# Chinchilla Cooling Stone in Aquarium?



## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

I'm wondering if anyone has tried this around here. I may possibly want to nudge my rams into breeding in the near future, and I read for this that they will want a flat stone surface to lay eggs on. I have a chinchilla cooling rock(fancy term for a granite slab) lying around(our chinchilla unfortunately passed away a few years ago)

Will that be comfortable for rams? Amazon has it listed as "#1 Best Seller in Aquarium Decor Rocks" so I'm guessing people do this just fine, but I wanted to double check.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

As far as I know they like flat stones, but it's not required to get them to breed. In my tank when they were ready they dug little ditches in the sand.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

n25philly said:


> As far as I know they like flat stones, but it's not required to get them to breed. In my tank when they were ready they dug little ditches in the sand.


Good to know that too. Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I'm doing everything to get them all comfortable.  I admit I'm 100% new to breeding, and since I don't have the female just yet, I don't even know how it'll go. Just preparing for the best case scenario, I suppose lol.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

What size tank do you have? If it's big enough its best to get a few pairs and see which ones pair up and return the ones that don't (most stores that sells rams will let you do this) Otherwise it can be kind of a crapshoot to see if they like each other. I lucked out and picked a pair that ended up liking each other, so it does happen.

If you already have a male it might not be a bad idea to move around some of decor around the tank a little. This way he's have to re-pick his territory and will be less likely to be aggressive towards the female when you add her.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

n25philly said:


> What size tank do you have? If it's big enough its best to get a few pairs and see which ones pair up and return the ones that don't (most stores that sells rams will let you do this) Otherwise it can be kind of a crapshoot to see if they like each other. I lucked out and picked a pair that ended up liking each other, so it does happen.
> 
> If you already have a male it might not be a bad idea to move around some of decor around the tank a little. This way he's have to re-pick his territory and will be less likely to be aggressive towards the female when you add her.


I have a 30 gallon. I know it can be the crapshoot.  which sucks. My male seems to be in the mood for some lovin' because he keeps trying to pair with my female gourami...so if a gourami was good enough, I'm hoping a female of his own kind will be(and that she'll feel the same.) I planned on redecorating just in case too. Unfortunately I can't do returns since I get all my rams online(No LFS in my area that sell rams.) I'd feel bad getting them and then stressing them out like that so soon. I can place the one I'm waiting on somewhere else it doesn't work out, but then I'd have to try the same thing again. I didn't want to risk having a whole tank of rams that don't want to pair. Easier to deal with one group at a time, I think. I just didn't want to bite off more than I could handle.

The breeding would be nice, but I admit that I mainly just wanted a compatible companion for my male. I'm not dead set on breeding or anything. As long as they don't fight, I'm good with that. Fingers crossed that my new ram doesn't end up being a male.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

You might want to watch out, I had a thick lipped gourami in my tank with my blue rams when I had them and had to move it out as the two of them started picking on it and they were fighting regularly. The gourami is super peaceful, but wouldn't back down from them. My was only a 20 gallon though, so it could have been lack of space. Not saying that there will be problems but to keep an eye out for them. 

Most stores know that there can be issues with trying to get blue rams paired up and will be willing to exchange them if it doesn't work out. I would ask if that is possible before getting the female.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

n25philly said:


> You might want to watch out, I had a thick lipped gourami in my tank with my blue rams when I had them and had to move it out as the two of them started picking on it and they were fighting regularly. The gourami is super peaceful, but wouldn't back down from them. My was only a 20 gallon though, so it could have been lack of space. Not saying that there will be problems but to keep an eye out for them.
> 
> Most stores know that there can be issues with trying to get blue rams paired up and will be willing to exchange them if it doesn't work out. I would ask if that is possible before getting the female.


I'm sure the breeder I ordered from would be willing to exchange, but I couldn't do that to the fish. First for the stress factor, and then I'm sure I'd have to pay shipping again. I can't afford to be paying $38+ over one ram. And then if it didn't work out again...that would be even more. Shipping is what really kills. Would be nice if I could buy rams in the area, but no one stocks them. At least this place does the $15 flat rate instead of mandatory $40 overnight for an $8 fish like most places I was looking at.

I'll just have to see how it goes. I won't know until Wednesday. I'm hoping my male will stay mellow. Both him and the gourami are in that same situation. Very peaceful, and therefore probably prime targets to get picked on. All I can hope is that the new addition will be equally cool about it.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

Oh, didn't know you were ordering them. It's a shame you already have a male, I know a breeder that sells already paired blue rams. I was thinking of getting a pair from them after mine died, but I felt I needed something different so I ended up getting apistos. Here is the link just in case for the future. I never bought from them but heard good things from people that did.

http://www.germanbluerams.com/shop/1-breeding-pair-german-blue-rams-free-shipping-2/


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

n25philly said:


> Oh, didn't know you were ordering them. It's a shame you already have a male, I know a breeder that sells already paired blue rams. I was thinking of getting a pair from them after mine died, but I felt I needed something different so I ended up getting apistos. Here is the link just in case for the future. I never bought from them but heard good things from people that did.
> 
> http://www.germanbluerams.com/shop/1-breeding-pair-german-blue-rams-free-shipping-2/


Yeah, hindsight is always 20/20 lol. I realize now that I should've gotten a pair. Finding a single female is hard enough, then I don't know if they'll even get along. I bought my ram because he's a long finned variety and I just fell head over heels for that kind. The breeder I got him from was just sending at random though, so I don't think they had pairs. I'm not sure. 

I've also heard good things about Yunite! I've been keeping them in mind for the future. The reason why I didn't go to them for this one was because I wanted a gold ram this time. I thought about the potential for breeding...then I thought about how beautiful a long finned gold ram mix could come out...Plus, at the end of the day, they are my pets, so I wanted to be able to tell them apart easily.

For this order, I bought from here if you're interested later too:
http://www.imperialtropicals.com/

They seem pretty good. Everyone had nothing but good things to say, at least. They have a video tour of their farm too, which I thought was neat lol.

I know how you feel with wanting something different though. I hit a rough patch with my bettas and that got me started with my ram and gourami. Needed something new.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

What a coincidence, I ordered shrimp from imperial this past weekend.

Yeah, buying dwarf chichlids alone is difficult. Took me over a year to get a pair of apistos as I kept ending up with one sex and it would take so long to get the other that the first one would die shortly after. Then again it ended up being they just didn't do well in the tank I had at home and they have done great since I got them for the tank in my office at work (which used to have the blue rams) Do you go on aquabid at all? It's the only place where I've found people selling just one sex of apisto, but don't know if anyone does that with blue rams.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

I did check aquabid too. I spent a whole night shopping around. But I am new to this.  from what I could find, no one was selling just females. I even messaged the breeder I got my male from and they only happened to have another male left too, so I just got unlucky there. It seems like most listings are "random gender single" listings or pairs. I'm sort of kicking myself here lol. I didn't know how much I'd grow to like my ram and how soon I'd want another one.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

Live and learn, it's part of the hobby. In a 30 gallon though I think the worst case scenario is that they just won't breed. You shouldn't have any issues with them fighting or anything like that.

Hopefully it will all work out though.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

n25philly said:


> Live and learn, it's part of the hobby. In a 30 gallon though I think the worst case scenario is that they just won't breed. You shouldn't have any issues with them fighting or anything like that.
> 
> Hopefully it will all work out though.


Very true. At least I know for next time. No fighting is all I ask for lol. That's good with me. If they get along better than that, then that's just even better.


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