German blue ram from chain pet store

[Skypilot]

Edited 17 hours ago 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 17 hours ago 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.