Butterfly Rams

[weird]

I just picked up 2 Butterfly Rams (Red Rams or Bolivian Bufferfly) from SLS. Wow these fish are the cutest ... my first cichlids outside of discus ... (lie I killed 2 angles when I first started keeping fish) ... and these guys are the cutest !! They settled into the tank straight away and are curious investigating all the driftwood I have ....

Anyone else keeping these guys with discus ?

Wonder if it is worth having another section in the forum about friends of discus ? So we can briefly discus a select number of fish in relation to keeping with Discus ... ofcourse with Discus tank requirements kept in mind first.

<I keep thinking how barramundi is not a friend of discus ... that is a reference to another tank mentioned before in the ausfishforum and linked elsewhere here>

[BlackGhost]

Yes they are lovely little fish arent they.
Soon im getting my 84 gallon and im going to hopefully have 6 rams.
2 bloivian butterflys
2 blue rams
2 goldens

and i think that is a good idea for an extra section. So we can talk about the other fish that live with our discus.

[weird]

I have to check out the other other rams ... the blue and the golden. I am hooked on these guys ... they have such a curious looking face. They are definitely not shy fish. Very fun.

[DiscusMad]

OK ya gota show us a picture

weird if you want some cheap blue rams give me 2-3 months and I'll have some for $5 each

[weird]

Getting a new cam soon.

Yes, be interested in some blue rams for sure ! Did you happen to breed some ? kewl !

[DiscusMad]

I have a few breading pairs

will keep you up to date on them

[dreamer]

are they locally bred or german line?

blue ram can be tricky sometimes ....i managed to get my pair spawn within a week in the q tank ..then the male died ....and the female died in the following week ... :cry:

[jim]

I love blue and gold rams....but I never have any luck with them....i tried a few times but non-servived....can someone please teach me anyway of keeping them??

[Trebs]

I had a bit of success with Rams. They only live for 2 years I think so you need to get them young. When buying Rams go for the ones with rounded bellies - getting good fish to start is the key. Also Rams are very good at killing each other off so work out the right number for your tank before you buy. Provide plenty of hiding spots.

[jim]

cool...thx...I saw some rams at Monaco Canley vale for around $3.95..I might give it a try again

[weird]

Jim you might have better luck with the Bolvian Butterflys that I got,

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blue%20rams.html

"Then there is the popular Bolivian Ram (Papiliochromis altispinossa-Haseman, 1911) which is the largest and most robust of the Rams, and is known for taking better care of its eggs and fry."

[kevkoi]

Here's a very good article about keeping and breeding the beautiful Bolivian butterfly (microgeophagus altispinosa)
http://www.cichlidae.com/articles/a031.php

Let us know how u do with microgeophagus ramirezi..... Supply of these beautiful rams have become quite thin. Many importers worry about bringing these sometimes very touchy fish into the country. The best success we had were with european imports. The Asian imported rams are touch-and-go. Sometimes u get good batches, and sometimes all the rams just keel over. :? Locally bred rams are also quite limited in supply and sometimes the quality is poor with too many deformities. That said, there are a few breeders with very good stock of rams and breed them quite well.

Bolivian butterfly rams on the other hand are almost indestructable!! :)

[weird]

My camera is back, backfilling requests ! =)

[kevkoi]

Nice.... fattened right up. :)

[DiscusMad]

thanks for the pic weird