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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2014 0:36:54 GMT -5
My LFS has some gorgeous 'jumbo' German Blue Rams in right now. I've never seen any so large, they have bodies @2.25" long + tail. I'm wondering if these might have been grown to this size naturally, or are these likely pumped up with hormone/GMO babies? The store staff believes this is the case but I thought I'd ask what anyone here can tell me about them? I know the lifespan of a Ram is only a couple years or so, so if these are likely 23 month old fishies that might deter me, but I'd love to know any reasons to think twice about getting these beauties... besides the $23 ea.price tag of course! God help me, they're stunning! Attachments:
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Post by Carl on Sept 6, 2014 10:30:24 GMT -5
I do not have the answer.
But simple selective breeding can be the answer too
Carl
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Sept 6, 2014 13:09:07 GMT -5
Never heard of this. It would be a lot of effort to pump hormones in for growth. I wonder how you would even do this. In the food?
The life span of a ram is only two years?! Is that for like an average keeper or someone that has some idea how to keep them too? Pretty fish to only two years.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2014 13:48:41 GMT -5
I do not have the answer. But simple selective breeding can be the answer too Carl Thanks Carl. I like the sounds of that much better! Also glad not to be hearing oh ya, thats done all the time etc... which is kind of the impression I felt the store staff have... If it's about strong breeding that means you have a larger fish that could still be young and not a fish that's large because they've been growing him for 2 years. If that's what they are, I don't mind mortgaging my house to get a couple of them!  Thanks! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2014 13:56:44 GMT -5
Never heard of this. It would be a lot of effort to pump hormones in for growth. I wonder how you would even do this. In the food? The life span of a ram is only two years?! Is that for like an average keeper or someone that has some idea how to keep them too? Pretty fish to only two years. Thanks Devon! Again, glad to hear you haven't heard of it. Hopefully means it it doesn't happen or at least is not common practice. How? No idea... ask Lance Armstrong? I'll look into the lifespan a bit more. I just recall that, and have had people comment that they never managed to keep rams very long and didn't know where they went wrong, then learned they only live that long... so who knows, I'll let you know what I learn. And yes, pretty fish.. but pretty expensive for only two years! |
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Post by goldenpuon on Sept 7, 2014 0:01:14 GMT -5
Unfortunately, some fish sold at pet stores are injected with hormones to enhance color. A quick search on Duckduckgo search engine seems to confirm that some german blue rams are injected to enhance color. I have not heard of hormone injection to increase growth though. Though I don't think the injections to make the rams bigger, I think it could still be possible. That said, I agree with what others have said that selective breeding is probably the reason. Best of luck and you're right, those are some expensive fish!  Renee |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2014 17:13:25 GMT -5
It was at just one location of an aquarium store chain here that I was told by staff that the larger than usual size of these GBR's is due to hormones given to them. Months and months later, again I was told this. No idea if it was the same staff member and I didn't pursue the topic, just noted that it was treated as a matter of fact thing, as if common knowledge. I only thought to inquire here and now as I'm looking forward to having a larger size tank and Rams are at the top my wish list. Thanks for the input, everyone! I'm really glad to NOT be hearing that this is familiar or common practise as that would be very unfortunate IMO. As it happened this weekend, I found myself in the neighbourhood of 2 other locations of this same chain  so I thought it would be rude not to just see if they had some handsome Bettas on hand... sadly, no.. but I also inquired a bit about this aspect. Happy to report no one had heard of this practise at all. I'm therefore thinking that this is just a notion held by perhaps just one staff member, based on nothing but speculation, and that he's unfortunately putting it out there as fact. Next time in in that location I'll see if their manager is aware of any fact behind this, but until I learn this reliably, I'm going to suggest we let this be as just a false rumour. I also looked into the understanding as to life span of the fish. Those I asked had no real knowledge on it, only to say if they lost them after a couple years that they figured something went wrong and never questioned it.. so defaulting to Wikipedia and Yahoo and internet generally, I saw 2-3, 3 and 4 yrs cited, and some comments to the effect that they seem to have shorter life spans than other rams/fish generally. So all totally unscientific, but there you have it. Oh, and numerous random forum comments (not here), that rams live anywhere from 1 week down to 1 minute! lol You get the idea.... End of the day, it doesn't really matter what the theoretical life span is or how they got to be so big or so gorgeous, or for that matter so expensive because the one thing I know for sure is that one-day there will be a pair of those stunning little fish 'coming soon to an aquarium near me'! Cheers all  |
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Sept 9, 2014 9:23:46 GMT -5
I also looked into the understanding as to life span of the fish. Those I asked had no real knowledge on it, only to say if they lost them after a couple years that they figured something went wrong and never questioned it.. so defaulting to Wikipedia and Yahoo and internet generally, I saw 2-3, 3 and 4 yrs cited, and some comments to the effect that they seem to have shorter life spans than other rams/fish generally. So all totally unscientific, but there you have it. Oh, and numerous random forum comments (not here), that rams live anywhere from 1 week down to 1 minute! lol You get the idea.... Yah, the reason I said this was I've heard of other fish having a shorter life span, but once the correct parameters were kept for the fish, they lived much longer. I was just wondering if this was the case. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2014 10:40:22 GMT -5
Yah, the reason I said this was I've heard of other fish having a shorter life span, but once the correct parameters were kept for the fish, they lived much longer. I was just wondering if this was the case. We'd need to find someone who has these fish and is doing everything to perfection! But since I don't know anyone like that, I'm just going with the idea that I'd rather have an adorable fish for a year than an ugly old son of a gun for 10 years |
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