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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Blue Ram

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10 Aug 2007 22:04 #1 by koinonia (koinonia)
Blue Ram was created by koinonia (koinonia)
I got some blue rams last night that were settling in to my tank.

I did a water change tonight and found one of them hanging at the surface while i was doing it gasping for air.

it settled at the bottom of the tank when i had finished and then later i found it hanging at the surface again almost vertically.

does anyone have any ideas as to whats going on?
was it just the tank disturbance that caused it or do i need to be worried?

thanks in advance
brian

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10 Aug 2007 22:49 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Replied by KenS (Ken Simpson) on topic Re:Blue Ram
I found Blue Rams to be very delicate fish that don't tolerate changes in their water parameters very well. I bought a couple a few months back and reckon they were very stressed by the small amount of ammonia that had built up in the bag on the way home from the LFS. I put them in the tank and they were continuously gasping as you describe. Both were dead the next day. They also have a very short life span - around 3 years so if yours look like adults, they could be approaching the end of their days.

Can you let us know your water parameters? Blue Rams do well in soft acidic water that is changed regularly - i.e. discus type conditions.

I recently got two Bolivian Rams. These aren't as nicely coloured, but far more hardy.

Regards,

Ken.

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10 Aug 2007 23:33 #3 by richardbunn (Richard Bunn)
Perhaps these kind of changes in the water chemistry could be eased in the future by doing the following:

Leave water stand for 24 hours for pH to stabilise.

If you can't heat the water with a heater, use water from the kettle to bring it to the correct temperature.

Use an airline to syphon the new water into the tank. It's much slower than the usual 1\" tubing & if you want you could clamp it further. This way there's even less chance of shock.

Regards
Richard

"Everything's going perfectly in my aquarium. What do I do???"

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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11 Aug 2007 01:01 #4 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Blue Ram
Most are hormone fed and in bad health.
They cannot tolerate a ph of 7 and over IMO. but can be slowly
acclimatised to a slightly higher pH.

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11 Aug 2007 09:37 #5 by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Replied by Red Empress (Red Empress) on topic Re:Blue Ram
Anthony wrote:

Most are hormone fed and in bad health.
They cannot tolerate a ph of 7 and over IMO. but can be slowly
acclimatised to a slightly higher pH.


Anthony is correct in his post. I have a PH of 7.6 here and can not keep blue rams. I have wasted so much money trying and loosing these fish over the years.

This may help too.:)

Microgeophagus Ramirezi

Common names :-

Ram, Ramirazi, Dwarf Butterfly

Found in streams & ponds of the Rio _ Orinoco drainage in the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos.

Can grow up to 2 1/2 inches

Eats frozen & live foods

Best maintained along the lines of A. Agassizii.

Ph tolerance is 5.0 - 6.5


dGH 0.0 - 12.0 N

Water temp.23.0 - 30.0 C ( 73.4 - 86.0 F)
<br><br>Post edited by: Red Empress, at: 2007/08/11 10:53

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11 Aug 2007 10:31 #6 by serratus (Drew Latimer)
Replied by serratus (Drew Latimer) on topic Re:Blue Ram
Hi Koinonia, try n get european bred rams (czech. or german) much hardier, Far eastern rams are nice but last days, weeks if your lucky, as Anthony said, hormone and antibiotic treated etc.... Bolivan rams are nice when adult, n hardy, but take time too fully colour up.

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11 Aug 2007 18:22 #7 by koinonia (koinonia)
Replied by koinonia (koinonia) on topic Re:Blue Ram
thanks for the advise guys....it died overnight but the other one is doing ok..andy said he'd replace it for me foc:)

i believe they were juveniles. how do i tell the difference between male and female ?


my ph is about 6.6 ...ive a lot of south american fish so thought it best.i also have some bogwood in the tank.

it may just have been that cleaning the tank so soon after getting the new fish stressed it out.there was more gunk in the tank than i had realised and it was suspended in the water..the probelms only happened while i was doing the change.


when i do a water change ..did about 30% change on an 80L tank this weekend.. i normaly add some hot water to bring the temp up a bit. the tank is at 25 C at the moment.

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11 Aug 2007 19:23 #8 by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Replied by Red Empress (Red Empress) on topic Re:Blue Ram
Sorry you lost it Koinonia :(


Sexing Rams is pretty simple.

Males have extra long spines on the Dorsal fin ( top fin ) at the front compared to a female.

Also Females get a pinkish coloured belly a bit like a female kribensis but not as vibrant.



These are really old and bad pictures of mine. I do have better ones but I will have to find them.

The fish in the top picture is a male.

The fish in the middle of the second picture is also a male but you can see the female at the back with a pink belly.





Hope this helps

Jill<br><br>Post edited by: Red Empress, at: 2007/08/11 20:25

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11 Aug 2007 20:22 #9 by koinonia (koinonia)
Replied by koinonia (koinonia) on topic Re:Blue Ram
thanks for the photos jill

the one i have left seems to be a female but i need to have a better look when it comes out of hiding...it seems to like the barrrel:P

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11 Aug 2007 20:25 #10 by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Replied by Red Empress (Red Empress) on topic Re:Blue Ram
No problems. Glad I could help. :)

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12 Aug 2007 20:02 #11 by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Replied by Red Empress (Red Empress) on topic Re:Blue Ram
I have done some searching and found the pictures I originaly wanted to show you.







This is a bolivian ram in almost full colour. Not a great picture but I am sure you get the idea. :)

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13 Aug 2007 21:20 #12 by koinonia (koinonia)
Replied by koinonia (koinonia) on topic Re:Blue Ram
[img size=150][/img][www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/media/kunen...DSCF0568__WinCE_.JPG[/img]

Post edited by: koinonia, at: 2007/08/13 22:23

is it a bolivian or a blue ram. sorry i couldnt get it any clearer....i think its going the same way as the first one:(<br><br>Post edited by: koinonia, at: 2007/08/13 22:24

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13 Aug 2007 21:40 #13 by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Replied by Red Empress (Red Empress) on topic Re:Blue Ram
Hi Koinonia. I am sorry your picture isn't showing.

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14 Aug 2007 18:20 #14 by koinonia (koinonia)
Replied by koinonia (koinonia) on topic Re:Blue Ram
the pic worked in preview...but alas..it doesnt matter now.

i came down this morning to find my ram, female siamese and a rummynose had died overnight.

i can only put it down to too steep a drop in ph from about 6.8 to 6.5 as everything else is ok.

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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15 Aug 2007 08:07 #15 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Blue Ram
I would not blame he pH.
That would not have effected the Siamese fighter. I know it is a
biggish drop but could there be any toxinx in the water.
An instant fish kill is usually from either a heater/filter turning off or toxins in the water.
A pH drop of .3 would nt have killed all those fish at once.

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15 Aug 2007 11:40 #16 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:Blue Ram
I agree with Anthony. A pH drop of 0.3 would never have done this. pH drops of this magnitude happen quite regularely when you change your water and should have no ill.effect. There must be a different reason. Especially betta can handle a much bigger pH drop quite easily

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15 Aug 2007 18:26 #17 by koinonia (koinonia)
Replied by koinonia (koinonia) on topic Re:Blue Ram
the heater got unplugged overnight but i cant remember doing it and ive no one i can blame...but the temp only dropped 1 degree to 23C..its currently at 24 according to the digtal thermometer,should i hire it?


i currently have some rummynose,corys,dwarf gourami, pearl and zebra danios and the otto.

thanks guys:)

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15 Aug 2007 19:28 #18 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Blue Ram
I think 24c is perfect but certain Corrydoras like wateter 28c+
while others like it aroune the 23c mark. Not an expert and someone
will elaborte more.
What species have you got.

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15 Aug 2007 22:53 #19 by koinonia (koinonia)
Replied by koinonia (koinonia) on topic Re:Blue Ram
they are melanistius

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