The ram cichlid, ''Mikrogeophagus ramirezi'', is a species of freshwater fish

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

basin, in the

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

s of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

in South America. The species has been examined in studies on fish behaviour and is a popular

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

fish, traded under a variety of

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s, including ram, blue ram, German blue ram, Asian ram, butterfly cichlid, Ramirez's dwarf cichlid, dwarf butterfly cichlid and Ramirezi.Linke H, Staeck L (1994) ''American cichlids I: Dwarf Cichlids. A handbook for their identification, care and breeding.'' Tetra Press. Germany. The species is a member of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cichlidae Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted thi ...

and subfamily

Geophaginae Geophagini is a tribe of cichlids from the subfamily Cichlinae, the American cichlids. It is the sister taxon to the clade which includes the Cichlasomatini and Heroini. Fishes in the Geophagini are distributed from Panama south to Argentina, ...

Description

Wild ram cichlids are often more colorful than the tank-bred fish, which suffer from poor breeding and also being injected with hormones for more color, although this makes as many as one in four males infertile. Male specimens of the ram usually have the first few rays of the dorsal fin extended, but breeding has made some females also show this. When close to spawning, female rams have a pink or red blush on the abdomen. Females also have a blue sheen over the spot just below the dorsal fin, or a sparse scattering of blue scales in the upper half of the dark spot, and males do not show this. Males are slightly larger than females, with this species reaching 34-40mm.

Distribution and habitat

The natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''M. ramirezi'' is warm (25.5-29.5 °C, 78-85 °F), acidic ( pH 5.2-6.7) water courses in the

Llanos The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sav ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

s of Venezuela and Colombia.Richter H-J (1989) ''Complete book of dwarf cichlids.'' Tropical Fish Hobbyist, USA The water is generally slow-flowing, contains few dissolved minerals, and ranges in colour from clear to darkly stained with

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...

s. The species is typically found where cover in the form of aquatic or submersed vegetation is available.

Reproduction

Once sex mature, the fish form

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...

pairs prior to spawning, and the males do not tolerate other males. The species is known to lay its small 0.9 - 1.5 mm, adhesive eggs on flattened stones or directly into small depressions dug in the gravel. Like many cichlids, ''M. ramirezi'' practices biparental brood care, with both the male and the female playing roles in egg-tending and territorial defense. Typical clutch size for the species is 150-300 eggs, though clutches up to 500 have been reported. Parental ram cichlids have been observed to fan water over their eggs, which hatch in 40 hours at 29 °C (84 °F). Blue ram fanning her eggs

The larvae are not free-swimming for five days, after which they are escorted by the male or the female in a dense school for foraging.

Taxonomy, collection, and etymology

The ram cichlid is named after Manuel Ramirez, an early collector and importer of the species for the aquarium trade.

George S. Myers George Sprague Myers (February 2, 1905 – November 4, 1985) was an American ichthyologist who spent most of his career at Stanford University. He served as the editor of ''Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin'' as well as president of the American So ...

and R. R. Harry (1948) originally described the species as ''Apistogramma ramirezi'', though the species was later moved to and from various genera, including: ''Microgeophagus'', ''Papiliochromis'', ''Pseudoapistogramma'', and ''Pseudogeophagus''.

In the aquarium

The ram cichlid is popular in the tropical

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

community aquarium Community aquaria are tanks that are designed to contain more than one species of fish. Most commonly they include a variety of species that do not normally occur together in nature, for example angelfish from Brazil, swordtails from Mexico, and ...

. While some larger cichlids are not well suited for a community tank, if a male and female pair of this specific type are placed in a community tank, they can do well.

Varieties

Numerous strains of ''M. ramirezi'' have been developed in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

for the

fishkeeping Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. There is also a piscicultural fishkeeping industry, serving as a branch of agriculture. Origins of fishkeeping Fish have ...

hobby. These include numerous xanthistic forms, known as gold rams or electric blue, along with larger, high-bodied, fattened "balloon" forms, and long-finned varieties. Many of these varieties suffer from lower fertility, health problems, or reduced brood care in comparison to wild-type specimens.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q260468

Ram cichlid The ram cichlid, ''Mikrogeophagus ramirezi'', is a species of freshwater fish endemic to the Orinoco River basin, in the savannahs of Venezuela and Colombia in South America. The species has been examined in studies on fish behaviour and is a po ...

Cichlid fish of South America Freshwater fish of Colombia Fish of Venezuela Orinoco basin Taxa named by George S. Myers Fish described in 1948