German Blue Ram - Community tank help

[CanadianFishDad]

I guess I should start this off with saying, Ive had a 55gallon planted community tank running for about 6 months. After purchasing two GBR about two months ago, I ended up adding one of those into the 55 with my Serpae tetras, rummy nose tetras and BN pleco. I have the other GBR solo in a 10 gallon at the moment because they were fighting together. (I bought them young and hoped I would have a M/F pair. Turned out their both male.) 

 

I would like to add the second male to my 55 gallon planted as well, The question is, I realize it may cause some aggression. Everything I have read it seems I would need 1M - 2F in the tank. I'm asking everyone here if I add the second male, given there is alot of hiding spaces with the driftwood, plants and rocks. Will this be okay? I'm not concerned about overstocking as much as I am with just allowing peace within the tank. Eventually I would like to see what other types of fish I can run in there with this community. 

Thanks 🙂

 

 

[Fish Folk]

On 11/27/2021 at 11:54 AM, CanadianFishDad said:

I guess I should start this off with saying, Ive had a 55gallon planted community tank running for about 6 months. After purchasing two GBR about two months ago, I ended up adding one of those into the 55 with my Serpae tetras, rummy nose tetras and BN pleco. I have the other GBR solo in a 10 gallon at the moment because they were fighting together. (I bought them young and hoped I would have a M/F pair. Turned out their both male.) 

 

I would like to add the second male to my 55 gallon planted as well, The question is, I realize it may cause some aggression. Everything I have read it seems I would need 1M - 2F in the tank. I'm asking everyone here if I add the second male, given there is alot of hiding spaces with the driftwood, plants and rocks. Will this be okay? I'm not concerned about overstocking as much as I am with just allowing peace within the tank. Eventually I would like to see what other types of fish I can run in there with this community. 

Thanks 🙂

 

 

Dwarf new world Cichlids rarely fight to the death. There will always be a dominance-sorting period, until one male has clearly established dominance.  If you keep many GBRs together, they’ll disperse aggression and no individual fish will get singled out for harassment. Your 55 gal. offers a lot of room for them to spread out in. 

Here is a tank we kept, full of Gold GBRs. Raised together, they lived peacefully for many months until sold in this 20-gal. tall.

Here is another tank full of GBRs. This was a 55 gal. Same story.

You may find it enjoyable to just keep a trio in your 55 gal… 1x male / 2x females.    Some females are bossy. Typically, the least dominant dwarf Cichlid ends up getting chased away.

 

[anewbie]

You should have added both males at the same time; also my experience has been that 1 m 2f is a disaster. One female will pair with the male and then kill the other. My general finding has been that males 'fight' to show who is boss but females are far nastier; they fight to eliminate the intruder. Naturally with a large group this is less likely to happen for various reasons but just putting in 2 female is not good. Also if you want a 'pair' of rams then you don't want a third (m or f) in the mix it just doesn't work well.

On 11/27/2021 at 12:28 PM, Fish Folk said:

 

Here is a tank we kept, full of Gold GBRs. Raised together, they lived peacefully for many months until sold in this 20-gal. tall.

 

My question is did they reach sexual maturity before they were sold - because my experience has been that siblings behave well until they are old enough to pair and then it becomes a bit more of a crap shoot as to what will happen....

[Fish Folk]

On 11/27/2021 at 3:22 PM, anewbie said:

You should have added both males at the same time; also my experience has been that 1 m 2f is a disaster. One female will pair with the male and then kill the other. My general finding has been that males 'fight' to show who is boss but females are far nastier; they fight to eliminate the intruder. Naturally with a large group this is less likely to happen for various reasons but just putting in 2 female is not good. Also if you want a 'pair' of rams then you don't want a third (m or f) in the mix it just doesn't work well.

My question is did they reach sexual maturity before they were sold - because my experience has been that siblings behave well until they are old enough to pair and then it becomes a bit more of a crap shoot as to what will happen....

Yes, they were all spawning age when sold. 

[Brandon p]

On 11/27/2021 at 3:59 PM, Fish Folk said:

Yes, they were all spawning age when sold. 

So do you think that having 2 males and 2 females , 

[anewbie]

2males and 2 females can work in a 55 but you need enough decoration so they can establish 'territories'.

(decoration are rocks/wood/plants - NOT spacemen or wookies) 😉

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by anewbie

[Fish Folk]

On 11/27/2021 at 4:14 PM, Brandon p said:

So do you think that having 2 males and 2 females , 

I agree with @anewbie that females sometimes are very nasty towards each other. We’ve kept lots of Ram combinations in the past. A lot depends on tank size, temperament, etc. A 55 gal. I large enough to provide home for 2x pairs of GBRs, or more. To be perfectly safe, a single mature pair is usually fine as long as the male doesn’t harass the female too much. 

[CanadianFishDad]

Thanks for the feedback! I am going to add the second male in and let them establish dominance. I guess when it comes to fish keeping I am a bit more timid. I originally added the first one alone because the other male constantly chased the other around the tank they were both in. This made me want to seperate them immediately in order to keep peace and avoid any injuries. Ideally I would love to keep some golden rams or apistos in the same tank at some point. 

I am new to the cichlids! 

Thanks for the advice everyone

On 11/27/2021 at 3:22 PM, anewbie said:

You should have added both males at the same time; also my experience has been that 1 m 2f is a disaster. One female will pair with the male and then kill the other. My general finding has been that males 'fight' to show who is boss but females are far nastier; they fight to eliminate the intruder. Naturally with a large group this is less likely to happen for various reasons but just putting in 2 female is not good. Also if you want a 'pair' of rams then you don't want a third (m or f) in the mix it just doesn't work well.

My question is did they reach sexual maturity before they were sold - because my experience has been that siblings behave well until they are old enough to pair and then it becomes a bit more of a crap shoot as to what will happen....

I had just read the ratio of 1m-2F was to acheive a pair and then remove second said female after, I guess I just want to acheive breeding conditions for all my tanks if possible because I enjoy that aspect of the hobby. At this point, I don't mind sticking with Two males in the 55, knowing it will workout okay. It just may mean some activity goes on in the tank when they cross paths as long as there is no injuries to the fish. 

[Brandon p]

On 11/27/2021 at 4:20 PM, anewbie said:

2males and 2 females can work in a 55 but you need enough decoration so they can establish 'territories'.

(decoration are rocks/wood/plants - NOT spacemen or wookies) 😉

 

Yes lots of plants rocks and moss. One male and one female spend there time in the front and the other pair is in the back most of the tile. When I feed to feed the front and back so they don’t have to go in each other’s space.

Edited November 28, 2021 by Brandon p

[anewbie]

On 11/27/2021 at 6:51 PM, CanadianFishDad said:

 

I had just read the ratio of 1m-2F was to acheive a pair and then remove second said female after, I guess I just want to acheive breeding conditions for all my tanks if possible because I enjoy that aspect of the hobby. At this point, I don't mind sticking with Two males in the 55, knowing it will workout okay. It just may mean some activity goes on in the tank when they cross paths as long as there is no injuries to the fish. 

That works as long as you keep an eye on them and remove the second female when the pair forms. At that point you could put the 2nd female with the other male in the 10 and breed them. Just keep both tanks at 82 for the rams.

[CanadianFishDad]

On 11/28/2021 at 10:05 AM, anewbie said:

That works as long as you keep an eye on them and remove the second female when the pair forms. At that point you could put the 2nd female with the other male in the 10 and breed them. Just keep both tanks at 82 for the rams.

So I added my second GBR and immeditely there has been liplocking and clear fighting. Is this normal? How long does it last and will they kill eachother?

[anewbie]

They shouldn't kill each other; if two males they are just testing who is stronger and will be the alpha.