Bolivian rams as population control for platys?

[Otto]

I mentioned in my first post that I have 12 platys in my 40 breeder. Actually I also have 5 or 6 baby platys in there too. I knew I'd get babies, of course, and wanted them. But soon I'll need a population control. When I had platys before I kept two female betters in the same tank and they did the trick. That was a warmer tank than the current 40. So I'm thinking of Bolivian rams for this tank. Any thoughts or suggestions? Do you all think they will work? I've looked online and watched some YouTube videos, and it looks like it will but I thought I'd check here too.Thanks.

[Lennie]

Why not rehoming, giving them away, selling or taking them to your LFS for store credit at least?

 

After some time your bolivians will likely pair up and breed too if you get a group

[Otto]

I would do that, Lennie, except catching them in this tank would be virtually impossible. It's heavily planted with lots of places to hide and has a couple of big pieces of wood. Might be able to catch some when I feed them because they mob the front of the tank. As for the rams breeding, I'm new to them. Are they as prolific as platys? 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I totally understand the need for population control. Learned that lesson quickly with Platy’s early on! The LFS I work with the most didn’t want them. I don’t have aquarist friends nor do I have time to attend local club meetings to give them away. 
 

As for the question, I can only give you my experience with my Bolivians. Mine are big chickens that run and hide, unless I’m dropping food in the tank. My only other thought is that Bolivians hang out on the bottom, and I always found Platy fry up top hanging in the floating plants. 
 

As far as breeding them, I bought what I hoped was a male and female in the hopes of breeding them, but they’ve never paired up and I’ve never seen a spawn. Rams are not livebearers, so you could definitely pull spawns and dump the eggs if you did end up with a pair and didn’t want to hatch the eggs/raise the fry 

[Otto]

Thanks. I don't have aquarist friends nearby either. I thought of just giving them away (if I can catch them) via Craigslist or something. 

I'm considering a group of 4 rams from a seller on Aquabid - he promises mixed sexes, so they might breed. If they do, a whole new ballgame but as you say I can dump the spawn.

Videos I've watched show happy B. rams in community tanks, not hiding. I'm hoping the heavy planting will make them comfortable. And the platys do hang mid to top level in the tank. One YouTuber said they are slow feeders so I plan to feed flake for the platys and sinking pellets for the rams at the same time.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

My Rams are in with Julii Cory’s. They don’t mind the Cory’s whatsoever. They just hide around the big rock and driftwood when I walk up to the tank. I probably look like a giant predator that’s coming to get them. Except when I’m dropping food in the tank. Then they come out and look me in the face while they gobble up sinking pellets. Gotta love it 

[nabokovfan87]

I don't think rams have the mouth shape or the ambition to hunt down a bunch of fish fry.  Maybe something like shrimp, but not fish.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/4/2023 at 2:13 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

As for the question, I can only give you my experience with my Bolivians. Mine are big chickens that run and hide, unless I’m dropping food in the tank. My only other thought is that Bolivians hang out on the bottom, and I always found Platy fry up top hanging in the floating plants. 

My Bolivian ram is very peaceful. I don’t think she would hunt fry. She was in with shrimp at one time and left them alone. For population control I’d go with something like barbs.
 

@xXInkedPhoenixX has a Bolivian ram and also has black neon fry, and the ram didn’t bother the fry.

[beastie]

Agreed, my b-rams don't bother ember tetras and they are the size of larger fry. They are puppies 🙂

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Kribensis are a better choice for fry control or a dwarf acara species. Sounds like a fun and well developing tank! 

[PineSong]

Sad to say I had to employ an angelfish as the fry patrol in my tanks for a time. He(or she?) now lives with my male livebearers because I can manage the level of fry production I have now via selling through local Facebook groups, Craigslist, and giving those left to a local shop. 
The down side is that the angel also eats shrimp even with dense planting and lots of cholla hideouts. But the fry prevention was 100%. 

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

I bought a Bolivian Ram for guppy fry control before. No fry we’re eaten

[D191]

Bleeding heart tetras. Mini piranhas 

[Otto]

Thanks everyone for your comments - life intervened and I'm just now seeing them. I decided against putting the rams in the platy tank but I did get them and am setting up a 29 gallon for them. Ive never had rams or any cichlid before and I'm really enjoying these four. 

[Otto]

On 8/5/2023 at 1:44 PM, PineSong said:

Sad to say I had to employ an angelfish as the fry patrol in my tanks for a time. He(or she?) now lives with my male livebearers because I can manage the level of fry production I have now via selling through local Facebook groups, Craigslist, and giving those left to a local shop. 
The down side is that the angel also eats shrimp even with dense planting and lots of cholla hideouts. But the fry prevention was 100%. 

I thought about an angel fish but isn't a 40 too shallow for one (about 15 inches with substrate)? I also thought about selling them on Craiglist. My question is how you got yours out of the tank. Is it a planted tank? 

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2023 at 2:18 AM, Otto said:

I thought about an angel fish but isn't a 40 too shallow for one (about 15 inches with substrate)? I also thought about selling them on Craiglist. My question is how you got yours out of the tank. Is it a planted tank? 

All of my tanks are planted like those below. I get fry or adults out the same way:  by setting up my specimen container with tank water in it beside the tank. I put on a podcast or a video and settle in for a long spell. It's a patience game, not a skill game, for me.

I put a little bit of food (flakes that float, not sinking pellets) on the surface of the water in a clear patch without plants to attract the fish. I scoop out as many as I can and put them in the specimen container. I do this for as long as I can, maybe 20 or 30 minutes, then put the fish in the specimen container into an extra tank or 5g bucket with an airstone and come back later in the day and do it some more. Repeat until you see no more fish in the tank that you want to remove. There can be fry hiding in the plants or behind the filter, but they come out later that day or the next day to eat and you can scoop them up. 

I use a shrimp net like the one shown here because it allows for better scooping in my experience. I work slowly so the fish don't panic and swim around scared, I pretty much only scoop from the top. I will leave the net in the water that day between scooping sessions so the fish become used to it and don't hide when they see it: 

https://www.amazon.com/Extendable-Telescopic-20-56-5cm-Skimming-Releasing/dp/B07X9WD6XX/ref=asc_df_B07X9WD6XX/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=598235986710&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1803825635753992182&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014319&hvtargid=pla-1876334728309&psc=1

[Otto]

On 8/15/2023 at 5:03 AM, PineSong said:

All of my tanks are planted like those below. I get fry or adults out the same way:  by setting up my specimen container with tank water in it beside the tank. I put on a podcast or a video and settle in for a long spell. It's a patience game, not a skill game, for me.

I put a little bit of food (flakes that float, not sinking pellets) on the surface of the water in a clear patch without plants to attract the fish. I scoop out as many as I can and put them in the specimen container. I do this for as long as I can, maybe 20 or 30 minutes, then put the fish in the specimen container into an extra tank or 5g bucket with an airstone and come back later in the day and do it some more. Repeat until you see no more fish in the tank that you want to remove. There can be fry hiding in the plants or behind the filter, but they come out later that day or the next day to eat and you can scoop them up. 

I use a shrimp net like the one shown here because it allows for better scooping in my experience. I work slowly so the fish don't panic and swim around scared, I pretty much only scoop from the top. I will leave the net in the water that day between scooping sessions so the fish become used to it and don't hide when they see it: 

https://www.amazon.com/Extendable-Telescopic-20-56-5cm-Skimming-Releasing/dp/B07X9WD6XX/ref=asc_df_B07X9WD6XX/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=598235986710&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1803825635753992182&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014319&hvtargid=pla-1876334728309&psc=1

Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I am going to give it a try. These platys are prolific! 

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:56 AM, Otto said:

Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I am going to give it a try. These platys are prolific! 

Yes. I will never forget pulling an amazon sword out of my 20 long and finding that there had been at least a hundred tiny fry hiding in it. It was INSANE.