rm
Passport
- Family
- Sth American Cichlids - dwarf
- Grows to
- 8 cm (3.1")
- Lives
- 4–6 years
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- On the bottom
- Keep
- One is fine
- Water
- 24–28 °C (75–82 °F)
BoliviaBrazil
Care requirements
i
On record for Bolivian Ram: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 76 L / 20.0 US gal
- pH 6–7.5
- Hardness 1–10 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 90 cm minimum
Keeping notes
One on its own, or a bonded pair. A group of six or more only works in a tank 120 cm long or more, with room for each to hold a patch of floor.
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Bolivian rams are the ram you should probably buy. They look similar enough to the German blue ram to sit in the same shop tank, and they are dramatically easier to keep alive — hardier, tolerant of cooler and harder water, and not dependent on the near perfect conditions their cousin demands.
The colour is subtler and it grows on you: a warm butter-yellow body with a black eye bar and a black flank spot, red edging along the fins, and a dorsal the male carries like a flag when he displays.
They're also more relaxed. Bolivians are curious, not skittish, and they'll come to the front of the tank rather than hiding when you approach.
Tank setup
Give your Bolivian rams sand and open floor with cover around it. They're bottom-oriented fish that sift substrate, and gravel makes that awkward.
Provide flat stones, caves and wood. A pair will pick a site and defend a small area around it, and having several options prevents arguments.
Break the sightlines. Plants, wood and rockwork dividing the floor into territories is what lets more than one pair coexist.
Keep the light moderate and add floating cover. They're less shy than most dwarf cichlids but they still prefer shade.
They tolerate a genuinely wide range of temperature and hardness, which is the whole argument for choosing them.
Feeding
Bolivian rams are omnivores that sift sand for food, taking a mouthful and blowing it out through the gills.
Feed sinking food. They rarely take anything from the surface, and floating flake mostly feeds the fish above them.
Give them frozen and live food regularly — bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp — alongside a good sinking pellet. Condition and colour both respond to it.
Avoid: floating foods as a staple, and avoid coarse gravel that stops them sifting.
Filtration and flow
Gentle to moderate flow suits them. They come from slow, warm South American floodplain water.
Filter well and keep nitrate down. They're hardier than German blue rams but they're still cichlids in the layer where waste settles.
Stability is worth more than any target value. They'll adapt to most tap water if it holds steady.
With plants
Bolivian rams are safe with plants and won't eat them, though they'll move substrate around near a chosen spawning site.
Plant round the edges and leave open sand in the middle. That layout gives them foraging ground and gives you a view of it.
Broad-leaved plants double as spawning surfaces and as shade.
Health
They're markedly hardier than German blue rams and rarely present the mystery deaths that species is known for.
Watch for a fish that has gone dark and is hiding. In a curious, front-of-tank species, withdrawal is an early sign rather than normal behaviour.
They're sensitive to nitrate over the long term. Regular water changes are the main maintenance requirement.
Breeding
Bolivian rams form genuine pairs and are attentive, competent parents, which is the pleasure of keeping them.
They spawn on a cleaned flat stone or in a shallow pit, and both parents guard the eggs and then herd the fry around the tank for weeks. Watching a pair move a cloud of fry across open sand is the reason people keep dwarf cichlids.
Let a group of juveniles pair off themselves rather than buying a "pair". In a community tank the fry rarely survive, but the parents will raise them successfully if the tank is theirs alone.
Tank mates
Avoid8
- Least Killifish Bolivian Ram grows to 8 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Bolivian Ram grows to 8 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Common Goldfish Common Goldfish is not safe with Bolivian Ram: common goldfish and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a bad pairing.
- Demasoni Cichlid Demasoni Cichlid is not safe with Bolivian Ram: african cichlids and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a bad pairing.
- Electric Yellow Lab Bolivian Ram and Electric Yellow Lab do not mix: african cichlids and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a bad pairing.
Only with care30
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is noticeably larger than Bolivian Ram and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid is noticeably larger than Bolivian Ram and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Bolivian Ram is peaceful.
- Amano Shrimp Bolivian Ram is a risk to Amano Shrimp: shrimp and yabbies and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a pairing to watch.
- Bamboo Shrimp Bolivian Ram is a risk to Bamboo Shrimp: shrimp and yabbies and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 68 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 2 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.