dither fish for rams

[Thomas Price <tprice@u.washington.edu>]

I was wondering if anyone had any insight on this topic.  I have placed
two male and three female rams in a 15 gallon tank in the hopes that they
will breed.  I moved some of these fish from my 45gal community tank and
bought some.  After moving the fish, I noticed that the fish were
noticeably jumpier and _really_ afraid of me.  They wouldn't even come out
when I fed them.  Thinking some dither fish would help, I added three neon
tetras to the tank, but to no avail.  I think the tank has plenty of
cover, with, among other things, two small flower pots and a large clump
of java moss.

  Why are these fish suddenly so shy?  They don't seem to be in the store
tanks where they're crammed into a 10 gallon tank with a bunch of other
fish.  They also aren't shy in my 45 community tank.  So what gives?  I
was thinking that other types of dwarfs might be better dither fish than
the tetras, who had absolutely no effect.

Any ideas are appreciated.


 Tom
 
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