Balloon Ram?

[VickiK]

I didn't think it possible, but there's a little Ram Cichlid that's even cuter than my (now single) Electric Blue Ram! I've never heard of these (which really isn't saying much) ---- but what a delight to find them! They're in a 50g so there's plenty of room for everyone.

And yes, that is an Amazon Puffer photo bomb! hahahaha

 

[julzhull]

I didn't think it possible, but there's a little Ram Cichlid that's even cuter than my (now single) Electric Blue Ram! I've never heard of these (which really isn't saying much) ---- but what a delight to find them! They're in a 50g so there's plenty of room for everyone.

And yes, that is an Amazon Puffer photo bomb! hahahaha

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I do love balloon rams, they're super cute!

 

[discus_2013]

Anything "balloon" is going to have a shorter life they are taking a fish with a normal size and shape, genetically altering it, and causing increased pressure on organs, as well as spinal deformities.

 

[FishBeast]

Anything "balloon" is going to have a shorter life they are taking a fish with a normal size and shape, genetically altering it, and causing increased pressure on organs, as well as spinal deformities.

Gonna have to agree... Rams are already known to be somewhat fragile. Add to that selective breeding to accentuate deformities in the balloon version and there will be a higher chance of something going wrong... I hope your fish are the exception and live a long, healthy and happy life!

 

[VickiK]

Oh me too @FishBeast and discus_2013. I have so much to learn. I would never ever buy purposefully genetically modified fish -- but I guess all fish are (in the hobby) to some degree - unless wild caught and I like that even less for some reason - even though many fish are being saved by the hobby since their ecosystems are disappearing.

I guess the folks "making" the fish know that people like me will buy it if it's cute. I'm a sucker for a cute fish yanno.

So far, the Balloon Rams are faring very well. When I did my water changes on Saturday morning, they were "attacking" the siphon end of the tube. That was pretty funny. They are way more "out there" than the single Electric Blue Ram left in there.

This morning, everyone got what I call "PLECO POPS" - a thick slice of organic cucumber on a bamboo skewer, pointy end shoved into the substrate. Last week, I caught the Congo Tetras quibbling over a cucumber seed. When the bigger one finally got his "prize" and swallowed the seed, he actually looked surprised to me. Like he was thinking, "what was THAT?"

 

[FishBeast]

Oh me too @FishBeast and discus_2013. I have so much to learn. I would never ever buy purposefully genetically modified fish -- but I guess all fish are (in the hobby) to some degree - unless wild caught and I like that even less for some reason - even though many fish are being saved by the hobby since their ecosystems are disappearing.

I guess the folks "making" the fish know that people like me will buy it if it's cute. I'm a sucker for a cute fish yanno.

So far, the Balloon Rams are faring very well. When I did my water changes on Saturday morning, they were "attacking" the siphon end of the tube. That was pretty funny. They are way more "out there" than the single Electric Blue Ram left in there.

This morning, everyone got what I call "PLECO POPS" - a thick slice of organic cucumber on a bamboo skewer, pointy end shoved into the substrate. Last week, I caught the Congo Tetras quibbling over a cucumber seed. When the bigger one finally got his "prize" and swallowed the seed, he actually looked surprised to me. Like he was thinking, "what was THAT?"

My fish don't seem to like cucumber but love green beans! Got that idea from Cory!

 

[VickiK]

My fish don't seem to like cucumber but love green beans! Got that idea from Cory!

I'm going to try that too.

 

[VickiK]

Well, genetically modified or not, these little buggers are sturdy, gregarious and funny as hell. I have lots of mini-caves and nooks and crannies in my set up and we have little cave wars going on with one at one end and the larger more colorful one at the other end; in what I would call "the best cave". They don't seem to give a rip about the Electric Blue Ram at all. The eagerly come to the glass when I show up over there to stand and watch them.

I'm loving these guys.

 

[VickiK]

Gonna have to agree... Rams are already known to be somewhat fragile. Add to that selective breeding to accentuate deformities in the balloon version and there will be a higher chance of something going wrong... I hope your fish are the exception and live a long, healthy and happy life!

@discus_2013

The good news is that the Balloon Rams are as robust as ever. One is the tank boss and today, I saw the amazon puffer see him and completely swim ALL THE WAY AROUND HIM - like he was a Fish Gang Member or something. It was funny how out of the way he got to miss him. Even then, that little Balloon Ram still chased him a teeny bit. For good measure, I suppose.

The bad news is that the single Electric Blue Ram that was left came up missing about a week ago and I have yet to find the dead body. I check multiple times a day and even poked around in there with my Pleco Pop stick... nothing. I don't want to pull up all my rock caves, looking for him. What happens to little dead bodies that don't get pulled out anyway? The ruination of my water quality or ?

She's in little Electric Blue Ram heaven now with her buddy. That's the end of it for me on those things. I surrender. No more EBR.

 

[VickiK]

I got three more of these genetically modified cutie pies so now I have a total of 5. I bought them each new caves - which no one seems to be using. The white caves don't "match" my decor in the 55 and when I was at the Co-Op last Sunday I lost my list which included "coconut huts" - which I didn't get. Their antics are a laugh a minute.

Still haven't seen/found the body of the dead EBR and I am down to one single Amber Tetra. Where the heck do these things GO???

 

[Betty]

The bodies are probably up against or underneath a cave or rock or decor. They might have been picked at by the other fish, maybe. OR... did you look around on the floor? I don't know if your fish are jumpers, but I have on occasion found a petrified corpse a good distance away from the tank or back behind the tank stand.

 

[VickiK]

The bodies are probably up against or underneath a cave or rock or decor. They might have been picked at by the other fish, maybe. OR... did you look around on the floor? I don't know if your fish are jumpers, but I have on occasion found a petrified corpse a good distance away from the tank or back behind the tank stand.

You know, I still haven't found ANY of the Mountain Cloud-whatever-they-were's that jumped ship within a month after I got them. I really liked them too. Beautiful. They came out of Cory's pond. Maybe my dogs ate em? I did find a dried up red fin tetra one day - but everybody else that's missing is still all MIA. I'll probably find em when I do some deep cleaning in there. I hope so.

Or my family room is going to really start reeking.....

 

[julzhull]

You know, I still haven't found ANY of the Mountain Cloud-whatever-they-were's that jumped ship within a month after I got them. I really liked them too. Beautiful. They came out of Cory's pond. Maybe my dogs ate em? I did find a dried up red fin tetra one day - but everybody else that's missing is still all MIA. I'll probably find em when I do some deep cleaning in there. I hope so.

Or my family room is going to really start reeking.....

Could have just gotten eaten by other fish. That seems to happen with mine. Any plecos in that tank? I feel like I read once that plecos can eat dead fish pretty well.

 

[VickiK]

Could have just gotten eaten by other fish. That seems to happen with mine. Any plecos in that tank? I feel like I read once that plecos can eat dead fish pretty well.

There's a rubber mouth in there.... I never thought of that. Everyone else's mouths are too small to even eat one of the larger endler fry.

 

[julzhull]

There's a rubber mouth in there.... I never thought of that. Everyone else's mouths are too small to even eat one of the larger endler fry.

Well, my thought is they wouldn't eat it whole. They just spend time sucking on it and eventually eat it all. I had a couple of rummy nose tetras disappear once after I moved them from one tank to another. I know they all went in but the next day a couple were missing. Someone suggested it was plecos although now I can't recall if I had plecos in there at that time. Other fish can just make quick work of it too by pecking. O

r maybe all the missing fish are somewhere else all together - sounds like an X files episode.

 

[Joel]

You know, I still haven't found ANY of the Mountain Cloud-whatever-they-were's that jumped ship within a month after I got them. I really liked them too. Beautiful. They came out of Cory's pond. Maybe my dogs ate em? I did find a dried up red fin tetra one day - but everybody else that's missing is still all MIA. I'll probably find em when I do some deep cleaning in there. I hope so.

Or my family room is going to really start reeking.....

White cloud mountain minnows ARE known to be quite jumpy (jumpy out the tank/pond to then be eaten by birds). If theyre the normal blueish coloured ones and theyre outdoor they can be near impossible to see.

 

[Loren]

I'm convinced that when fish jump out of tanks they get immediately teleport-ed to fish heaven. This is the only explanation to account for the fact that you very, very rarely ever find a corpse.

 

[VickiK]

I'm convinced that when fish jump out of tanks they get immediately teleport-ed to fish heaven. This is the only explanation to account for the fact that you very, very rarely ever find a corpse.

So it's not just me? Whew.

I thought maybe I was going to have to give up the Grey Goose or something.

 

[Joel]

Yeh it's like they just evaporate into a slightly stinky ether than then hangs around in your house lol

 

[FishBeast]

Hahaha!