Bolivian Ram Sexing/determining From Blue Rams

[SombreroBanana]

I'm ready to put fish into my fully-cycled tank (yay!), and I was at my LFS the other day, and they have the blue rams and bolivian rams in the same tank. They are all juveniles, and I can't sex them or determine which kind of ram they are. I want bolivians. How would I go about doing this?

 

[Essjay]

It should be easy to tell the rams from the bolivians. Look at the ring around the eye. If there's red in it, it's a ram. If there's no red, it's a bolivian.

But you'll have problems sexing young bolivians I'm afraid as their fins won't have grown to their full extent yet. Unless you find some mature fish with their breeding tubes visible, the fins are the only things to go by, and that's not a 100% way of telling them apart.

 

[SombreroBanana]

It should be easy to tell the rams from the bolivians. Look at the ring around the eye. If there's red in it, it's a ram. If there's no red, it's a bolivian.

But you'll have problems sexing young bolivians I'm afraid as their fins won't have grown to their full extent yet. Unless you find some mature fish with their breeding tubes visible, the fins are the only things to go by, and that's not a 100% way of telling them apart.

Thank you! I'll just get two bolivian rams based on the fins, and then just hope for the best.