German blue ram from chain pet store

[Skypilot]

Edited October 22 by Skypilot

[NOLANANO]

looks like a nice male

[Justnotrook]

On 10/21/2024 at 2:11 PM, Skypilot said:

From a chain pet store!? I can’t even get that quality from a rare fish store.

[Darth Nerm]

Dang!! Nice find!!! That is a great looking ram!!! 

[Skypilot]

same male fired up 

[DallasCowboys16]

Beautiful fish. GBRs are one of my all time favorites.

I don't keep them anymore because I've only got two tanks and don't want to run one of them at 81+ degrees F to support the rams. It is the only way I've had success with them long term.

There was a great breeder back in the day on one of the old school forums with the username CoralBandit that I would get my rams from and they were the best I had ever seen. Wonder if he's still around.

[Skypilot]

On 10/21/2024 at 7:19 PM, DallasCowboys16 said:

Beautiful fish. GBRs are one of my all time favorites.

I don't keep them anymore because I've only got two tanks and don't want to run one of them at 81+ degrees F to support the rams. It is the only way I've had success with them long term.

There was a great breeder back in the day on one of the old school forums with the username CoralBandit that I would get my rams from and they were the best I had ever seen. Wonder if he's still around.

I haven’t had the same experience as you, I have kept them in 76F without problems.

wonder if it’s different strains.

[DallasCowboys16]

On 10/21/2024 at 8:54 PM, Skypilot said:

I haven’t had the same experience as you, I have kept them in 76F without problems.

wonder if it’s different strains.

I'm sure it is possible to get a strain that can tolerate lower temps, but by and large it is pretty well documented by GBR breeders and hardcore enthusiasts that while they can live for a while in temps < 80 you will be hard pressed to get them truly thriving for their entire natural lifespan of 3, 4, 5 years unless you're running them between 80-86 F.

In colder tanks I have had them survive and even spawn over a year or two but they just kind of slowly sputter out.

Apistogramma Cacatuoides is similar when it comes to tolerance of lower temps too.

Edited October 22 by DallasCowboys16

[Skypilot]

On 10/21/2024 at 8:10 PM, DallasCowboys16 said:

I'm sure it has something to do with it.

Most GBR breeders and conventional information basically dictate that they tend to do better at 80+ degrees and that's generally how I've had success with them.

In colder tanks I have had them survive and even spawn over a year or two but they just kind of slowly sputter out.

My thought process is, I don’t think the breeders in Florida or Southeast Asia is specially heating their outdoor ponds just for these.

[NOLANANO]

I love GBRs and have kept multiple groups of them over the years. My issue is that no matter the temperature, They only live for 3-6 months and then die randomly. I have had the same experience with Apistos as well. I think its because I have hard water locally and those are all softer water fish.

Right now I am keeping a pair of Blue Notho Killi, some Celabese Rainbows, some neon tetra, some Panada Cories, Some Pygmy Cories, and a bristle nose Pleco.  I also have some Neocardina and a few Amano Shrimp.  I can't decide what feature fish I want to do next. I do think I want to up my Pygmy Cory school from 9-20 and get 5 or so Furcata Rainbows. 

[DallasCowboys16]

On 10/21/2024 at 9:54 PM, Skypilot said:

My thought process is, I don’t think the breeders in Florida or Southeast Asia is specially heating their outdoor ponds just for these.

GBRs are bred in indoor or semi-indoor facilities similar to most cave spawners whose spawns need pulled or monitored. Even commercially it’s not a situation where you just throw some fish into an outdoor pool with some spawning mops and pull 10,000 fish out at the end of the year like guppies or White Clouds.

Many of the fish we keep are pretty adaptable, but some have narrower parameter ranges in which they can thrive. German Blue Rams are one of these species

Edited October 22 by DallasCowboys16