Bolivian Ram Shopping

[FishLover66]

Hi all. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert in sexing Bolivian rams, but I do have an idea what to look for. It seems that every time I find a LFS with these fish, they only have what appear to be males (small vent pointing to tail) or they are just way too small to tell. I asked a very reputable fish store owner why he only carries males, and he said that they sell much better because they are more colorful. When I told him that I couldn't find females anywhere, he said that the breeders often force fry to develop into males by the lighting (at least I think that's what he said).

I noticed that Petsmart just got a shipment in, but most are too small to tell and the larger ones all look like males. Plus, I'm very hesistant to purchase a fish from them because of rampant illness in their tanks.

Has anyone else run into this?! I really want a pair or even two females and one male until they pair off and then I plan on selling the extra female.

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

Same with Dwarf Gouramis, finding a female is impossible because "they are plain" and "dont sell as well as the males"

 

[JohnDyer]

Depending on the specific store, the workers there might be able to help. At the petsmart near me, the all-male fish are labelled as such (Male Gourami, Male Guppy, male Apisto, etc) Since the Rams there aren't marked as male, there should be both sexes in the tank. Not sure about your place, but that might be how they do it too.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I am finding Bolivians very easy to sex. It must be the size of the ones you are looking at. The breeding tubes are very obvious on the ones I got at my petsmart.
They must be too young to tell at your store. I know that wasn't much help....Maybe wait until they have slightly larger fishes.

 

[gearhead65]

What do you look for to tell the sex?

 

[FishFanatic04]

I learned a lot from looking at this page. Sexing Bolivian rams

 

[FishFanatic04]

The breeding tubes stick out quite a bit on my females.

 

[gearhead65]

I think I actually got a male/female pair!

 

[FishLover66]

Depending on the specific store, the workers there might be able to help. At the petsmart near me, the all-male fish are labelled as such (Male Gourami, Male Guppy, male Apisto, etc) Since the Rams there aren't marked as male, there should be both sexes in the tank. Not sure about your place, but that might be how they do it too.

Thanks. I'm going back ever other day to check them out--mainly to be sure they are not sick, but also to see if I can tell if they have any females. They are in the lowest row of tanks and between that and the fact that they stick to the bottom of the tank, it's really hard... Some are quite colorful, others pretty bland, but I'm note sure if it's a sex difference or if they are just too young or stressed.

Hopefully, by the time I'm ready to purchase them, I'll have found a pair.