# Number of rams in a 25 gallon



## tgamble (Jul 11, 2009)

Hi all,

Just hoping someone can give me a bit of advice on the most rams that would be acceptable in a 25 gallon tank. It's got 8 smallish tetras in it, keeping pretty much to the mid and upper part of the tank. The lower levels have 3 caves made of river rock, and a few plants. So plenty of cover for privacy etc. Plenty of thought has gone into making a few small "territories" that could be easily defended.

So given that.. how many rams would be okay? And what mix of genders?

With good territory definitions, is 2 males, and a few females an option, or is that begging for trouble? 1 male + 2-3 females? Just a pair?

If it's just a pair, I may add some corydoras or something along those lines..

Anyways, thoughts? I want to avoid unhappy fish.. but the more the merrier as long as they'll be happy..

Thanks!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

What's the footprint? That will let us know how many more than anything.


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## tgamble (Jul 11, 2009)

Ah yeah, my bad... 24x12 footprint


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

1 pair *nods lots* of course, I even keep only one pair in a 20 gallon long which is 30x12 ...


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## Isis24 (Dec 10, 2008)

Yep, I have a 25 gallon that's 30x12, and I have one pair in there (lol ...rhymes).

Dwarf cories are REALLY cute, especially for that size tank. I have 8 in mine.


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## tgamble (Jul 11, 2009)

Darn.. I was definitely hoping that we were going to get away with more than 2... What about 1 male, 2 females? Or are they happier just in a pair?

Agreed on the cories I think that's exactly what we'll add if more rams won't work. Tetras + cories + rams would be a nice little community tank I think.

Thanks for everyone's input.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Are you asking about Blue rams or Bolivian rams?


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## tgamble (Jul 11, 2009)

I was originally referring to blue rams.. is there a difference between the two, when it comes to amount of space required?


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## tgamble (Jul 11, 2009)

Thanks for everyone's input thus far.. It's good to benefit from the experience of others..

So the current plan for the tank has changed to a pair of blue rams, and some corydoras... I've heard the suggestion of dwarf corys both in this thread, as well as in a book I've got, but I'm having trouble locating dwarf corys locally.

Any other types of corys that would be suitable for this type of environment? How many would you add, assuming that the entire stock would be:

8 serpae tetras
2 blue rams
? Corys

I'm guessing the # of Corys would increase if it were dwarf ones, which might also be good..

Thoughts?


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## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

I like panda corys.


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## Electrophyste (Aug 5, 2009)

I had 4 adult Bolivians in a 100g community tank with other dwarfs and that still wasn't enough room for the 4, they always fought with each other and nipped there fins so i say
Forget the rams and get some cockatoo appistos! there smaller and way more colorful, plus the have ridiculous personalities


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## M0oN (Dec 8, 2003)

I've successfully kept 6 ram in a tank that size with A LOT of plants in it (it was a plant grow out tank) for line of sight breaks.

In actuality, if you're going to set this up as a display tank that's aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, I would say the maximum would be two pairs - and more than likely a single pair.

As I always do - I would recommend apistogramma over rams, you can do a harem (a single male and two or three females) and in my opinion they display more complex and interesting behavior.


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## tgamble (Jul 11, 2009)

In the end, we went with a single pair of blue rams, and 8 panda corys. There was a bit of bullying from the tetras on day 1, but now it appears to be a pretty peaceful community.

Thanks for everyone's help!


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