Aquarium Update: H. Polysperma, Driftwood

I certainly am pleased with how the tank is looking, even with a bare side. I've never seen the H. polysperma look so nice and bushy! It makes quite a nice center-piece. Before, I was considering replacing it with the L. Aromatica once it got big enough, but now I'm not sure I want to.

I've also been considering adding some thin driftwood branches, if I can get my hands on them. Just a simple layout with the branches coming out from the center of the taller plants, maybe with some moss on them. The problem is getting just a few branches without order a whole bunch from manzanita.com!

In other tank news, the female ram that had the fry got sick and died yesterday. I tried to help her, she looked like she had dropsy (all puffed up and not eating) but even with medication she didn't make it. I've decided to give up on Blue Rams for now, the ones I can get easily are just far too fragile. I've never had any survive very long. I'll wait till I can have a dedicated tank set up for them and get strong healthy fish from a breeder. Such pretty fish though, it's so hard to say no to them.

Blue Ram Spawn Diary: Day 3

Well, bad news. I came home from work tonight and all the babies are gone. I'm guessing the female must have eaten them, because they are nowhere to be seen. I was afraid something like this would happen. Usually when the female is ready to spawn again she will eat the fry, even though it's only been about a week and a half since she must have laid the eggs. Either that or since it was her first spawn to hatch maybe she just doesn't know better yet.

Some other aquarists have pointed out that usually the male is the one who takes care of the fry once they've hatched. It's kind of odd that the female even took care of them at all, so maybe that's why they are gone. Maybe she killed the father? He didn't look very beat up, so who knows.

Either way, this has once again inspired me and I'm going to see if I can find a healthy male ram tomorrow. These fish truly are wallet drainers. Just when you get fed up with them, they give a little bit more and offer a glimmer of hope. Then when something doesn't go according to plan and you're thoroughly excited for baby rams, you have no choice but to spend more money to keep it going. Eventually I'll get there...

Blue Ram Spawn Diary: Day 1 & 2

I never thought it would happen, after trying time after time, but my Blue Rams have spawned and the eggs have hatched! I noticed when I came home lastnight the female was in the midst of a cloud of little bug like things. Ignore the algae and sorry state of the tank, the female ram hasn't let me clean anything up or trim since she first spawned, attacking my hand or whatever else I put in there. Now I know why!


Unfortunately, a few days ago I lost the male. When that happened, I pretty much resigned and said no more, after 4 out of the 6 of these fish I've ever bought have died. Of course, as soon as I give up, I have baby fish everywhere. I didn't even know they had spawned again. They hid the eggs very well. It's such a shame the male died though, he was such a nice fish! I guess these are his legacy. Hopefully some will survive.


I'll keep a journal on here as to their progress. So far, they're just little tiny things with big eyes. They stick mostly around their mother, who feverishly scoops up stray babies in her mouth, cleans them off, then spits them back out into the school. It's very entertaining to watch. The babies are quite strong swimmers and can hold a school pretty well. The big issue now is if they find something small enough to eat. I have baby fry food but it's too big for them yet, so I'm hoping there is enough food in the tank in the form of infusoria (miscellaneous little bugs). The mother attempts to feed them by chewing up her food and spitting it towards them, so maybe that will work.

This is so exciting! Forget all my algae woes, I've got a family to feed!

Smartest fish: Blue Ram?

I've noticed that my Blue Rams are very, very smart, perhaps the smartest of all my fish. All of them keep a close eye on me when I'm in the room, and if they even glimpse the bright red top of the food container, they start going crazy, swimming up and down the glass. None of the other fish seem to be able to associate the red and yellow container with feeding yet, they just see my hand above the tank. They also seem to be much less afraid of my hand, or anything else for that matter, than any of the other fish. It's pretty hard to scare these guys. They also will learn to feed from your hand! One of them knows exactly what's going on when he sees the net and he quickly hides. I don't think I could catch him unless I removed everything from the tank and chased him around for a bit. Only the net brings this reaction.

Just curious to see what the consensus is. What do you think the smartest fish is? My experience clearly shows Blue Rams are able to associate objects they see with past experiences, a big part of intelligence. Leave a comment and share your experiences!

Blue Ram - Microgeophagus ramirezi

Common name: Blue Ram, German Blue Ram
Scientific name: Microgeophagus ramirezi
Geographic location: Venezuela, Columbia
Size: Up to 5cm (2 inches)
Temperament: Peaceful
Conditions: 75-85F, pH 6.5-7.0
Skill Level: Advanced
Minimum Tank Size: 10-20 gallons

The Blue Ram is a dwarf cichlid from South America, although it is now captively bred in Europe and Asia. It is a mainly peaceful fish that thrives in well planted tanks with softer water. In the wild, it lives in warm pools that are heated by the sun, so it is tolerant of higher temperatures. These fish are very complex fish behaviorally, which makes them a pleasure to own and watch. Often, they are not afraid of a hand in the tank like other more skittish fish and will hold their own against much larger, more aggressive fish. Males and females look similar, except males have a longer black spike on their dorsal fin and have no blue markings in their black spot on their side. Blue Rams form faithful pairs and are quite easy to breed in the aquarium.

I have owned many of these fish, and they are incredibly beautiful and fun to watch, but require patience, persistence, and advanced fish-keeping skills. Where they are purchased makes a big difference. Only buy them from a reputable dealer, or even better, a hobbyist who has bred the fish themselves. Otherwise they are very prone to carrying parasites or just being weak due to over-breeding and will end up dying in a few weeks. Most come from farms in Asia where they treat them with hormones to make them look more colorful at a younger age. This may lead to all sorts of health problems. It's a good idea to quarantine them before you put them in with other fish and even a preventative parasite treatment, like Jungle Labs Parasite Clear, can eliminate infections and increase chances of survival. Having a full range of medications on hand is advised with this fish, as they tend to get sick easily, unless you get strong specimens.

Once you get past the difficult first few months, you can start thinking about breeding these fish. I've never been able to successfully breed and raise the fry, the hardest part is getting the eggs to hatch and then finding something small enough for them to eat. They do become quite aggressive once they have spawned, so keeping them in a tank of their own is a good idea. Pairing together a male and female is often difficult; just throwing two together doesn't always make a pair (much like real life!). Spawning can be induced by doing a water change with slightly cooler water (simulating a rainstorm). Eggs will be laid overnight often on a flat surface and should hatch within 7 days. Feeding the fry is difficult because most foods are too big to fit in their mouths, but they will eat infusoria (little bugs present in all aquariums, often too tiny to see) and also microworms. They grow very slowly, and unless you separate the male and female, they will be ready to spawn again in a few weeks and eat all of their young fry! If you can manage to get through these crucial stages, you will be greatly rewarded with healthy rams that can be traded, sold, or used for breeding.

Images used with permission of André Silvestre</font>