Ram Dither Fish?

[SugarBassJoe]

So I'm tempting fate and giving ram cichlids a go, I've done well with other cichlids but I heard rams could be a bit more difficult, but 3 weeks (and lots of water changes) in quarantine, and everyone is looking good. In another week or so, ill be moving them into their long term housing. I've noticed they're spooked quite easily, and when they are out, they're pretty "chasy", which I expected, so I've been researching dither fish, and obviously I've seen quite a few recommendations, so I wanted to ask any Ram keepers here, what fish do you use, if any?  and any tips or anything I should look out for? Towards the end of the week, ill be moving the pair into a 29G, which will open up the quarantine tank for the dithers. From what I was told, these guys are a cross between black rams and electric blue, so they're not as colorful as the standard GBR's, so I was looking for something to compliment them, obviously neon's or cardinals came to mind, but obviously I like different. I know this is getting long, but one last question, I've been keeping them at 86, I've seen this is sort of their upper limit, but I really wanted them to "bulk them up" (I've been feeding frozen brine shrimp 3-4 times a week too), should I bring the temp down a couple of degrees? Thanks in advanced if you took the time to read this.

[NOLANANO]

I had my rams with neon tetra, rummynose tetra, and panda cories.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about cories though. Some people say that rams don’t tolerate them in their territory but I have not found this to be the case in my own experience.

[NOLANANO]

Are those “celestial rams”?

I saw some on aquabid and I think they are a cross between electric blue and long fin rams. They look really good.

[SugarBassJoe]

I've heard the same about cories, I pretty much ruled them out, since the footprint of the tank isn't that big, I'm pretty much considering the rams as the bottom dwellers, and yes these are the same Celestial rams on aquabid, but I went straight through the breeders website, they have more than these, really like the Black Rams and the Dark storm Rams they had, but understandably they were out of stock.

[Jurrian Hering]

I have a group of rams I’m keeping and spawning at 79-80 degrees that live with a school of praecox rainbows. Very good looking combo.

[Guppysnail]

My German blue rams spawned and the babies have thrived and are near spawning at 80. 
My rams by the fact I could not catch them all out of the tank the rams went in were with celestial pearl danios. The rams did fine but the heat took a toll on the CPD. But based on that I think and small midwater fish that can handle those temps would be fine. 
 

[Biotope Biologist]

I adopted my rams so maybe it was old age docile, but they really liked being with smaller rasboras. I’m not sure if they aren’t threatened by them or if they  know how to stay out of the way.

[Ninjoma]

I have a pair of bolivian rams with my roseline sharks, SAEs, pearl gourami and a rainbow shark. They seem to more or less ignore all the other fish, but will occasionally chase eachother. I also saw one fight with one of my dwarf crayfish.

I also have a pair of german blue rams with an angelfish, honey gourami and platies. They like to chase eachother and the platys. 

Rams seems pretty anti social in my experience.

[Lennie]

You want something that enjoys their temperature. I keep them eith sterbai cories, rummy nose tetras, angelfish, I also had pleco, honey gourami and rabbit snails with them. They sometimes shoo angels from their territory especially black one but otherwise they are okay.

rummy noses are good for high temperatures and they share similar parameters.

 

[SugarBassJoe]

All good info, thanks everyone. I do like that dwarf rainbow fish idea, the thought did cross my mind, but I think id be more comfortable with that combo in a 40G or bigger. I will drop that temp down, but I think id like to keep it in the low 80's still, Rummy nose have been on my bucket list for a while, so I'm starting to lean that way.

[Lennie]

Btw, they still are “chasy” no matter what in my experience. Just longer tank with lots of plants and wood and blocking sight helps a lot to keep the chases shorter. Because they setup a smaller sized territory this way and the one being chased can get out of sight and territory much faster! 
 

My rams dont care about anyone except rams and rarely angels as I said. Otherwise honey gourami rummy noses sterbais etc get i to their territory, eat their food and they just don’t care

I have no clue about breeding action tho. Hoping to see that one day as well! 

[SugarBassJoe]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:56 PM, Lennie said:

Btw, they still are “chasy” no matter what in my experience. Just longer tank with lots of plants and wood and blocking sight helps a lot to keep the chases shorter. Because they setup a smaller sized territory this way and the one being chased can get out of sight and territory much faster! 
 

My rams dont care about anyone except rams and rarely angels as I said. Otherwise honey gourami rummy noses sterbais etc get i to their territory, eat their food and they just don’t care

I have no clue about breeding action tho. Hoping to see that one day as well! 

I did expect that, I'm hoping some other fish will help spread out their attention, even its just a little bit, I know all fish are different but keeping some pencil fish wit my apistos noticeably helped.