Blue Rams

[jacob]

I can't quite figure it out. I look at the pictures of your male and female blue rams, yet only half of mine look anything like either of them. I have 4 blue rams, which 2 of them are a nice color, but no pink belly so I keep assuming they are males. However, the other 2 I have are more washed out colorwise. They have the colors, but they seem really bland. Are these females? Yet they look nothing like your females, no pink belly from what I can observe. I could take a couple pics if that would help.

 

[pseud]

Definitely take pics. Lots of them if you can.

 

[BLASK]

B) pink belly is the only way to go in my experience.

as for the color blending I have noted that when I had two males, the one getting chased had washed colors. the one chasing him had battle colors (war paint lol) its cool to see when in just a few seconds they brighten their colors to such a high contrast.

I am asuming there is chasing going on?
the first couple days my two males did not chase.
on the 3rd or 4th they did and one was constantly chasing the other while the other was running away.
the other never chased him back.
I introduced a female into the tank and both males brightened up their colors in a blink of an eye. they would do these wiggels in front of her, but once the original chaser noticed the other male he would chase the heck out of him. the chasing got really aggresive once I introduced that female. So I picked the chaser and returned the other (the one being chased)
When you pick them at the store take your time, I had a tough time because the LFS tank they were in had red gravel so it seemed like all fish had a slighly pink/red hue on their bellies. But once they are out of the tank take real care to get the one with the brighest pink!

good luck B)

 

[jacob]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...&st=0&p=915509&

Go here to see a picture of a normal ram and one of a washed out ram.

 

[scrappy]

Heres a couple of photos of my rams, one is male and the other female... The one at the top is the male and the bottom the female.

If you look at them closely you may see some distinguishing features... body shape is a good teller as the males are more oval shaped whereas the females seem a little rounder and when they are about to breed show a very pinkish belly.

I'll try and get a photo of them both together in the same shot, its difficult though... try askin a fish to stop still and say cheese let alone get two of em to do it together

You may be able to see a slight pink tinge on the females belly on the photo as this picture was taken about 3 days after laying.

 

[pseud]

Jacob,

I think your fish are very stressed and at risk of dying very soon. The washed out is a typical sign of stress, no color. I'd be fairly confident that the faded Ram is being dominated by the more colorful one.

It looks like they are both males. You should take one back and get a female.

Did you say you had 4? What are the other rams like?

Here's a pic of a HEALTHY female and male:

 

[jacob]

Yeah I do have 4, and 2 of them are nicely colored, and the other 2 are washed out. I don't understand though, the tank I have them in is a 75 gallon, which will be overstocked one day. (In the process of figuring out what I need to get rid of), and they should have plenty of room to avoid one another. I have looked at a couple sites and they all say you could keep a pair in a 20 gallon, which yes is male and female, but still theres all this room.

 

[pseud]

Still, you probably have 4 males. Intensity of color doesn't reflect sex at all. The pictures you showed were almost certainly 2 males. They say to keep a male/female pair in a 20 gallon tank. I wouldn't even keep two compatible pairs in a 55 gallon tank, let alone 4 males in a 75 gallon tank. But that's just me, other people may be able to get away with it. Apparently, judging by the look of your fish, you're not one of those people.

Rams are EXTREMELY sensitive (to everything from water quality to stress) and WILL die of stress if an undue amount is put on them.

But they're your fish. Do with them what you will.
Good luck.

 

[jacob]

I will try to find a couple females at my lfs tomorrow sometime after my football game. then I will keep the dominant rams that are in my tank in there, and return the non-dominant ones.

 

[Ben]

Just a note: Colour sometimes has nothing to do with the fish's health. I had a pair of Singaporian bred rams whcih were greyish and little to no colour who bred twice in my tank

DD

 

[jacob]

True, however I wanted a couple breeding pairs in the first place, I just thought maybe the females were the off colored ones.

 

[scrappy]

Just in case anyones interested, mostly rams are only supplied as a single sex to each shop... (unless there locally bred by a fishkeeper). This is to try and keep certain areas from having local produce and keep the likes of the far east in business breeding them.

Personally i wouldnt get any that were bred from the Far East as they are not the best qaulity fish ( i know SOMEONE will have to disagree, and as such this is only my own opinion, not just opinions in general), I have found Dutch Bred Rams to be the best ( of course second to the rams ive managed to produce from my pair )

 

[jacob]

Just in case anyones interested, mostly rams are only supplied as a single sex to each shop... (unless there locally bred by a fishkeeper). This is to try and keep certain areas from having local produce and keep the likes of the far east in business breeding them.

Personally i wouldnt get any that were bred from the Far East as they are not the best qaulity fish ( i know SOMEONE will have to disagree, and as such this is only my own opinion, not just opinions in general), I have found Dutch Bred Rams to be the best ( of course second to the rams ive managed to produce from my pair )

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Exactly right, I went to the pet store, and guess what. Not one female. Not one. The mostly only had kribs and albino kribs but they had about 4 rams and not one was a female.