Golden Rams

I have given up trying to keep rams of any colour as they just die. The only rams I can keep alive are Bolivian rams which are a different species from gold, blue, electric blue etc rams.

Can I ask, how long have you had the rams (that is, are they fairly new or have you had them for years), is your water soft or hard, and what is the temperature of the tank?

If you've had them years it's probably just old age.
If you have moderately hard to very hard water, rams need soft water so the one that died may not have been able to cope with water outside the species' range (my water is moderately soft and rams die)
Rams also need warmer water than most fish.


Rams can be delicate fish. Wild fish won't survive in anything other than warm, soft, acid water. Although commercially bred rams can tolerate wider parameters than wild fish, breeders do use wild fish from time to time to widen the gene pool which makes the offspring less tolerant for a few generations. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how recent are the wild ancestors of the fish in the shop when we buy them.