Along with my 2.5 gallon pico reef I also have a 20 gallon community freshwater tank that has been running for at least 4 years.  It had been a while since I added any new fish to the tank.  One day last week I was at an LFS and saw some nice young German Rams so I thought I'd pick up 3 of them for the tank.  What a nightmare that turned out to be.  Within the first 2 days of them being in the tank, I lost 2 of them along with 3 of my original fish.  The LFS I got the Rams from have a 5 day guarantee so I took the 2 rams back along with a sample of the aquarium water, they require the sample so they can test for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates.  Of course the test came back all clear, no issues, so they replaced to the 2 Rams for me.  Took the new guys home, and acclimated them via floating the bag along with a slow drip, them placed them in the tank.  Three days later the original Ram and the 2 replacements were dead, but this time none of my original fish died only the Rams.  My original thoughts were that the fish were sick to begin with at the LFS, but the tank at the LFS that they were in were still showing great signs of health and there are a few of them that have paired up and are breeding in their tank.

I did several water changes to my freshie tank just to be sure.  I haven't lost any more of the original fish either.  So I'm back to square one.  I've done some further research on Rams and other dwarf South American cichlids and they shouldn't be that difficult to keep for an experienced fish keeper.  I've wanted Rams for at least the past 6-7 years but never made the move to get any until this mishap.  This sucks.  So now I'm more determined to set up a South American biotope tank in efforts to successfully keep some Rams.

Anyways, thought I'd share my frustrating story.  I find it funny that I've never had a set back with my tiny pico reef like I have just had with my freshwater tank.

Happy Reefing...

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