Bolivian Rams scaring blue Rams to death???

[faewyn]

Hi,

Last week I got a pair of Blue rams, they spawned within 24 hours of getting them, I was most happy about this, they left the nest after 24 hours, they are about 6 months old, and I planned on spawning them in a seperate tank in a week or too.

Yesterday I got 2 small Boliviam rams (unsexable), and about an hour ago, when i feed the the fish, I noticed the male darted on a rock and was lying on his belly, panting. I thought I better take out the Bolivian rams out as I noticed they were being a bit dominant today.
When i was trying to net them gently, I put some bloodworm in the net and straight away the Male Blue ram swam in the net to get food, then turn upside down, and promptly drop dead with in 30 secs 8O .
I was shocked!! I inspected him very carefully and there was no sign of disease or fin damage. Now the female is at the surface of the water and is panting..
I have the 2 suspected offending Bolivians in a breeding net in the tank now.
This is all very odd as today, apart from being chased by the bolivians every now and then they both were acting normal.

One bolivian is the same size as the blue ram male and the other bolivian is smaller then the female.
All my water parameters are pefectly fine, and apart from introducing the bolivians yesterday, the only thing different is I fed them all live black worms yesterday and today as part of the meals. I also fed all my bettas and Betta spawns Black worms and all are fine, so i am ruling that out.

Is it possible that the bolivians harrassed them silly and they are dying of fright??

Is there anything else I am missing?? I am somewhat upset as the male was a really good Blue ram and they were a good pair.

faewyn

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes. There is a good chance that your Blue Rams had, or the Bolivian Rams brought in, some parasite or bacterial disease that finally is killing your fish. This is one reason for alway putting new fish in a quarantine tank for at least 3 weeks before adding them to tanks with other fish. Not doing this can lead to a widespread outbreak of a disease in a previously disease free tank.

Anyone who says that they can't afford a quarantine tank is just deluding themselves. It can be something as simple as a plastic shoe box, air pump, sponge filter & heater. Compared to the cost of the fish that could be lost, it is the cheapest insurance policy you can get for your community/breeding aquaria.

Right now I have fish that I got from a respected supplier 2 weeks ago. All look perfectly normal & healty. Still I will not be putting them in breeding/community tanks for another 2 weeks. I don't care whose fish they are, they all get the same treatment. The only person's fish I would even consider putting into a breeding/community tank right away are those that were sent directly to me by God. Unfortunately, He's not shipping fish right now. :lol:

 

[Randall]

Quarantine

Hello Faewyn,

Sorry to hear about your Mikrogeophagus ramirezi.

Assuming that there's nothing wrong with your water (ammonia or nitrites), I agree with Mike. It sounds like some bug was introduced via the new Mikrogeophagus altispinosa.

All the best,

Randall Kohn