Aggressive Ram Cichlid

[Stewie]

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I introduced four red phantom tetras into my heavily planted community tank (36"L, 12"W, 20"H) and my lone female blue ram started behaving aggressively towards them. Today the chasing seems to have intensified.

I find this odd because the ram was (and still is) completely peaceful with the other fish that were already in the tank when it itself was introduced (16 cardinal tetras, 1 Siamese algae eater). It only seems to bother the newly introduced red phantoms.

Has anyone else experienced this behaviour from their rams? Do you guys think this aggression will persist or do you think it's just the ram trying to show the newcomers who's boss and that the chasing will stop soon enough? And if you think it will persist, what are some things I can do to reduce the ram's aggression?

I've checked my water parameters and everything seems ok to me.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
GH: 4
KH: 4
PH: 7.5
Also, this tank has been established for over 4 months now (fully cycled) and I do weekly 25-30% water changes. It is heavily planted with a lot of hiding places. The following is a picture I took just before I got the new fish.

The current tank inhabitants besides the red phantoms and the ram are 1 siamese algae eater, some ghost shrimp and 1 cardinal tetra (the other 15 died some while ago because I had low KH but I've fixed that problem now by adding KH powder).

I'd appreciate any advice on this as I'm still pretty new to the hobby.

Thanks in advance,
Stuart

 

[gerald]

Yes I think she's challenging them because they're new invaders in her territory, and she'll probably stop chasing them after a week or two. It's funny how some fish (especially cichlids and gouramis) can recognize new fish even when they're the same species as older established fish in the tank, and look no different to us. I guess the new ones behave differently. Also, Low KH is probably NOT what killed your cardinal tetras; they are one of the most tolerant fish species for low pH & low KH conditions. Unless of course they were "shocked" by a large and rapid chemical change, from high pH to low pH.

 

[Stewie]

Thanks for your reply!

Hopefully that is the case with the ram and it will eventually stop chasing the new fish because I'd hate for the red phantoms to constantly feel stressed.

With the cardinals, I assumed it was low KH that killed them because all my other parameters seemed ok when I tested them. The KH however, was 2 and I read somewhere that a low KH can lead to extreme fluctuations in PH which could kill fish. This made sense to me because they all died overnight, suggesting that they had been killed by something sudden such as a PH fluctuation.

I discovered that my tap water's KH was actually 0-1 (which would explain why my KH got so low) so since then I've been adding KH powder to it everytime I do a water change. The surviving fish have since been doing well, not showing much stress after water changes.

Do you think there could be another reason for my cardinal deaths?

 

[Mike Wise]

I highly doubt that the water is the cause. Cardinals live in waters with almost no mineral hardness: 0° dGH & 0° dKH. Of course, pH values will fluctuate under such soft water conditions, but these species are adapted to it. Death could be simply a one time occurance. It happens with many wildcaught fish. I would be more worried if it was more than 1 fish.

 

[gerald]

Can't argue with that.

Death could be simply a one time occurrence.

"they all died overnight" ... how long did you have them when this sudden die-off occurred?

 

[Stewie]

I had them for about three months with no problems but after a water change about a month ago, I woke up to find the 15 of them dead. There were no apparent signs of disease or abnormal behaviour prior to this; in fact they seemed quite happy and healthy.

It's unlikely but perhaps I somehow managed to contaminate the tank during the water change? I use the tap in the laundry to fill my buckets and the laundry sink may have small traces of soap on it. However I doubt this is the reason for my fish deaths because I've been using the laundry sink for my water changes since I started my tank with no ill effects.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I had them for about three months with no problems but after a water change about a month ago, I woke up to find the 15 of them dead. There were no apparent signs of disease or abnormal behaviour prior to this; in fact they seemed quite happy and healthy.

Very strange.

Because it happened suddenly over-night you might suspect it was low levels of dissolved oxygen. Normally planted tanks are much less prone to this, but if you don't have any surface ripple? it may have occurred.

If it is a mains supply (rather than well water etc.) it might have been chloramine in the water change. Even if it isn't used usually as the chlorine source in your tap water, if there is a threat to the integrity of the water main the water company will use "emergency" chloramine treatment.

Again the mechanism of fish death is likely to be asphyxiation, rather than direct ammonia toxicity.

cheers Darrel

 

[Stewie]

Thanks for your suggestion Darrel. I hadn't considered that it could have been lack of oxygen. I normally make sure the filter outlet is positioned slightly above the surface so that it does create some ripples but it's definitely possible that I could have forgotten to readjust it after I did my water change and that the outlet was completely submerged throughout the night.

With regards to the chloramine, the water conditioner I use (API Stress Coat) says that it's supposed to remove chloramine as well as cholrine so I'm not too worried about that.

 

[Chase997]

I have a female ram that I very territorial to other fish too but they usually stop pestering the other fish after about three days.

 

[Larry Rogers]

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I introduced four red phantom tetras into my heavily planted community tank (36"L, 12"W, 20"H) and my lone female blue ram started behaving aggressively towards them. Today the chasing seems to have intensified.

I find this odd because the ram was (and still is) completely peaceful with the other fish that were already in the tank when it itself was introduced (16 cardinal tetras, 1 Siamese algae eater). It only seems to bother the newly introduced red phantoms.

Has anyone else experienced this behaviour from their rams? Do you guys think this aggression will persist or do you think it's just the ram trying to show the newcomers who's boss and that the chasing will stop soon enough? And if you think it will persist, what are some things I can do to reduce the ram's aggression?

I've checked my water parameters and everything seems ok to me.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
GH: 4
KH: 4
PH: 7.5
Also, this tank has been established for over 4 months now (fully cycled) and I do weekly 25-30% water changes. It is heavily planted with a lot of hiding places. The following is a picture I took just before I got the new fish.

View attachment 4838

The current tank inhabitants besides the red phantoms and the ram are 1 siamese algae eater, some ghost shrimp and 1 cardinal tetra (the other 15 died some while ago because I had low KH but I've fixed that problem now by adding KH powder).

I'd appreciate any advice on this as I'm still pretty new to the hobby.

Thanks in advance,
Stuart

Rams will attack red colored fish, and females tend to be particularly aggressive. Stems from fact that their fry school on red. If there are other red predators in Ares the fry will swim right to them. I have had rsmd attack fire mouth cichlids through the glass when tanks wrtr side by side. Spawn does not have to be present for attacks to ensue.

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I introduced four red phantom tetras into my heavily planted community tank (36"L, 12"W, 20"H) and my lone female blue ram started behaving aggressively towards them. Today the chasing seems to have intensified.

I find this odd because the ram was (and still is) completely peaceful with the other fish that were already in the tank when it itself was introduced (16 cardinal tetras, 1 Siamese algae eater). It only seems to bother the newly introduced red phantoms.

Has anyone else experienced this behaviour from their rams? Do you guys think this aggression will persist or do you think it's just the ram trying to show the newcomers who's boss and that the chasing will stop soon enough? And if you think it will persist, what are some things I can do to reduce the ram's aggression?

I've checked my water parameters and everything seems ok to me.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
GH: 4
KH: 4
PH: 7.5
Also, this tank has been established for over 4 months now (fully cycled) and I do weekly 25-30% water changes. It is heavily planted with a lot of hiding places. The following is a picture I took just before I got the new fish.

View attachment 4838

The current tank inhabitants besides the red phantoms and the ram are 1 siamese algae eater, some ghost shrimp and 1 cardinal tetra (the other 15 died some while ago because I had low KH but I've fixed that problem now by adding KH powder).

I'd appreciate any advice on this as I'm still pretty new to the hobby.

Thanks in advance,
Stuart