Ramirez Cichlids

Question
Hi, I have another Ram question. I recently acquired a male and two female blue rams. About half an hour after placing them in with the resident male ram, the new male had killed the resident. They were of similar size and my resident was very healthy and feeding regularly. I believe the tank was large enough... It was a 40 gal with plenty of vegetation. There were no other fish in the tank besides a Raphael catfish. My question is, is my male overly aggressive? Would be possible to replace the male that was killed or would I need different ratios of male to female. It is a large tank and I would like to have at least a few more then three rams in it. Also is there another species of dwarf cichlid that would be compatible if another ram isn't possible. Thank you for you your time.

Answer
Hi Chris,
  No your male is not being overly aggressive.  He doesn't want another male ram around.   I would strongly suggest not putting another ram in there but rather go with some other species, such as a butterfly cichlids (Anomalochromis thomasi) from West Africa, or something like that.  Possibly a pair of kribensis.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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