Balloon Body Gold Ram

Question
QUESTION: Hello I'm Samie.
I have a 10 gallon tank.
It's currnetly holds, 2 white skirt tetras, 3 x-ray tetras, 1 rose tetra, 2 ghost shrimp and a balloon body gold ram.
I just have a basic filter. My parents got me the whole "10 gallon starter kit".
I try to change it every 2 weeks. sooner if i over feed them.
I got this tank for Christmas and I have had it up a running since january with fish in it.

My tetras are all kind of jolting around the tank. What's wrong with them?? How can I fix it?

also

I don't know much about me Ram.
I would like to know how to talk care of him.
Like, what pH does he like. what kind of food does he eat. what temp. does he like it. does he need plants, if so what kind. and how do I know if he's a .... he. ???????????
If you don't know. Can you help me find someone?

ANSWER: Your tetras are darting because they are scared.

Tetras need to be in groups of at least 5 to feel happy. But, since you do not have enough room in your tank for 5 of each tetra, you are going to have to pick one to get rid of. You can try to find another home for it, or bring it back to the pet store. Most pet stores will take any fish for free. I recommend taking back the white skirts as they are the biggest.

Now, on to the ram.
They are beautiful fish, a real treasure! I have an entire tank filled with them!
pH- They prefer 6.0-7.0, but they can live up to 8.0 if acclimated properly, however they will have much better colors and will be much more active at the lower pHs. If your pH is too high, do not try to change it with chemicals, use peat, driftwood or CO2.

They like higer temperatures than most fish. Between 78-85 is good. I keep my ram tank at 84 for breeding, but since your is a community set-up also I would keep it around 80. If it is not at 80 already, turn it up slowly, a degree a day until it gets there.

They prefer a good quality pellet like Hikari MicroPellets, along with a varied diet of frozen foods. You will get the best colors out of a mix of daphnia, mysis and brine shrimp, spirula and blackworms. If you can not find all of these foods, at least make sure you are feeding the brine shrimp. That is a nessecity to their well being.

No, they do not need plants, but they will be much happier and active with them. Any plant is good. Java ferns, amazong sword, corkscrew vals...etc. Any plant you can find, as long as it isn't red in color. Solid greens and light browns is what you want to look for.

Sexing is near impossible unless you already know what a male and female should look like. If you e-mail me a picture at   nperossa@hotmail.com   I can tell you exactly.

Also, they are fairly sensitive to water quality. Therefore, you MUST do smaller, more frequent water changes. You do not have to do it yet, but you absolutely MUST, MUST when you get more tetras, do two 30% water changes twice a week. Make sure you add the water slowly and it is within a degree of the tank water.

-Nick

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

QUESTION: Alright.
I have drift wood in my tank already. I have city water and pH is up and down all the time. So I'm careful about my water changes.
I got micro pellets today.
I'm harvesting brine shrimp as well (they are so cute)

I came across a problem. My White Skirt Tetras are eatting all the food and I barely see any of the other fish eat.
Is this normal. I like my tetras, and I only have 1 tank.
I have a pond and betta bowl, but i don't know if they can survive in either one. what should I do??

I think I sent you a picture...I'm not that good with e-mails.



ANSWER: Good, good, and good.

Tetras in general are very active feeders, you just need to get some food down to the rams.

I just take a pinch of food in my finger, sumbmerge my hand in the bottom and drop all the pellets down there where the ram can get them. At the same time, feed the tetras at the top of the tank.

If this still doesn't work there are some foods out there that rams will eat and tetras will not, but I won't get into that until we find out if the previously mentioned method works or not.

For the brine shrimp, you can use a turkey baster (make sure it has never been used in the kitchen before) and squirt the brine shrimp right in front of, or close to, the bolivian. Another thing you could feed is frozen mysis, very good food.

You don't have to feed all this, but I'm just letting you know that this is what I feed my bolivians. In no particular order.

Hikari Micro Pellet, Hikari Cichlid Bio-gold small, frozen mysis, frozen brine shrimp, spirinula flakes, frozen blackworms and frozen daphnia.

And no, they will not survive in a pond or a bowl.

-Nick

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

QUESTION: Since my shrimp aren't ready. I tried to feed them TetraMin Tropical Flakes and Micro pellets.
The Balloon Body Gold Ram picked at the flakes, but spit it out. Is this normal?

the Gold Ram got some kind of skin issue. He has a red dot close to his "top" fin. I called the pet store I work at, and they believe that it's a bacterial infection. So I started treatment today with MelaFix antibacterial Fish Remedy. good??

Answer
Your ram still has to get used to the food. Keep feeding it, always always, just keeping feeding. He will eat it eventually, just keep trying.

And yes, good and good.

He has the infection because of poor water quality though, remember 25% twice weekly.

-Nick