# German blue ram aggression



## Eandrus21 (Jul 22, 2013)

Hi everyone, new to this site but not new to fish keeping. I have a German blue ram cichlid species tank and I'm having some aggression issues with one of my rams. I previously had a much smaller ram tank, which was a bit overcrowded. The biggest of my males was very peaceful until I added an electric blue ram, and he attacked it constantly until it died  I recently upgraded to a larger tank with lots of hiding spots, a piece of driftwood and four live plants. It's stocked with a small angelfish, two German blues (the bully male and small female), and three neon tetras, as well as two Cory cats. I just added two golden rams and another electric blue, who is much larger than my German male. Instantly my bully male started attacking the electric blue. He nips at the golden rams occasionally, ignores the tetras and angel, and focuses almost exclusively on the electric blue. I shifted the ornaments and driftwood around, hoping a change of scenery would help, but no luck. I separated the bully into a small temporary tank, but he can't stay there forever. I really want to keep him in my big ram tank, since he's beautiful, but I don't want him picking the electric blue to death. Any advice??


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## Nave (May 28, 2013)

When you go to put him back in the big tank the bully should now be the new fish in the tank (to the fish) and may lower aggression towards the other ram.


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## henningc (Apr 17, 2013)

The rule with cichlids is put them all in at the same time, or take the old guys out and rearrange the tank before everyone goes back in.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

If the bully male has formed a pair with smaller female he may not tolerate any other rams at all.All my rams have paired up(I have 5),but the odd one out.He has to be kept in a different tank than both pairs(they are in seperate tanks also.)


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Welcome to the site!

I have never heard of someone keeping a "Ram" tank with more than a pair. Seems most people get pairs and done with it. What you are doing seems out of the ordinary. Maybe just me...just don't ever remember hearing something like that being done. My guess is the aggression will eventually move to the Golden ones also. I have always thought of Rams as similar to Dwarf Gouramis....peaceful as can be to everything else until another one like it gets in the tank. Not exactly the same, but very similar. 

A species tank has nothing but one species...no others.


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## Eandrus21 (Jul 22, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the advice  I had four rams all together a while back including bully male and the female and he was fine. I think he just got used to being dominant alone and therefore bullied the new rams. I'm also thinking perhaps he and the female were attempting breeding or something. I'm keeping him separated for a week and then I'll try reintroducing him, after the new ones have established a pecking order. I moved around my plants and ornament, and added a piece of driftwood, so hopefully that will help as well. 
I suppose the term species tank for rams is misleading since you can't really establish a tank with just rams, since they are so shy and need dither fish to show them it's safe. Since the angelfish is in there too I should really call it an amazon type tank. 
On another subject, are there any small top-swimming fish that are from the Amazon? Specifically from the Orinoco river area. I've already got neons and will probably get a small school of rummynose tetras, but the very top of my tank looks a bit bare. Thanks


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## Senayski (Apr 28, 2013)

Hmm I have 2 GBR and 1 Bolivian. No problems at all


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

German rams although not as bad as dwarf gouramis are very often sold only as males.I'm not saying there aren't any females to be had ,but if/when breeders can tell they only release the males,so having 3 may be attributed to this or time?See how things are going 6 months from now!


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

My gbr are a mated pair and will tolerate no other rams period , even my female killed other females, I re arranged the tank even moved tanks with no change , if you can keep many more powwr to ya , but most mature fish if grouped will form a pair and you get issues then.
Good luck with the rams.


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## Eandrus21 (Jul 22, 2013)

Good to know, thank you  I can't tell if the goldens are male or female. I guess time will tell. Thanks for the info.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

tbub1221 said:


> My gbr are a mated pair and will tolerate no other rams period , even my female killed other females, I re arranged the tank even moved tanks with no change , if you can keep many more powwr to ya , but most mature fish if grouped will form a pair and you get issues then.
> Good luck with the rams.


This is more the norm I think. Never go by what anyone else seems to get away with. Nature does not understand what you want in your tank.


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## Eandrus21 (Jul 22, 2013)

Added bully back to tank after a bit over a week. Everyone's doing well, no more aggression! One of the golds now seems to be dominant. The female swims around happily ignored by everyone. Thanks for the advice everyone


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