Re: Blue Ram deaths, Suggestions?

[Frauley/Elson <fraulels@minet.ca>]

S. Bunch wrote:
Between me and all of the
> replies I got on the mail-list, we've diagnosed Ich and Hexamitas, but I'm
> still not sure about the cause of the deaths of a couple of them that showed
> no signs of either except for heavy breathing before they died.

Hi, 
I've been watching this thread without great interest, but with a lot of
sympathy. Why?  Because sick rams are a regular feature of the list.
My read may be off topic, but I view rams as very expensive cichlids.
You have to buy them many times to get healthy specimens. If purchased
healthy, and maintained with care, rams survive and breed. If ill from
shipping and probably from growing up in an antibiotic soup in
Singapore, they are doomed. Most rams die in their first month in your
tanks.
I don't think this thread really diagnosed anything but secondary
symptoms, except that like most everyone else in North America, you got
lousy rams. Wilds are still rare, and breeders are few. 
One local shop stopped carrying rams for a while, because they were
losing most of what they imported while they quarantined it. They
switched to selling Apistogramma borelli for a few months, and it worked
out well until demands for rams took them back to their imports from
Singapore.
I'd look for altispinosa or A. borelli, until you find a ram breeder,
maybe even on this list. If they ever start shipping rams like they do
discus, we'll get survivors, but they are, sadly, an expendable cheap
fish that is expended in a big way in the trade.
Gary (ram-free for six months - one day at a time...)



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@listbox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!