my Bolivian Rams

[greg y]

I'm not sure what to think about my Bolivian Rams, I have 3 in my planted community. The alpha male is gorgeous and huge compared to the other two that appear to be females. The one female is medium sized and hangs with the male although he does chase her and harass her, the third one hides a lot and appears to be either not growing or shrinking. I swear they were all the same size when I first got them 2.5 months ago, now I have large, medium and tiny. Maybe the third is another male and is scarred of getting bullied? Or could the first two be a pair and the third just is outed by the group and in exile?

To bad the medium sized female has the worst colors and markings of the bunch, she was much cheaper and I thought she might color up but sometimes you get what you pay for, lesson learned.

my rams

ok new shots
this is alpha male on left, medium behind him in background and tiny on the right

alpha on left tiny on right



tiny


alpha


alpha and medium, she's a plain Jane, not very attractive color wise



alpha chasing tiny off

also
It is a royal pita to get these guys to eat. I end up overfeeding my tank because I need to make the NWS pellets rain in their face for them to eat anything. I did some frozen bloodworms the other day and one of them charged in and gobbled a bunch but the other two just watched from a distance.

I think this is a pic of the one that died, he was pretty cool looking

[Sean]

the fish look nice, and that tank is AWESOME where did you get the plants?

[greg y]

the fish look nice, and that tank is AWESOME where did you get the plants?

thanks, I ordered these

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&liveplants1380516014

and

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&liveplants1380226734

and a few things at local auctions

[FIUPanther]

How big is the tank and has the large and medium one paired off and tried breeding at any point? Too small a tank and with a pair the third wheel is going to be bullied. Looking at the pics the tiny one looks like it's showing stress bars. Maybe just try returning the third to your LFS?

It's strange your having issues feeding, I have two german rams and they come right to the top and eat both NLS flakes and pellets. They were shy at first but got over it rather quickly; they join in with my lemon tetras in the feeding frenzy. I wouldn't worry too much though as long as they are eating something.

Is that a common pleco in pic 6?

Very nice planted tank BTW, I'm still waiting for mine to fill in.

[greg y]

it's a 110 gal., they haven't mated but seem like a pair, the Rams never leave the bottom of the tank to search for food and never show any urgency to eat. They eat but it's like they're clueless to the fact that the angels might get it all if they don't step up or the pellets rain down all around them never to be seen again as they blend in to the substrate. My corry, army of plecos and snails do a good job at keeping the debris down but I rather not feed so much. Last week I tested my water before a 10 day water change and the Nitrates were high, like 60-80 ppm

[Sean]

thanks, I'll check out those links

[atmagoulick]

Nice tank!