Group of Rams/how many?

[Booch56]

Hello SD goers, I've been lurking for about 7 months at this point, set up a 125g, up to 12 discus. Bare bottom, waiting for some wood to sink to cover it in rheophytes. Been looking through the tankmates section but I haven't seen what I'm looking for. I'm interested in getting some rams but am not sure what's required for a group. I have several of those canted terra cotta pots to place around the tank, and when the wood is sunk that'll add more low terrain for sight lines. Most of the stuff online says a pair per "tank", but never address a larger setup. Wondering how large a group can I go, is sexing out several pairs (or trios?) a good idea, or just get a group and see what happens? Thanks for any insights and I plan on posting some pics in an introduce myself post in a bit.

[brewmaster15]

Hello SD goers, I've been lurking for about 7 months at this point, set up a 125g, up to 12 discus. Bare bottom, waiting for some wood to sink to cover it in rheophytes. Been looking through the tankmates section but I haven't seen what I'm looking for. I'm interested in getting some rams but am not sure what's required for a group. I have several of those canted terra cotta pots to place around the tank, and when the wood is sunk that'll add more low terrain for sight lines. Most of the stuff online says a pair per "tank", but never address a larger setup. Wondering how large a group can I go, is sexing out several pairs (or trios?) a good idea, or just get a group and see what happens? Thanks for any insights and I plan on posting some pics in an introduce myself post in a bit.

Welcome to the forum!

A 125 is a good size tank for Discus. I would caution against that 12 number for Discus though. Bare glass tank that would be fine and could even have a few more but if you have structures like driftwood or planted areas/pots it could get tight when they are adults. It really depends alot though on how much structure you are planning. There is a wide latitude as to how many Discus you can " fit" but if you want them to actually swim around and not just hang there, a smaller target number than 12 would be good.


As for the rams. .. in the 125 g you have alot of bottom space .. I have had a group of 10 in one of my 125's in the past with a decent number of discus, Festivums and keyholes. It was an active tank but fun to watch. It was not planted per say but had some silk plants. in a few clumps. You could probably do more rams than that. I currently have a group of 10 blacks rams in a 29 gal and another 10? Golds in 40 gal breeder. They chase each around but arent really doing much besides that.

Do be sure to quarantine those Discus and Rams. If possible I would really suggest getting all your discus at one time from one vendor and would suggest starting with our sponsors here at the forum,

hth

al

[Iminit]

Welcome to the forum. Not sure but do you have the discus already or are you planning on getting 12. Pics are great . As to rams. They do fine in discus tanks. Most I’ve ever kept in a tank was 3 pairs. They interacted with each other and each pair picked a spot in the tank to claim their own. I would think more would have become a problem. They are territorial and will chase any that enter their zone. I kept those 3 pair in a 125 with 10 discus.
Any new fish you plan on adding will need to go into a qt tank for about 6 weeks to make sure they’re not carrying anything that may get the discus sick. Good luck!