Bolivian Questions

[Suri]

Hullo everyone

So I recently fell in love with south american set-ups. And now that I'm stationary for another 2 years I've went out and bought some Bolivian Rams. These guys are soooo adorable! But I digress. Lol.

My question is two-fold. First, I need help confirming the sex of this fish:

I think it's a male...buuuut I'm really new to this so confirmation would be awesome.

So the second part is if it is indeed a male, should I take him out and replace him with a female? From what I've been reading m/f/f is a good ratio to prevent the one girl from being picked on.

These are the other two in the tank atm:

Pretty boy <3

And:

The Girl

Any help would be much appreciated ^ ^

 

[snowflake311]

2 males will fight. Sexing these guys is so hard.

 

[chesterscot]

Hi in order to sex them you will have to get us some clear pics of their dorsal fins when erect so we can see the spines

regards scot

 

[snowflake311]

Females tend to be round males are slim. The fins are not always the best way to sex them when young. I bought a young male with no fin extentions but as he grew to did his fins and soon I had a male.

A good side shot would help too. The best way to sex them is by looking at the vent area. The male's ccxxokmkvbreeding tube is smaller and more pointed, female's are rounded and a bit larger, to pass eggs. The male's body tapers downwards from the breeding tube to the anal fin. The female's body tapers upwards slightly from the ovipositor to the anal fin.

 

[meguro]

1st pic looks like a female
2nd pic looks like a male
3rd pic looks like a female

 

[Suri]

Thank you for the quick replies everyone!

Here are new (hopefully better) pictures of each. I really hope Meguro is right, I've become attached already and I'd hate to have to send one back on the basis of gender. Such inequality in the fish world.

I tried to make the pictures as clear as possible, but these little buggers are fast!

The main fish in question:

Of course, the male. Don't need a sexing on him, I just want to show him off again! hehe.

And, the second fish in question:

 

[snowflake311]

By the look of the breeding tubes say female to me they also are a bit more round.
1 female
2 male
3 female

good job that mix should work. My 2 males don't work I had to split them up.

 

[Suri]

By the look of the breeding tubes say female to me they also are a bit more round.
1 female
2 male
3 female

good job that mix should work. My 2 males don't work I had to split them up.

Thank you Snowflake! I hope you're right as well. So far they've been very entertaining to watch! Seems the male has to break up the occasional 'girl fight' but otherwise it's pretty mellow in there, they group together to hang out and spit sand together. lol.

It's too bad about your males, did you end up replacing with some females?

 

[snowflake311]

I split my boys up. I have a few tanks so I could. That's great that yours are getting along. Sounds like a good mix you have. They are fun fish. I think I will alway keep these guys.

Here are mine not playing nice.
.