# Bolivian Ram addition



## BrunoL (May 5, 2016)

Hey everyone,

This is my first post here.  I'm looking for some advice on potentially adding some Bolivian Rams to my community tank. My tanks an established 125L Juwel Rio.










Currently I have:
- 3 Pearl Gouramies
- 6 Panda Corydoras
- 8 Black Skirt Tetras
- 2 BN Plecos
- 1 Ruby Shark

I know a lot of people are interested in water parameters when a new guy comes in . It's important to know the fish live in a suitable environment after all. The temperature is set to 25°C and the readings prior to this weekend's weekly water change were:









I'm interest in adding a few Bolivian Rams, but I'm unsure if they'll do well with these tank mates and if the tank will properly support more fish. I'd be very interested in your opinion as Cichlid experts.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Bolivian Rams are pretty mellow and you should have no problem adding 1 or 2.


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## Granamyr (Dec 16, 2015)

Bolivians should be fine in there if it's been up and running for a while. I think you didn't shake your nitrate solutions enough though as you shouldn't be reading zero nitrates in an established aquarium. I would retest that to make sure you're getting a reading on the nitrates. Looks like a sweet aquarium set up though.


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## BrunoL (May 5, 2016)

How many would you recommend? Just a pair or a little group for like 3-4 females and a male?


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I kept a mixed group of 5 in a 90 gallon tank and had no problems. Your tank has a smaller footprint, so I would go with a pair.


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## Granamyr (Dec 16, 2015)

I agree I wouldn't go with more than 2 in that tank


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## BrunoL (May 5, 2016)

Sounds good. I'll go check out the local fish store this weekend. A few other questions though. I feed my fish Hikari algae wafers, tropical wafers and a mix of NLS Thera+ and float. Every now and then they get frozen daphnia. Should I get Cichlid specific granules as well? And finally, I've not had any sick fish yet, but I'd like to have some meds just in case, what are good meds to have in case something does happen?


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I'm a big fan of NLS foods. Between that and frozen bloodworms all my fish are very healthy.

Medication has a limited shelf life, so I would purchase as needed. It is also important to have a quarantine tank. In December I purchased new fish and didn't maintain quarantine for long enough and introduced ich into my 90 gallon tank. I lost about 20 fish, including about 7 dwarf botias, 6 rummy nose tetras, a 15 year old L pleco, and others. I had to order Esha Exit from the UK on eBay (I'm in the US), and that finally vanquished the ich.


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## harsmann (Jul 17, 2005)

How likely are a pair of Bolivian Rams (1 male, 1 female) to become a Pair and not just two fish occupying the same tank?

It is often recommended to start out with several young fish and then keep the pair(s) that form, wouldn't that be best in this case too?


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## BrunoL (May 5, 2016)

Yea I have a small 20L QT, I usually leave fish in there for a week. I tend to aerate it well and have the temp a little higher than my main tank. So far I've not had any issues and the fish store is pretty good in that regard. Some of the vendors have personal display tanks there, hooked up to the stores filters.

I was thinking of meds like PraziPro or some Ich treatment stuff. Generally by the time you notice it and manage to get to the store, it's already pretty bad.


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## Granamyr (Dec 16, 2015)

If you're for sure wanting a pair of rams that will breed. It is recommended to start with a small group, however, I doubt you really want to try to take out the fish you don't want from your planted tank once the pair has formed. They are faster than they look and are good at finding spots that are hard to get them out of. If you have a separate tank to wait for the pair to form a bond then I would definitely recommend that. Otherwise I think you're setting yourself up for some annoyance trying to get them out


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## meghanbridget33 (Aug 21, 2016)

My four Bolivian rams due fine with my five gouramis, two pearl, two blue, one orange. Three angels, two electric blue acaras, six german blues, apistogramma boreli, and some barbs, and cory cats. And three keyhole cichlids. Bolivans get pretty big. One of mine is four inches, they are sweet but they hold their own.


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