Newbie with a larger tank...lots of questions

[dsand1987]

I have had a 10 gallon planted tank for a while now. I have successfully kept 6 neon tetras 2 spotted cories and 3 pygmy cories with a few shrimp and a snail. About a month ago I was at the store and a friend of mine (who knows a lot more about keeping fish than I do) recommended getting German Blue Ram. I did but I didn't know anything about the species. After doing some research I realized that GBRs arent that easy to keep. They are beautiful and entertaining fish I have come to love mine. He is thriving in my overcrowded tank with nice coloration and long healthy fins.
Right now I'm at school so a 10 gallon is about as big as I can go. But, I will be moving back home after graduation in about a month. I have a 40 breeder waiting for me back home and I am excited to get it up and running. I was thinking of housing some more tetras and cories as well as some more rams. i was thinking about 15 tetras, 6 cories, 8 pygmy cories. I know that I can keep these fish no problem, but I am still unsure when it comes to the rams. I know that I should have more females than males. I was thinking maybe haveing 2 males and 4 females.
Also, I was researching other species of dwarf cichlids and really like cockatoo dwarf cichlids as well as german gold rams. I was jsut curious if would be at all possible to keep these fish along with my rams and others.

 

[Mike Wise]

I believe that you need to think about what kind of tank that you want. For a community type tank, then 1 or more Rams is fine with the mix of fish that you want to keep. Don't worry about sex ratios, etc. because you really won't be successful breeding Rams in such a tank. If, on the other hand, you really want to breed Rams, then get rid of all of your other fish except for 1 or 2 top dwelling fish. Buy about 6 - 8 juvenile Rams (for a 40 breeder tank) that come from a hobbyist/breeder - not a large-scale commercial breeder and let them pair off naturally. Keep the temperature above 82ºF/28ºC and feed with a good mix of foods that include a large proportion of live foods. Even after this, you might need to artificially hatch and raise the fry.

 

[bigbird]

Morning,

Agree with Mike. Firstly pose the question, do you want to breed or just watch the fish and observe. If you wish to breed, then use your 10G only for the rams when a pair has formed up from your large 40G. Set up your 40G purely as a community tank. Remember ration of fish to water and also bottom dwellers need a little more space than mid and top swimmers. Cheers jk

 

[dsand1987]

I was considering a pure dwarf cichlid tank with some rams (gold and blue) and maybe some bolivians or some cockatoos but was told that it probably wouldnt work due to aggression issues. BigBirds idea of seperating a spawning pair in my 10 gallon is good idea because I would really like my 40 to have various species either as a community tank or a dwarf cichlid tank.
Also, if I were to make it a community tank would I be able to keep other dwarf cichlids besides rams. i was thinking about having either pairs or trios of different dwarf cichlid species along with my other community fish.