Blue ram cichlid is one of the famous fish from the family of cichlids. Blue ram cichlid basically found in Columbia and Venezuela in South America. Blue ram cichlid are tiny aquarium fishes with beautiful colors pattern on their body. They are famous for their beauty and peaceful behaviour. Blue ram cichlid do well in slightly acidic water. They generally have small life span. They may live up to 2 years in captivity. They develop more vibrant colors at the time of breeding. Blue ram cichlid can be fed on pellets, frozen food, flake or live food. Give them protein rich diet so they develop colors more effectively. The minimum tank for them should be of 20 gallons capacity or more. It should be heavily planted and provide with hiding spots. Also there should be lot of free space in fish tank.
These fishes demands extra care in terms of water conditions. These cichlids active swimmers and can easily kept with other peaceful tank mates. They are very sensitive towards poor water conditions. Regular water changes over small interval of time will be appreciated. Do 25% of water change every week. Blue ram cichlid will form beautiful fish tank with other peaceful fishes like neon tetraand guppy. They are one of the few members of cichlid family which are peaceful. Other member of cichlid family like green terror, oscar cichlid are very much aggressive.
Breeding
Breeding blue ram cichlid is fairly easy. Just provide them good conditions and eventually they will breed in home aquarium. These cichlids can become aggressive towards other fishes at the time of breeding. Female lays 20 - 200 eggs on flat surface of stone or leaf. The temperature of water should be around 77 to 85 Fahrenheit. Soon the babies will be released from eggs. You don't need to separate parents from them as ram cichlid are excellent parents. To protect fry from any danger, blue ram cichlids put their fry in mouth just like mouth brooders. Parents will also protect their fry by chasing of other fishes. Their aggression level increases at this point. You can feed babies with fry food or baby brine shrimps. Try not to over feed them, if food remains after feeding then remove it other wise it may pollute water. Also keep in mind that fry are not sucked up by aquarium filter.