Balloon Rams
 

Just a quick question. A few months ago I bought 6 balloon ram. This week one of them died for no apparent reason. I tested my water everything is fine all the other fish seem fine. Ive heard that the rams have a very short lifespan but shouldnt they live longer than a few months? Im not sure how old they were when I bought them but they were and still are tiny.:fish::

Balloon rams have very poor health due to the genetic defect that gives them their balloon shape. I'm not surprised that they lived just a short while. But it ma be good to check your water parameters.

Thanks homemadepopcorn
I checked the water and everything is fine. I do weekly 10 gallon water changes. I missed last week due to having a root canal but I dont think one week would be the problem

patrick
sorry bout your ram but I hope your root canal was painless.

peter

Next time id just buy regular rams, the ballon rams look retarded anyway.

Sure thing... one week wont really do anything unless your nitrates were really high to begin with, but I'm doubtful. Its usually pretty tough figuring out whats going on if there are no obvious symptoms of disease or poor water readings.

Thanks Peter the root canal was pretty painless. I have 2 more visits to finnish. Insurance did cover it so the bill was much more painful.

Thanks Mr2 I think their cute. Do reg rams have a longer lifespan? How much longer?

Thanks Homemadepopcorn. Yeah I did test everything wad were they should be all my other fish seem happy even the other rams. Hopefully it was just a fluke and ill get a few more months maybe even a year out of my remaining rams.

Best of luck keeping them.

Thanks Homemadepopcorn

update. Its been a few days and everyone else seems fine. The other five are out and abot and eating like little pigs. Is the care for the golden rams the same as for the balloon rams?
If I add some golden rams will they fight with the five I have now? I have a heavily planted 40 gallon

Do you mean to say that you have golden balloon rams or just golden rams? Golden rams are a color morph of GBRs and should be treated the same.

Thanks Homemadepopcorn. The rams I have are basic balloon rams but I've been doing a little research and I'm not liking what I read about the breeding of balloons. So I was thinking even tho I love the look of balloons I would prob go with the reg golden rams next time I pick up fish

I've never kept balloons but I'd bet that regular rams would live longer given the same conditions just like how mutts usually outlive those freaky looking purebred dogs and have a lot less health issues along the way. You can definitely add more rams in general and you won't have problems, your tank is big enough and as long as you have lots of plants they will find their own territories.