[LLongjr]

Ok so I lost my 2nd electric Blue Ram, The first one was ich which he came home with, ok that sucked but I did what I could.. My 2nd one however swam into a log and today I just noticed his dead face poking out of a hole..

So im either thinking of giving up on fish and just blasting this tank with Co2 and ferts and see how my plants do, but then I only have plants..

Id like to do just inverts but my water is to soft and I cant even bread pest snails :frown2:

3rd option im entertaining is putting nano sized fish in my 80gallon. Im looking for something with vibrant colors like electric blues, but cheaper per fish, that might breed.

 

[_alex_]

Just fill it with tetras and let them go crazy lol


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[Goomie]

If you want a really hardy fish, cherry barbs are it. Though you'll probably want more females than males (more gold ones than red ones). The males could literally sex the females to death if outnumbered.

Trust me if I can keep them so can you

 

[Nordic]

That being said, if you have hazardous hardscape in your tank, it can kill other fish too......

 

[NotCousteau]

Don't give up. Is your tank new? Fully cycled?

Have you failed to keep other fish alive? I don't keep rams, but they sound more sensitive than a lot of other fish out there. You have plenty of options.

Good luck!

 

[Goomie]

It also could have been bad fish stock from wherever you get them

 

[LLongjr]

Tanks been up for at least 6 months, I know Im on my 3rd tank of Co2. I dont know how you stupid proof a log... It has a large hole in one side and apparently a small hole on the other end. I have 20 rummynose and 10 porkchop tetras that have been in here before the Electric blues. This is just pure dumb luck, and honestly my wife hates my hobby and im not keen on loosing spendy fish anymore.

 

[Goomie]

Well, barbs are only a few dollars a pop. Mine survived both ick and 2 moves within a year.

It's just bad luck, likely the fish were already sick, but maybe remove the log if you're concerned about it. Or keep smaller fish.

Either way don't give up spendy fish aren't always the best fish

 

[LLongjr]

Ya this log is legit, I have some nice mini x-mass moss growing really well on it. Apparently it needed a sacrifice..

 

[Goomie]

Sacrifice to the planted lords! Hey if you get lucky you can get barbs on sale from petsmart for, like, 99 cents sometimes.

 

[Nlewis]

Rams can be tough to keep, a lot of people don't have success with them.

 

[Nordic]

Buy the right spendy fish, breed them, and it pays for itself.... although it is basically spend, spend, spend, for the first 6 months before you see anything back.
After that your main expenses are BBS eggs, and to a much lesser extent food and meds...( seldomly needed with good quarantine procedure, and timeous use of aquarium salt).
or you can just breed them for yourself.... imagine a school of 100 corys of your choice. They behave so much different in masses. Something to see, some line up in banks holding formation to feed.
Heck, you could buy 3 pink danio and fill that tank into a pink swirling cyclone in under 2 months.

 

[NotCousteau]

Tanks been up for at least 6 months, I know Im on my 3rd tank of Co2. I dont know how you stupid proof a log... It has a large hole in one side and apparently a small hole on the other end. I have 20 rummynose and 10 porkchop tetras that have been in here before the Electric blues. This is just pure dumb luck, and honestly my wife hates my hobby and im not keen on loosing spendy fish anymore.

Sounds like an issue with the rams then, and not your husbandry. Maybe try a new store/supplier, or a new centerpiece fish. There are lots of fun dwarf cichlids to choose from.

 

[sevendust111]

I feel you dude...my wife hates the hobby too and it kinda pisses me off. I would just give up on the rams and get some other centerpiece fish. They are definitely a harder fish to keep. I would not judge your success in the this hobby off of ram deaths.

 

[LLongjr]

Id love to have just snails and plants, but I dont know how to raise the GH of my 80 gallon.

I have amber tetra at work, maybe I will bring them home and see if I can get them to populate. Celstial Pearl Danio are also on my watch list.

 

[koiboi]

I find a lot of people don't keep it warm enough for rams. They are happier in higher temps. They can live in the mid 70's, but do much better and are hardier in the low 80's. That's long term though, it doesn't seem like yours lived long enough to pin it on that. I'm guessing they had something wrong with them when you got them. If one came home with ich, who knows what else they were exposed to before you got them. If possible maybe source some locally bred rams from another aquarist?