Blue Rams

[Tempestuousfury]

I just bought two Blue Rams, choosing what I believed at the time to be a male and a female going off of the length of the dorsal fin rays. Unfortunately, the fish index and the stuff I find on google does not exactly mesh and is relatively confusing. It's 2:30 A.M. here, so there is no chance of me going to the library to check out books on these fish. Therefore, could someone please tell me how to sex these fish?

Neither shows any real hint of a pink belly, but methinks that could be due to stress or sexual immaturity. *shrugs*

 

[anne24]

Mature females will be much smaller than males and exhibit a bright metallic pink color through their abdomen when in breeding season. Males will generally also have an extended first (and sometimes second) dorsal spine.

 

[england]

Male Characteristics

1)Male has a longer front ray on the first of his dorsal fin

2)Males are generally larger and skinnier.

3)The extensions leading off the bottom of the ram are longer than the females



Female Characteristics

1)Females have a lavendar tent to their belly region.

2)Females are more robust than males.

3)Females are generally smaller in size..



One thing that I heard was that it was sometimes hard to find a female because they aren't shipped in as mass of quantities as the male. The reason behind this is that some people think that the females aren't as pretty as the males. I have to disagree and say that they are both beautiful,Another interesting tidbit is that few Rams breed after they are a year old but they can live up to three years.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Unfortunately, there is no way for me to tell if these fish are at breeding age, yet, so can't really use the suggestion about hte sizes.

I think I was lucky going of the dorsal fin thing, since the fish without the long fin ray has a pinkish hue to her belly.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Another question: since they need dither fish and seem to be semi-aggressive at best, would it be ok to add another pair or so of these fish? You see, there's an lfs going out of business here and all fish are 50% off, so this way the chances of me finding a decent breeding pair increase, and I can keep more of these stunning fish.

 

[Alex_]

How big is your tank? what else is in the tank?

-Alex

 

[bleechme]

I don't believe in Rams being dither. Every pair I bought and put into the same tank breeds fine without having to choose from who to breed with. I only buy 2 at a time and put them together into a tank. they'll breed, But since the store is going out of business and you get 50% off, I'd grab a few incase there is any accidents. (sick fish, dies, ect...)

 

[guppy_man]

im going to get some 2 pairs of rams for my new tank, but i have to pay full price lol you get 50% off

 

[Tempestuousfury]

They're still $3.50 each, not all that cheap.

And by you don't feel they are dither fish, did you mean that they are the dither fish or that they do not need them?

Tank is 45 gallons, somewhere in my profile are the stats, but the tank isn't overcrowded and is populated with zebra danios, black skirt tetras, rasboras, 2 female bettas, and a couple cories. Don't think that my present stock will bother the newer fish, or the other way around...

 

[bleechme]

Ok correct me, I can't really remeber what Dither is, Is Dither where you need a few and let them pair up or does dither mean little fish that gets chased around to make a pair more secure and watch their eggs/fry?

But WOW! Thats cheap compare to how mush I buy mine!! Mine are either from $8-$13!

 

[guppy_man]

i think im going to go to every pet store that i know of and look for the cheapest rams

 

[bleechme]

i think im going to go to every pet store that i know of and look for the cheapest rams

Me too! The cheapest one so far is $7.99, So far I bought five from there. The one with them at $13 have pretty big ones. I think I'll get my next one from there so that I don't breed bros and sis together. But I've only seen 2 petstores that sell them.