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Fish ID please

Dan Walter

Member
Joined
18 Mar 2009
Messages
166
Location
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Hi all,

Can anyone tell me what this colourful little beauty of a fish is please? Is it a dwarf cichlid?

Thanks in advance.

Dan

P1040011.jpg
 
Cheers for the quick response guys :) Time for a bit of research on my part I think.. They look great against the various greens of a planted tank.
 
Hi all,
Yes a very colourful "German" Ram (Microgeophagus ramirezi), they are lovely little fish, but the normal problem is getting hold of them. This might sound funny as most LFS sell them, but they are nearly always Singapore bred fish that have been hormone treated to colour them up and this combined with their extreme susceptibility to internal parasites means they have a very limited life span, apparently the Golden, long fin and Balloon abominations are even less hardy, although this doesn't apparently apply to the "Electric Blue" mutation.

If you can get hold of some genuine Czech, Dutch or German bred fish, or from a local breeder they are likely to be more successful, in which case they need very warm (Discus warm), soft water and no tank mates if they breed as they are hopeless parents.

cheers Darrel
 
The other option is to get some wild ones. In the shop they may not look much but you wait until they've had few weeks to recover and feed up from their experience and they are stunning.
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,
apparently the Golden, long fin and Balloon abominations are even less hardy

cheers Darrel

Hi Darrel,

I hope your not calling the golden variety an 'abomination' I have a stunning pair of these fish which I'm now breeding from and believe me when I say this, 'abominations' they certainly are not. They actually make pretty good parents as well far superior to a lot of others I've bred and raised. I think your being a little harsh on them.

Regards, Chris.
 
hope your not calling the golden variety an 'abomination' I have a stunning pair of these fish which I'm now breeding from and believe me when I say this, 'abominations' they certainly are not. They actually make pretty good parents as well far superior to a lot of others I've bred and raised. I think your being a little harsh on them.
sorry Chris, just the "Balloon", I don't mind the the xanthistic ones (or the long fin or EB's) although I do prefer the "wild type".
Are the fry all gold?
cheers Darrel
 
Hi Darell

Not yet mate there still just tiny fry about 10 days old. I got the parent Rams from maidenhead aquatics over the christmas period (sold as xl gold rams as they are fully grown adult fish) and this is thier second batch of eggs since getting them. The first ones were eaten after they cared for them for 3 days which is quite common until they get the hang of things. They were spawned on there own in a small tank and are now still with the young fry and being great parents. The last batch of eggs were laid in a mixed species 4ft tank but they hasseled the other fish to much which is why I moved them to seperate quaters.

Regards, Chris.
 
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