New discus doing great, Rams not so much

[ryanzsteelers]

Hi all, I have a fairly new set up (around a month since adding discus). Ibe always kept africans, for about 20years. First time with something else... I have 6 discus, 3 rams (started with 6), and 2 corys in a 75 gallon.
Before adding those fish. Nitrogen cycle was completed, ph sitting at 6.8 and hardness was and is good.
I added 6 discus and a week later I added 6 rams and 2 cory.
I have been doing 40% every 3 or 4 days. Water parameters stay pristine! Discus are thriving and corys are good.
But 3 rams have died randomly, and watched one have some sort of seizure and dye.
I feed them tropical flakes, they all eat it. And feed bloodworms every other day. Thought the bloodworms might be to fault. So I switched to beef heart, and 2 more died the next day.
Any advice would help
Thanks

[Adam S]

Not sure about beef heart, but I've had issues with rams and bloodworms.

[ryanzsteelers]

Like dying? Because it did seem to mess with them, some more than others. I'm throwing that stuff away.

[Larry Bugg]

Where did you buy the rams? I don't believe it is the food. I breed rams. Mine get blood worms about every other day and they get beef heart flakes. Good ram stock is difficult to come by. I won't buy a ram from a lfs. Either find someone locally who breeds them or buy them online from a good source.

[ref0716]

+1 They are tricky to acclimate, and not all rams are good to start with. Larry said it well.

[ryanzsteelers]

Ok. Since I stopped with bloodworms/beefheart I've had no casualties. I bought from local fish store, and maybe they would've died no matter what, or bad batch. Maybe stress. Idk.... I will heed your warning Larry. Next time, because I do want more, just not right now. I will do as you said
Thanks

[Larry Bugg]

Aquabid.com usually has some good ram breeders. I'm currently working with some Elec Blue (orange head) that I got from Wet Spot Tropical. I have bought many apistos from them in the past but never rams. These have done exceptionally well. I'm sold out right now but will hopefully some more in a few months.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4588/25671609578_daa8005484_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/F7vH9f)Elec Blue Ram (https://flic.kr/p/F7vH9f) by Larry Bugg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152444223@N07/), on Flickr


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4600/39512489892_f5c35fa510_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/23czQDJ)Red Head EB Ram (https://flic.kr/p/23czQDJ) by Larry Bugg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/152444223@N07/), on Flickr

[ryanzsteelers]

Those are cool. Never even heard of them.

[Pices]

Hey Larry,
I love your Rams. Do you ship to Florida?

[Hidan]

Ok. Since I stopped with bloodworms/beefheart I've had no casualties. I bought from local fish store, and maybe they would've died no matter what, or bad batch. Maybe stress. Idk.... I will heed your warning Larry. Next time, because I do want more, just not right now. I will do as you said
Thanks
Its rare to get a great batch of Rams at the local fish stores. Very often they have very weak genetics and just end up dying from the stress of the move or after a few months.

Its why inspite of being such a lovely fish, non aggressive and small size, they aren't as popular in the hobby as they would have been if they were more hardy fish.
Hopefully the rest of your rams will survive and thrive.