# Help?? My ram is being terrorized.



## Hidari (Aug 11, 2014)

I have had a male (?) German blue balloon ram living happily in my 30 gallon for about five months. He is typically a very energetic and aggressive fish and regularly defends the bottom of the tank against the large swordtails he lives with. In the past, he has been dominant over other much larger cichlid tankmates (angelfish, keyhole).

A couple days ago I made the impulse purchase of a golden ram, just under 1". I assumed it was a female due to its slightly pink belly. She is tiny compared to my male, who is about 2" in length and pretty bulky, being a balloon ram. I was a little worried that the male would attack her, but in the worst case scenario I'd return her to the store.

Day 1: The male ram mostly ignores the female. He occasionally shoos her away when she swims in his face.

Day 2: The two rams are ignoring each other, for the most part. The male stays at the bottom and the female swims around in the water column with the swordtails. The female has already decided that she hates one particular swordtail and spends a lot of time chasing it. When the male ram came up to the surface, the female chased him away too.

Day 3 (today): The female suddenly hates the male and has imposed her reign of terror. During breakfast she began chasing him away from the food. There was no displaying; she lunged so fast he had no time to respond, only flee. Every time he tried to swim back over, she zoomed at him like a crazed barbarian. They also lip-locked several times, with the male getting pushed backwards and defeated. Now, even without food in the tank, she still chases after him whenever she catches sight of him. Currently he's been forced into hiding and looks stressed. He never tries to attack her back.

What is going on??? I am not familiar with cichlid social dynamics. How has my balloon ram been so cowed by a tiny little fish like this? My tank has plenty of plants and driftwood cover.

Did I mistake the genders? I figured size alone would determine dominance, but apparently not.


















The balloon ram is my favorite fish and I want him to be happy. Do I need to get rid of the golden ram, or can they eventually coexist peacefully? How long should I wait and observe?


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## OllieNZ (Apr 18, 2014)

Ime 2 of the same cichlids is a fight unless they're a pair and even then domestics are not unusual. It may be best to remove the golden ram or if you have space add more rams.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

The Gold is definitely a female, the Balloon I'm not 100% sure but it looks to be male. You don't mention the size of the tank, that could be part of the problem if the tank is too small. Another possibility is that the male is getting old, and the younger female finds him unacceptable as a potential mate. She may also be rejecting him because of the spinal deformity, making him genetically weaker. There may be some other reason, but these are the ones that come to mind first.


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## Hidari (Aug 11, 2014)

Mr Chromedome said:


> The Gold is definitely a female, the Balloon I'm not 100% sure but it looks to be male. You don't mention the size of the tank, that could be part of the problem if the tank is too small. Another possibility is that the male is getting old, and the younger female finds him unacceptable as a potential mate. She may also be rejecting him because of the spinal deformity, making him genetically weaker. There may be some other reason, but these are the ones that come to mind first.


Thanks for the reply! I checked the dimensions and the base is 12" x 30", so I guess it is a standard 29 gallon. You were exactly right that it is a female because she dumped a bunch of eggs today.


















I'm disappointed that she's not interested in the male...  But now I'm hoping that her extreme aggression was just pregnancy rage and that she'll perhaps calm down after this.



OllieNZ said:


> Ime 2 of the same cichlids is a fight unless they're a pair and even then domestics are not unusual. It may be best to remove the golden ram or if you have space add more rams.


I'm afraid to add more in case the balloon ram gets ganged up on, so if the aggression continues then my friend will take the female in his 40 gallon. Thanks for the input!


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