[Neoman]

Rams are probably one of my favorite fish, but I can never get them to stay alive. Especially now that I have moved to chicago, it is even harder to keep them because of the high ph and hardness. I recently bought 3, and 1 had died already. Im going to try the "water softening pillow", will that help at all?


Also, the pH down things dont work because, the water is so hard, that it cant break it up.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I am really excited because this time they are actualy readily acepting bloodwoorms and pellet food.

 

[emoore3]

Did you buy the rams locally? Generally rams are sensitive fish but if you acclumate them slowly you can keep them in hard water. I had 4 rams in some very hard water and they lived for 3 years (about the average life span of a ram). I wouldn't try to soften the water with chemicals. The best way to soften water is to mix RO water with your tap water.

 

[joejoeg]

emoore is right , very good point to. i never recomend adding chemicals to an aquarium when theres a better way to do it. i have never played with my ph and ive got fish from around the world in my 90 ..... i dont even pay attention to there ph requirments.


jordan

 

[Neoman]

I might try that. Its just that the RO water my LFS sells is like 6 bucks for 2 gallons. I dont think that would be enough for a 20gal.

Anyways, i read that if you plan on breeding them, the babies wont survive and the eggs wont even hatch if your hardness and ph are too high. I guess iw ill focus on keeping them alive right now though. ill be happy if i get 1 to survuve.

 

[Bbc84]

what are the readings on your water tests? Im not far from you (Naperville) and my readings were lower than expected.

PH i used test strips and it looks like a 6ish
KH was 6 degrees from tap
GH was 13

I expected higher numbers, but im guessing everything will drop down even lower when i add my Aquasoil.

 

[cliner]

Paying for R.O water? I use rain water to get my rams and apisto caucs to spawn. My rams spawned with ph 7.0-7.5, kh 2-3, temp: 82. To lower ph I would recommend using peat moss or peat pellets and C02, along with rain water. Good luck.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I might try that. Its just that the RO water my LFS sells is like 6 bucks for 2 gallons. I dont think that would be enough for a 20gal.

Get the $.99 distilled H2O at the local supermarket and pretreat it for electrolytes, etc just like you would RO water.


Tommy

 

[Neoman]

another one died this morning. The other one seems ok, but so did the other 2 before they died, so im not expecting anything good to happen.

Could it have been jkust the store i got them from? I got them from Petco. They always seem to do OK in the tank and they die when I bring them home. Do you think i would have better luck buying them from a breeder or a trustworthy LFS?

 

[emoore3]

another one died this morning. The other one seems ok, but so did the other 2 before they died, so im not expecting anything good to happen.

Could it have been jkust the store i got them from? I got them from Petco. They always seem to do OK in the tank and they die when I bring them home. Do you think i would have better luck buying them from a breeder or a trustworthy LFS?

It could be the source. Petco is not known as the pet place to get fish from. I got my rams from a breeder and all of them survived. Try to find someone who breeds them in your area. If the rams are bred and raised in your water then they should be fine in your tank (assuming nothing else is going on). I used to live in Schaumburg so I know how hard Chicago area water is. The water I kept the rams in was harder than that.

I buy RO water for my reef tank from a water store for $0.20 per gallon.