ram help

Question
QUESTION:  ok this morning i went to my LFS and saw some rams, the water quality is bad so i decided to buy 2 of them, the first one is a big male balloon ram and the second is a female golden ram..i got some background knowledge of keeping rams but i wanna know more, currently i have quarrenting them in an QT but they are jus lazing at the bottom and not moving round much, though they are eating well and their colours are showing...so my questions are:

how to take care of them
how to properly quarrentine them
what to do during the quarrentine process
how to introduce them to main tank...

in my 40 gall main tank, , i have 4 platys, 1 common plec and 4 cories, the main tank is also quite well planted..

ANSWER: Hello Jun:  Rams behave just as yours are... they find a spot and they settle in.  They may liven up after they get use to your tank.  New fish often remain still until they determine that their new environment is safe.

Care of the ram will involve weekly water changes and attention to water chemistry.  They like a pH to be between 6.5 and 7.5 roughly.  They can tolerate change but the require clean water.  Feed them a varied diet that includes flake food, brine shrimp and tubi-flex worms.  

To properly quarantine them just leave them in the QT tank for about a week and observe their condition... if their fins remain intact and their eyes are clear, if the fish is active and eating well and there appears to be no damage to its slime coat then I would say they are ready to go to the main tank.  

When I move fish from my QT to the main tank I just net them and drop them in...  I observe them over the next couple of hours to make sure nothing is picking on them and that they are settling in...  They should go fine with the fish in your main tank... dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:  hi thanks for ur answer...i have anothr ques...i have beend quarrentining them since sat and while doing so, i got some advice from a few of my neighbours which are pro fish owners...most of them reccomend me getting a 100% certified organic genral tonic to reduce the background lvls of the fishes while in quarrentine...i got it and used a little of it with the rams...while in the quarrentine tank, their colours looked perfect, very bright and vibrant. today as all seem normal, i introduced the rams to my main tank...but b4 that, i did a 25% water change in the main tank and added more stress coat than usual to help calm the rams down...when i first put them in, everything seems fine...but now after 8 hrs or so, thei colours are not showing well, sometimes its there but sometimes it isnt...they are still eating well though. but what i noticed about the both of them is that sometimes, they swim forward a bit and then jerk backwards...they do this for a couple of times...and the thing that im worried most is that on the male balloon rams, u can see some of his scales falling off..i mean when he shows his colours, u can see a spot or 2 of blue missing and his black stripes are kinda fading..

to reduce stress, i off the aquarium lights and left it in the dark...

what can i do? thanks

Answer
Fish pale when in new situations because they do not know if something in that tank is going to eat them... it is a defense mechanism and as fish keepers it is important that we be patient and let the fish deal with the new stress levels. Stress coat does not reduce fish stress... it adds a layer of slime to their slime coat which helps the fish not to get sick.... I would let the fish be and not worry about them so much... in a day or two they will be fine. If the ram continues to drop scales then let me know... it is very easy for scales to become loose during the netting process. So my advice to you is be patient and let the fish recover on their own.   Dave