can i keep rams in a 10 gallon just a breeding pair

[RockoB]

Help me

[Lowells Fish Lab]

On 9/22/2021 at 6:12 PM, RockoB said:

Help me

Yes, definitely. Just watch for aggression, provide line of sight breaks so that one can escape from the other if necessary, and be prepared to remove one if it seems like it's getting beat up.

[RockoB]

so would a 5 be good for a tank for 1 with airstone planted and spongefilter

if they would fight

[Keeg]

On 9/22/2021 at 6:17 PM, RockoB said:

so would a 5 be good for a tank for 1 with airstone planted and spongefilter

if they would fight

5 is pushing it, I would even say 10 is a bit small for 2. a 20 long would be great for 2 and I think a minimum size for a pair. 

[Lowells Fish Lab]

On 9/22/2021 at 6:21 PM, Keeg said:

I would even say 10 is a bit small for 2

you know what, I agree with this. let me clarify. If you're talking just about breeding a pair, you can totally do that in a 10. It's temporary. If you mean long term care, I would definitely agree larger than 10. I actually wouldn't do a pair at all for long term care. If a pair is getting along, they will be fine in a smallish tank. The trouble is when they don't get along and in that case, one can quickly kill the other in a 10, a 20, 20 long, etc. It probably takes a very large tank to safely ensure that one ram can't kill another. For long term housing, I would keep a group. Probably 4 or 5. Three is better than two but the trouble is, if two of them form a pair they might kill the third. Once you get to higher numbers, aggression gets dispersed so much that life threatening damage is a lot less likely.

[Tihshho]

I've kept smaller Central American cichlids in a 10 before for breeding, but it's solely for that. I always have another tank significantly larger to move them to that'd ready and running as well as a QT/hospital tank if something goes wrong and I need to move one. The key is to have all of those parts available and RUNNING prior to starting this. You can't expect Cichlids to generally get along (there are some cases it's fine/life of the pair) but you need to plan ahead for the worst when it comes to breeding. Some dwarf cichlids in general are nice as a pair up until spawning at which point one of the pair becomes dominant and protective of the fry or eggs. At that point you need to pull the least dominant one (ideally the one who isn't rearing the eggs) and either put them into QT to heal, or acclimate them and get them into the other tank that they will be living the rest of their lives in. Or if you're going the artificial route of rearing the eggs and fry you will need to move the pair to the larger tank.

I have to agree that a 20L for longterm would be more ideal, but honestly you might even want to consider larger just to play it safe if you plan on adding other fish. Not many people like to keep species only tanks, and some species need dithers just to avoid aggression within the pair. 

Now onto the big part that gets over looked. So you have your bigger tank that will ideally house the pair post breeding, you have your breeder tank, and you have your QT... Where are you going to put all of the Ram fry? Ok, you can rear them in a smaller tank, but they won't stay small forever. You'll also have to prepare and have tanks ready for the fry to move into as they get larger because the 10 gallon won't be able to safely house all of the babies once they get into sub adults. Larger fish equal more food going in and more waste, so the key for that is dilution which will mean a larger tank unless you have an auto water change system. Another thing, most people also do not have the connections in place to offload the offspring for breeding projects, so a grow out tank is going to more than likely turn into grow out tanks. LFS might take in the fish, but they won't take them all. They might not even take them in if they are not showing adult coloration, because then for them it's overhead of something they need to house and feed that may not sell. When breeding cichlids, you need to keep this in mind, otherwise you're going to raise babies up to a certain size at which either water quality, aggression, or just overall lack of space ends up killing a majority of them. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Tihshho