Mikrogeophagus ramirezi is a species of freshwater fish endemic to the Orinoco River basin, in the savannahs of Venezuela and Colombia in South America.^[2] The species has been examined in studies on fish behaviour^[4] and is a popular aquarium fish, traded under a variety of common names including Ram, Blue ram, German blue ram, Asian ram, Butterfly cichlid, Ramirez's dwarf cichlid, Dwarf butterfly cichlid and Ramirezi.^{[2][5][6][7][8]} The species is a member of the family Cichlidae and is included in subfamily Geophaginae.^[2][9] For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ... This page is about the Orinoco River, for the Aphra Behn novel see Oroonoko With a length of 2140 km, the Orinoco is one of the largest rivers of South America. ... Savannah may refer to: Four cities in the United States: Savannah, Georgia, a city known for its historic district Savannah River, which flows past the Georgia city Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility near Augusta, Georgia, upriver from Savannah Savannah, Missouri Savannah, New York Savannah, Tennessee sav is so awesome... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... For other uses, see Aquarium (disambiguation). ... In science, a common name is any name by which a species or other concept is known that is not the official scientific name. ... In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ... Genera Apistogramma - Dwarf Cichlids Astronotus (Oscars) Boulengerochromis Cichlasoma - American Ciclids Crenicichla Pterophyllum - Freshwater Angelfish Symphysodon - Discus Teleogramma Tilapia Cichlids are a family of perciform fishes. ...

Appearance and sexual dimorphism

The wild-type of the species has a yellow-green background colour punctuated with blue dots that extend into the dorsal, anal and caudal fins. Wild-type specimens also have seven faint, interrupted dark vertical stripes on the flanks and one stripe vertically downwards across the head through the eye. The vertical stripe through the eye aside, the second bar on the flank is frequently the most intense, appearing as a dark black spot in the relatively unbarred, aquarium-bred strains of the species.^[5] The species is sexually dimorphic, females being smaller in size, having more pink pigmentation on their ventral region and having less developed fin rays in the anterior region of the dorsal fin.^[5] Males reach a maximum length of 7 cm (2.7 in).^[6] Dorsal Fin of the Orca A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of fishes, whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ... Female (left) and male Common Pheasant, illustrating the dramatic difference in both color and size between the sexes Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. ... A centimetre (American spelling centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of length that is equal to one hundredth of a metre, the current SI base unit of length. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ...

Distribution and habitat

Unlike their relatives in the genus Apistogramma, the natural habitat of M. ramirezi occurs in the warm, (25.5-29.5 ºC, 78-85 ºF), acidic (pH 5) water courses in the llanos savannahs of Venezuela and Colombia.^[5][7][10] The water at sites were M. ramirezi has been found to occur is generally slow-flowing, contains few dissolved minerals, and ranges in colour from clear to darkly stained with tannins.^[5] The species is typically only found where cover in the form of aquatic or emerse vegetation is available.^[5] Apistogramma is the common genus name for more than a hundred species of dwarf cichlids found in tropical areas of the Amazon basin and Venezuela. ... Look up habitat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ... The correct title of this article is . ... Los Llanos (meaning the flat plains) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated at the east of the Andes in northwestern South America (Colombia and Venezuela). ... Savannah may refer to: Four cities in the United States: Savannah, Georgia, a city known for its historic district Savannah River, which flows past the Georgia city Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility near Augusta, Georgia, upriver from Savannah Savannah, Missouri Savannah, New York Savannah, Tennessee sav is so awesome... Hard water water that has a high mineral content (water with a low mineral content is known as soft water). ... Tannins are astringent, bitter-tasting plant polyphenols that bind and precipitate proteins. ...

Reproduction

Once sexually mature, the species forms monogamous pairs prior to spawning.^[7] The species is known to lay its small 0.9 - 1.5 mm, adhesive eggs on flattened stones^[7][10][11] or directly into small depressions dug in the gravel.^[5] Like many cichlids, M. ramirezi practices biparental brood care with both the male and the female playing roles in egg-tending and territorial defence.^[5][7] Typical clutch size for the species is 150-300 eggs,^[5][6] though larger clutches up to 500 have been reported.^[10] Parental M. ramirezi have been observed to fan water over their eggs which hatch in 40 hours at 29 ºC (84.2 ºF). The larvae are not free-swimming for 5 days after which they are escorted by the male or the female in dense school for foraging.^[5] In monogamy (Greek: monos = single/only and gamos = marriage) a person has only one spouse at a time (as opposed to polygamy). ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...

Taxonomy, collection and etymology

The species is named after Manuel Ramirez, the collector and importer of the species for the aquarium trade.^[12] Myers and Harry (1948) originally described the species as Apistogramma ramirezi though the species was latter moved to and from various genera including: Microgeophagus, Papiliochromis, Pseudoapistogramma and Pseudogeophagus.^[13]

In the aquarium

The xanthistic strain of M. ramirezi

The ram cichlid is a popular cichlid for the tropical freshwater, community aquarium although it is not necessarily the easiest cichlid to maintain in many situations.^[5] This is because the species is often kept with other fish that are more assertive, aggressive or overly active.^[5][7] The species is innately shy and is best kept with passive dither fish, such as neon or cardinal tetras.^[7] The species will readily exhibit breeding behaviours in water of pH 5.0-6.5, though softer water encourages more regular spawning.^[5][7][10] It is easier to maintain the species in larger aquaria as the species is intolerant of common aquarium pollutants such as nitrate.^[7] The aquarium should be decorated to mimic the natural environment and is best decorated with several densely planted regions of aquatic plants, separated by open water.^[6] The species is prone to filial cannibalisism of its brood if distressed.^[7] As the water must be free of pollutants, aquarium filtration is important, though water movement should not be extreme. Removing and replacing small amounts of water changes assists with minimising the quantities of these pollutants and should be conducted regularly.^[10] Genera Cichlids (pronounced “sick-lids”) are fishes from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. ... For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. ... Community tanks are aquaria that are designed to contain more than one species of fish. ... The term dither fish refers to an arbitrary group of aquarium fish used by cichlid keeping aquarists to reduce innate timidity in some species of cichlids (Barlow, 1967). ... Binomial name Paracheirodon innesi (Myers, 1936) The neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) is a freshwater fish of the characin family (family Characidae) of order Characiformes. ... Binomial name Paracheirodon axelrodi (Schultz, 1956) The Cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) is a freshwater fish of the characin family (family Characidae) of order Characiformes. ... An electrostatic potential map of the nitrate ion. ... Cannibalism is the act or practice of eating members of the same species, e. ... an air-driven corner filter Aquarium filters are critical components of both freshwater and marine aquaria. ...

Numerous strains of M. ramirezi have been developed in Asia for the fishkeeping hobby. These include numerous xanthistic forms, known as gold rams, along with larger, high-bodied and long-finned varieties.^[5][7][14] Many of these varieties suffer from lower fertility, health problems or reduced brood care in comparison to wild-type specimens.^[5][6] World map showing the location of Asia. ... Fishkeeping is a popular hobby concerned with keeping fish in the home aquarium or garden pond. ...

See also

• Cichlid
• Mikrogeophagus
• List of freshwater aquarium fish species

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Genera Cichlids (pronounced “sick-lids”) are fishes from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. ... Species See text. ... A vast number of species of fish have been successfully kept in the home aquarium. ...

References