# Bolivian Ram in 44g?



## lenalover (Feb 8, 2011)

I am cycling a 44g corner pentagon tank right now. And, in about 3 weeks, I will move my fish into there.
I have:
10 guppies (7 females, 3 males)
2 corydoras (will be getting a couple more, and then about 5 panda cories)
1 blue gourami (am selling as he is chasing the cories)

So in the 44g I will have:
- 10 guppies
- 3-4 brown cories
- 5 panda cories
- 6-8 neon tetras or danios(?)

So my question is... would a Bolivian Ram be able to live peacefully in the 44g with the other fish? Or, is there not enough space?
I could go without the tetras/danios if I got a bolivian ram.
Thanks!


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## zof (Apr 23, 2010)

I dont foresee any issue with your suggested stock, besides you will be really bottom heavy with all those cories and the ram since they stay close to the bottom, but I don't think they will pay any attention to the cories. If you were to keep the Gourami I would give you a word of caution, my blue Gourami decided to get territorial with my new rams so I had to find a different home for him.


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## lenalover (Feb 8, 2011)

> I dont foresee any issue with your suggested stock, besides you will be really bottom heavy with all those cories and the ram since they stay close to the bottom, but I don't think they will pay any attention to the cories. If you were to keep the Gourami I would give you a word of caution, my Blue Gourami decided to get territorial with my new rams so I had to find a different home for him.


I was just thinking about that, with all the cories... Maybe I will just get a couple more and have 4 or 5 cories total.
Yeah, I will definetly have to get a new home for my blue gourami, as he is terrifying my poor cories  My old gourami was awesome and peaceful.. but I guess they all have their own personalities.
Thank you very much. I was also thinking of getting a breeding pair of the rams, but I'm not sure. Are bolivian rams hard to find at pet stores, or are they pretty common?


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## zof (Apr 23, 2010)

I guess it all depends on if you have a local breeder in your area, mines seems to not because very rarely LFS in my area get them in stock.


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

lenalover said:


> I am cycling a 44g corner pentagon tank right now. And, in about 3 weeks, I will move my fish into there.
> I have:
> 10 guppies (7 females, 3 males)
> 2 corydoras (will be getting a couple more, and then about 5 panda cories)
> ...



I agree with others. I have one male Bolivian Ram in a 43 gal with a female Blue Gourami, neon dwarf rainbows and loaches. He is doing fine with all of them. I also have a male Blue Gourami, and I can't put anything in with him, he is very aggressive, so I understand your frustration with yours. Best of luck. I will say that Bolivian rams are very timid, and I'm "hand feeding" mine by putting food in a syringe near him, otherwise I don't think he'd get food. Danios are really aggressive eaters and are very active in general, and they may be to active for a Bolivian ram - I'd skip getting them. 

Gwen


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## lenalover (Feb 8, 2011)

> I guess it all depends on if you have a local breeder in your area, mines seems to not because very rarely LFS in my area get them in stock.


Actually, I just emailed our store, and they said they have them, for $7.99 each :] So, thats good.



> I agree with others. I have one male Bolivian Ram in a 43 gal with a female Blue Gourami, neon dwarf rainbows and loaches. He is doing fine with all of them. I also have a male Blue Gourami, and I can't put anything in with him, he is very aggressive, so I understand your frustration with yours. Best of luck. I will say that Bolivian rams are very timid, and I'm "hand feeding" mine by putting food in a syringe near him, otherwise I don't think he'd get food. Danios are really aggressive eaters and are very active in general, and they may be to active for a Bolivian ram - I'd skip getting them.


Thank you for the advice :] I'm trying to sell the blue gourami right now haha. He is probably the biggest pig of a fish I've ever seen, he was actually eating a fake plant yesterday! He is so fat, and crazy! haha

Does anyone know if I got a pair of rams, would they be aggressive to other fish once they have their babies?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I would recommend a single Bolivian Ram. If you read our profile, you will see it mentions that this species is believed to live in solitude in their habitat, except when spawning. A single Bolivian Ram does very well in a community tank--usually.

Determining male/female is very difficult unless the fish are somewhat mature. This is also mentioned and detailed in our profile and there is a photo of a pair to illustrate. At the size this fish is often seen in stores, getting a pair is quite difficult. Sometimes observing their behaviours for several minutes can clue one in. The males will be quite obvious, they are each territorial, and they usually "tolerate" a female near them. I would not risk two fish unless you can be fairly certain it is male/female; two males need visual space.

I have kept this fish a couple of times, I have a beautiful male in my 115g now. He killed the female I gave him, got annoyed with her I guess, even though they successfully spawned 4 or 5 times. So he is back on his own again. He feeds from the substrate, and "pokes" at the corys now and then, especially the spotted species. But they are thick-skinned and just dart over and then come back.

Byron.


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## lenalover (Feb 8, 2011)

^^ Thanks Byron. I think I will stock with just one :]


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