Question About Rams

[gophersnake13]

I've been reading about Cichlids and alot of people say that you need a big aquarium with alot of fish so they don't kill each other. Could I keep a pair of rams in a 20 gallon tank? Also can you keep Cichlids (any specie) All by its self or do they need to be kept communally. Cause I like the little yellow malawi fish at the petstore but if I can't keep it by itself I won't keep it in a small tank like that with a bunch of other ones that will do nothing but fight.

(I come from the reptile hobby but fish are really interesting to me and I'm looking to get into the hobby)

 

[Cathy G]

Hey Gophersnake,

You bet you could keep 1 pair of rams in a 20g. Go with either the somewhat easy to take care of Bolivian Rams, or their more colorful cousins the Blue rams. Blue rams require much more care from their keepers however, they aren't for the novice unless the novice is willing to jump in head first.

Neither of these fish would be good to cycle a tank with, I'd read up on fishless cycling before you get going.

Before you really get going though, you need to find out about your water. Is it hard, soft, acidic, alkaline, and what is it's pH, etc. Your water should inform you about what kind of fish to keep. For example, the Malawis you mentioned like harder water with a higher pH. The rams like their water soft with a low pH.

If you go slowly, do a fishless cycle on your tank, and while it is cycling, buy some test kits - gh/kh, pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates you should have a pretty good idea what kinds of fish will live long and prosper in your tanks.

Cathy

 

[Mike Wise]

The information that you were given (crowd cichlids together to reduce aggression) is for Malawi Mbunas. South American dwarfs are much less agressive. Although less agressive than most Mbunas, the Yellow Labidochromis that you mention still should be kept in much larger tanks with enough fish to spread the wealth of aggression that occurs.