Bolivian Ram -- Angry or Bored?

[Rhaethe]

Allrighty then. I have a 40b with the following stock: 12 neon tetra, 12 rummynose (bleheri), 1 blonde bristlenose, 1 Bolivian Ram.

Now, the Bolivian eats well, is attentive, looks good. But he spends more time than I would have thought healthy staring and sulking at his reflection. I know they do this in new tanks, but I would have thought he would have gotten out of the habit by now (I have had him a month).

Of course, his horizontal striping may be normal and he's not being pissy at all. This is a new species for me, so interpreting his striping is hit or miss on my part. But all the pictures I've seen of Bolivians on the internet show a much lighter colored fish, so am slightly concerned that my fish is dark and stripy.

Another person gave me the suggestion that the fish is bored and needs more of its own kind.

I do remember when I'd gotten this fish from the LFS. It had been in a tank with other rams and angels. This specific fish acted aggressively toward *everything* in the tank. Now, in my mind that was due more to the fact that there were more fish in this tank than there should have been, due to the fact that there was a large order of angels separated on hold within it.


That being said, I am slightly worried about introducing fish into the tank that the BR will beat the #%$& out of, especially when I don't intend on breeding rams. I am close to the limit of what I would feel comfortable in placing in there. Would a trio of apistos be interesting enough to keep the BR from being bored, but different enough to keep any aggression down?

Pics for reference attached ... apologies on not great quality cellphone pics. And admittedly, after feeding and at other times, he is less "stressed looking" and very dark orangey. So i might be worried over nothing.

 

[Rhaethe]

And I tried to go back and edit out the large image files leaving only the smaller ones, and I cannot see where I would be able to do that

 

[Mike Wise]

I think you're anthropomorphizing things. Fish don't recognize their reflections as being themselves. It just looks at its reflection as another Ram.

 

[Seanor]

It's probably seeing "another ram " invading its home in the reflection .

 

[dwarfpike]

Bolivians also show quite a color difference when over light sand vs black, yours looks normal when kept over black gravel from the various pics I've seen. I'd wager the lighter colored pics you are seeing are over more natural colored sand/gravel.

 

[Rhaethe]

Oh no, I'm well aware that it feels its reflection is another ram being invasive. I am accustomed to territorial fish getting fussy at the reflection initially, and then they eventually get over it. This is the first fish I've had that hasn't. Thus, was wondering if introducing real fish (more Bolivians) might make things better or worse.

 

[Mike Wise]

I do remember when I'd gotten this fish from the LFS. It had been in a tank with other rams and angels. This specific fish acted aggressively toward *everything* in the tank.

Maybe you just have an overly aggressive (for the species) specimen. It happens. There's not much you can do about that.

 

[gerald]

What's on the other side of the glass? Another fish tank? He might be staring at that, not his reflection. YOU see a reflection because you're looking through two panes of glass at right angles with water inside (a prism). Stick your head inside the tank and look out - most of the time you won't see a reflection except when the room outside is much darker than the lighting in the tank. He looks pretty normal to me. Rams and many other cichlids do spend a lot of time hovering in a favorite spot; they just don't cruise around constantly like your rummynose.