Along with my 2.5 gallon pico reef I also have a 20 gallon community freshwater tank that has been running for at least 4 years.  It had been a while since I added any new fish to the tank.  One day last week I was at an LFS and saw some nice young German Rams so I thought I'd pick up 3 of them for the tank.  What a nightmare that turned out to be.  Within the first 2 days of them being in the tank, I lost 2 of them along with 3 of my original fish.  The LFS I got the Rams from have a 5 day guarantee so I took the 2 rams back along with a sample of the aquarium water, they require the sample so they can test for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates.  Of course the test came back all clear, no issues, so they replaced to the 2 Rams for me.  Took the new guys home, and acclimated them via floating the bag along with a slow drip, them placed them in the tank.  Three days later the original Ram and the 2 replacements were dead, but this time none of my original fish died only the Rams.  My original thoughts were that the fish were sick to begin with at the LFS, but the tank at the LFS that they were in were still showing great signs of health and there are a few of them that have paired up and are breeding in their tank.

I did several water changes to my freshie tank just to be sure.  I haven't lost any more of the original fish either.  So I'm back to square one.  I've done some further research on Rams and other dwarf South American cichlids and they shouldn't be that difficult to keep for an experienced fish keeper.  I've wanted Rams for at least the past 6-7 years but never made the move to get any until this mishap.  This sucks.  So now I'm more determined to set up a South American biotope tank in efforts to successfully keep some Rams.

Anyways, thought I'd share my frustrating story.  I find it funny that I've never had a set back with my tiny pico reef like I have just had with my freshwater tank.

Happy Reefing...

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

A new addition to the site. Over in the sidebar you'll now see a live streaming reefcam belonging to a friend of mine.

Enjoy...

Happy Reefing...

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Happy Easter everyone...

I will be getting this place back in action after a little while away.

Rich

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

In my last post, I mentioned an ill family member.  Unfortunately a week ago today, my aunt passed away.  She fought a courageous battle against cancer, but in the end it was pneumonia that got to her.  From the time she was diagnosed with cancer to the time of her death was only 11 short weeks.  We certainly weren't expecting things to happen so quickly.  The good news is that she is no longer having to deal with all the radiation and chemo treatments and all the pain that goes with that.

Her burial was this past Tuesday.  You'll be missed Aunt Lyn.

I'll now be able to refocus my efforts to this blog.  There are a lot of things I'd like to post about and the first thing will be finishing off the series of reef photography.  Stay tuned.

Happy Reefing...

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!