to get them used to pellets, they also have flake, NLS is something i like also but when possible the ON is much better for smaller fish


----------



## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

My rams are eating the Tetra flakes without hesitation, but I must say my mind is boggled by all the different foods you've all mentioned. I'm used to seeing only the typical Tetra and Tetra type foods sold in Walmart, Petsmart, etc. My lfs only has a small section, 8 feet or so, of food, test kits, etc for fish. They sell reptiles & birds too, and fish seems to be an afterthought there. I'll have to look & see what food they sell - but in the meantime, where do you all shop for these foods? I have noticed someone here sells food they make, the name escapes me now, but what online/catalog sources do you shop at?
Thanks,
Cin


----------



## flip9 (Jun 16, 2011)

Frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms are pretty much available at most pet shops. Just look in the fridge section, it will be in blister packs. Next to the frozen rats.

Good fish shops will have a small hatchery of Brine shrimp and stock live/dry blackworms. Mosquito wrigglers you can make yourself using tank water and a bucket.


----------



## drbotts (Apr 10, 2011)

First off... your Petsmart had Rams? Wow... I need to have a chat with the manager at ours.
Jcox has some that are breeding. Bloodworms and Kens Colormax I believe. You might PM him.


----------



## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

drbotts said:


> First off... your Petsmart had Rams? Wow... I need to have a chat with the manager at ours.
> Jcox has some that are breeding. Bloodworms and Kens Colormax I believe. You might PM him.


Last week I saw they had GBR's and Kribs in the petsmart in acworth, GA 
Its a special promotion or one time deal, they go for $5.95 or so.


----------



## wetworks (Jul 22, 2011)

driftwoodhunter said:


> My rams are eating the Tetra flakes without hesitation, but I must say my mind is boggled by all the different foods you've all mentioned. I'm used to seeing only the typical Tetra and Tetra type foods sold in Walmart, Petsmart, etc. My lfs only has a small section, 8 feet or so, of food, test kits, etc for fish. They sell reptiles & birds too, and fish seems to be an afterthought there. I'll have to look & see what food they sell - but in the meantime, where do you all shop for these foods? I have noticed someone here sells food they make, the name escapes me now, but what online/catalog sources do you shop at?
> Thanks,
> Cin


I get my foods either at Petco or a specialty LFS. Most of your mom and pop pet stores that sell other pets and supplies will only have a bare bones selection. Most of the online pet retailers have a huge selection of fish foods. I like the New Life Spectrum because the big box pet stores carry it and it is a high quality food. My Rams show great color, and I think it is at least in part due to their diet.


----------



## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

I have yet to have a picky fish, rams included. I'm sure people will disagree with me on this, but I don't see much point in buying various special types of processed foods (ie cichlid pellets for cichlids and tropical flakes for tetras and other schoolers, betta bites for bettas etc). 

I feed good quality "color" flakes as the staple food, cories and other bottom feeders get sinking algae and shrimp wafers. And as treats every now and then I will feed fresh veggies or some form of live or frozen food.


----------



## doxiegirl (Jul 12, 2010)

I also bought a pair of rams when I saw them at Petsmart. I had tried blue rams before with no success but these little guys spawned a week after I bought them, I was shocked!

I feed mine NLS cichlid pellets and omega one color flakes. Every once in a while frozen brine shrimp, when I have leftover from my saltwater fish. I use a lot of different foods because I have a variety of fish. My freshwater fish aren't very picky but the saltwater fish are another story- they definitely have preferences. I stick with NLS and Omega one for the bulk of my food.

I also have kribs and the males haven't been too aggressive but the girls can be nasty. I bought two and one attacked the other one in the bag on the way home! So far none of mine have paired up (3 males, 2 females) so I haven't had any issues yet. I probably wouldn't keep them in a 10g long term, I think a 20 long or a 29g would be perfect.


----------

