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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

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 approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

basin, in the

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

s of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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

aquarium An aquarium (: 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. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

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 con ...

s, including ram, blue ram, German blue ram, Asian ram, butterfly cichlid, Ramirez's dwarf cichlid, dwarf butterfly cichlid and Ramirezi. The species is a member of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Cichlidae and subfamily Geophaginae.

Description

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 .

Distribution and habitat

The natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

of ''M. ramirezi'' are warm (), 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, ...

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

s of Venezuela and Colombia. 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 Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...

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

Reproduction

Once sexually mature, the fish form

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...

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 . 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 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. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

community aquarium. 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 color morphs of ''M. ramirezi'' have been developed in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

for the

fishkeeping Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. It is a practice that encompasses the art of maintaining one's own aquatic ecosystem, featuring a lot of variety with various w ...

hobby. These include numerous xanthic morphs, 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. File:Electric blue ram cichlids.jpg, Electric Blue "Goldface" morph Image:Gold Ram Cichlid.JPG, "German Gold" morph File:Gold Ram.jpg, Xanthic morph File:Mikrogeophagus ramirezi imported from Columbia.jpg, Wild-type (Colombian)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q260468 Ram cichlid Cichlid fish of South America Freshwater fish of Colombia Freshwater fish of Venezuela Orinoco basin Taxa named by George S. Myers Fish described in 1948