German Blue Ram (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi)
Tue, Oct 23, 2007
German Blue Ram Photo © L. Curtis
Profile
Origin: Colombia and Venezuela
Behavior: Mostly peaceful and shy, but can become very territorial during the breeding process. Placing the German Blue Ram into a community tank will lessen its shyness because they will see that the it’s “safe” to come out.
Temperature: 78-85 °F (26-30 °C)
pH: 5.0 – 7.5
Size: 3″ (7 cm)
Diet: Accepts all types of food including flakes, sinking pellets, frozen and freeze-dried foods.
Breeding: Place one male German Blue Ram and one female German Blue Ram into the same aquarium, and they will usually become attracted to each other. Although, some owners report that getting a group of German Blue Rams will allow them to pick and choose their partners more easily if a pair do not become attracted to each other immediately. Emulate a natural setting by densely planting the aquarium. German Blue Rams prefer a softer water when breeding, around a pH of 6.5 should be fine.
Sex: Males have a longer, pointed dorsal fin. Females have a red or orange tinge on their bellies.
Notes
German Blue Ram Photo © L. Dasilva
A pair of German Blue Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) will create quite a commotion in any tank from guests because they have one of the highly colored bodies of the South American Cichlids. They are perfect for a community tank with Tetras, Barbs, or Corys which allow the German Blue Rams to feel safer. The eye will surely be drawn to the German Blue Ram in an aquarium due to their breath-taking colors. Watching a pair of German Blue Rams guard their eggs is exciting because they are good tropical fish parents.
Conclusion
Care: [rate 5]
Hardiness: [rate 4]
Temperament: [rate 4]
Breeding: [rate 5]
Overall: [rate 4.5]
October 27th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Everybody needs to experience breeding a pair of adult German Blue Rams because they are simply gorgeous.
November 9th, 2007 at 6:58 am
do male rams get little white spots as they color up for breeding?……not, NOT whitespot
November 9th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
I don’t think that Blue Rams get white spots as they turn older. The Blue Ram may be sick, is it acting lethargic?
November 13th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I have one German Blue Ram male, in a community tank with my harliquen rasboras, cardinal and neon tetras, and my cory family( 2 albino, 1 sterba,1 schwartz, and a clown loach the cories call him uncle bob) and last but not least an african dwarf frog. What types of foods can i feed my german blue ram that i can feed my other fish as well? I know that i can feed it blood worms and flakes but, what other types of frozen or live foods can i feed my ram? Also i have one male ram in my community tank it killed my other male by taking a chunk out of its head. what type of pairing is best?
January 20th, 2008 at 1:34 am
do female rams get very swollen abdomens just prior to spawing? or is her swollen belly something worse? She is still eating, although recently, past 36 hrs has started to surface breath now and then, then return to a more normal behavior. I’ve only had the pair since mon. thier color is very high and they greet me everytime i aprroach the tank.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
German blue rams are a joy to keep. Very interesting fish ! Mine spawned in the plant tank and I didn’t have them 2 weeks yet. Eggs hatched and got to the wiggler stage but then disappeared. Rams are rumored to be bad parents. I watched them both taking turns guarding and fanning the eggs, chasing off the platy, as well as moving them to another area on the driftwood once they hatched. If one ‘wiggled’ too far down on the driftwood the attending parent would pick up the egg and drop it back with the others !
I’m determined to get free swimming fry now lol. Getting microworms ready too.
Get these fish, very colorful and really stand out in a plant tank.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I love Rams. They are great fish that are beautiful. If you have a large enough tank, you should add a few discus. My breeding pair of rams love to hang out with my Discus.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Oh my gosh – these small cichlids are just BEAUTIFUL! I agree with the top poster – everybody should experience the joy of keeping a pair of these fish! They are SO highly colored – and photos online don’t do them justice – as both the males and females have irridescent blue scales that are interspersed throughout their entire body. Just GORGEOUS!!
One note – it would be best to keep only one pair in any tank together – UNLESS your tank is super-huge (i.e. 55gal or larger) and heavily planted. We have just bought three – and we THOUGHT we had got two females and one male, but it turns out that we got two males and one female. The males are fighting over the female and also over their territory. They head-butt each other – which is where they get their names – “Rams”. This is perfectly normal behavior for males in a tank with males – but it may be undesirable for the inexperienced aquarist – or for someone who just wants a peaceful pair.
Sexing these fish is very difficult at first – but with a few pointers you can do it. Do NOT rely on the tall dorsal fin spines to tell the males – this is unreliable. Instead – look for the smaller fish that may have a SLIGHT pink/rose colored sheen on their underbelly – these are FEMALES. Also – the females mostly swim around with their dorsal fins NOT raised or fanned-out. Apart from that – just about the only way to sex the species is to watch their behavior in the tank together – the males will swim around posturing with all of their fins fanned out, and the females will be (a little) more subdued.
They are great for community tanks – in fact our Dwarf. Gourami swims right into them or lands on top of them during feeding and they don’t bat an eyelid.
Good luck!!
February 15th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
My pair of rams I’ve only had a few weeks, but they are getting frisky! But I think they are confused. Everything I’ve read says nothing about rams using bubbles in their mating, but ours have been dutifully taking turns going to the bubble volcano and stealing bubbles to build a nest. Is this normal or have they been hanging out with their dwarf gourami tankmates too much?
February 17th, 2009 at 2:15 am
i have just got a ram and it is wonderful. he seems to like his tanks mates which are 1 chinese algae eater and 3 electric yellows. the colors they all make are fantastic. i am getting more electric yellows, but now contemplating having to get another ram.
March 11th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
i just got a 20 gal. (traditional) tank kit, and I ‘m new to the fish world. I have narrowed my selection of fish to the following: Are these good combinations for a community and or is this to many fish?
4-6 tetra (good hardy school, for these will be the first ones i put in the tank)
1 German Blue Ram
1 Dwarf Gourami
3-4 Rainbow (which species is the smallest?)
3-4 Corys or Otos (once tank is established)
is this also a good combo of top, mid, and bottom feeders?
April 12th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
I’m no expert, but I’ve had a 30L tank for almost 3 months.
Here’s my combination
10 neon tetra (a few of these died,seems like they’ve the most vulnerable) [bottom but will come to top when feeding]
6 guppies (they’re a vibrant mixture of colours quite pretty really)[top]
4 tiger barbs ( I had a pair before, but one kept on bullying the other, so another pair was added. DON’T put them in if you’re going to add mystery snails! They will nip off all thir antennas) [mid]
2 German Blue Rams [mid]
2 Glass cat fish[bottom]
6 Rummy nose tetras (They lose colour unless you put a few in) [mid]
4 Mystery snails
Good luck with your fish!
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 am
here’s what I have-
1 Dwarf Gourami
1 Leopard Bushfish
1 Australian Rainbow
1 Female Blue Ram (i want a male too)
1 Blue Acei
2 Otocinclus
5 Ghost Shrimp
And everybody gets along
June 9th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I love these Rams. I just got mine for my community tank a week ago. He is very fun to watch and has a personality of his own! He likes to swim around our castle saying “This is mine” then our red tailed shark comes out from the castle and the ram swims away like ” I wasn’t doing nothing”!
30 Gallon Tank
10 Neon Tetras
5 Lemon Tetras
1 German Blue Ram (But Going To Get Female soon!)
1 Red Tailed Shark (Likes to hide in his castle)
1 Clown Pleco ( Loves to share the castle with red tailed shark!)
October 4th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
i was wondering if it is possible to keep a blue ram pair in a 30l tank? that is about an 8 gallon tank, at the moment i have the following…
- 2x corydoras
- 3x rummy nose tetra
- 1x bristle nose catfish
keen to get a pair of blue ram but not sure if tank is large enough, thanks
June 9th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Hi what a site some great info I just traded all my discus for a good tank of Blue Rams and 12 Sterbi Corys I am well pleased with the rams on day 2 they started to pair off and the caves are all taken. It is such a great display watching them wowing each other hopping for eggs soon.