Oto Catfish and Rams?

Question
QUESTION: Hi there, I have a quick question. I currently have a planted 25 gallon fish tank with 4 mystery snails, 3 oto catfish, and 8 harlequin rasbora. I am looking for a few more smaller fish with calm temperaments to go with my tank mates. My priority is to find peaceful, calmer fish (not hyper schooling fish like danios) to go with the other fish and not pick on them or stress them out. Right now the tank is very calm and the rasbora's tend to be rather relaxed fish, not causing too much crazy movement. I was researching that Ram cichlids can be very peaceful, calm additions to planted tanks and usually do not bother tank mates, is this true? Are Rams a good opinion for my tank or will they pick on any of the other fish in the tank now? I am considering Rams based on what I have read (waiting to discover if that is accurate) and because they are very colorful and unique as I am wanting to add a bit of interest to the tank. I love how the Oto's clean, the Rasbora's school, and the mystery snails crawl around and do not want to introduce anything that will compromise them so I am looking for a suitable tank mate. What are your thoughts on Rams? If they will work, how many should I get? Thank a bunch.

ANSWER: Rachel,     I know some things you read about the ram says it has a a calm personality. That is in the cichlid family. They can sometimes be as nasty as firemouths. The whole point is they are a cichlid are aggressive and unpredictable. You have a community tank of non - aggressive fish. It will eat whatever fits into its mouth. I like evening my tanks out bottom feeders middle swimmers and top swimmers. Since what you have are tetras stay in that family. the rasbora's are calm schooling fish. Danio's are fun but busy. They tend to make calm fish stressed. They are better for semi- aggressive tanks. I would look for skirted tetras beautiful come in all colors. They are dyed stay with the white and grey and pink they tend to be your hardiest. You could put a couple of cory catfish. They are not an algae cleaner like your oto's are and tend to stay on bottom. Stay away from the albino's I find they are not as hardy as the spotted pr speckled or the green. They can get about 3 inches and cute chubby buggers with great little mustaches. I am going to give you a list of some kool fish you can look at to go into your tank: hatchets tend to stay at top, upsidedown catfish very interesting. Actually swim upside down at the top of your tank., because of the size of your tank you could get a couple DWARF gourami's they are beautiful blue and some oranges, glass fish (yes you can see through them),khuli loaches neat little eels that love to bury themselves,of course neons. If you research or stay in the area of the pet shop that says community tropicals or non- aggressive fish....I am sure you can find more that maybe aren't coming to mind. These are some of my favorites. You can even get a couple beautiful colored female bettas and put them in there for color. Good Luck, Tina

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QUESTION: Thanks for your help! I Currently still have the Rasbora's, snails, only 1 Oto now (the others just didn't seem as hardy as the one left), and I added 3 cherry shrimp (live these little guys!), and added 4 Cory's. They are all doing wonderful! I might get a crystal shrimp and I still considering what, if any, other fish I should add. Another question, you mentioned female Bettas, can I have more than one female betta together? It's not like the males where u must separate them? Also, female Bettas aren't aggressive at all? If they will work I would love to have a few female Bettas! They are beautiful and I think they would complete the tank, as long as they won't upset any other of my fish. Thanks

Answer
Rachel,    I love them too. Lots of different colors. Yes they will be fine together. They are not like males. Abit of info your betta's are carnivorous. The best food I have found that make the least mess and is controllable is the frozen blood worms in flat packs. You can run corner in water for a second then dip into you water make sure your girls get one to two a piece depending on appetite. Then put them in a baggie in the freezer. They last forever. Some  may eat one more its ok if you Cory's eat them and your shrimp will eat wastes. The only thing is if your shrimp start to disappear its your betta's. : (  Truly the glass shrimp you'll hardly ever see them in your tank. Your cory's are also feeders of opportunity as most fish the rule is if it fits in my mouth I'm going to try to eat it. Though with all the foliage in your tank they will probably have lots of of places to hide. The circle of life Rachel. Even now if you go with the other fish your shrimp change the rules abit. They are cheap because people use them as food. Had to let you know. I would still go with the betta's. Glad to hear your tank is doing so well!!!! Good Luck,Tina