Bolivian Ram

[guppymonkey]

Have you ever heard of the Bolivian Ram being called a Crown Ruby Cichid? One of the distributors that my pet store gets fish from (from Indonesia) has a fish called the Crown Ruby and I am just about 100% (99.999999%) sure that this fish is really the Bolivian Ram but my boss won't let me change the label for it!

 

[Katchan]

As your 99.9999 percent sure the crown ruby is a butterfly that missing 0.0001 percent is about how often they get called that, ie rarley but that is a name for them, kinda like lyretailed swordies being called double swordtails I think most fish out there have a rarely used name that shows up on dealers lits now and again

Andrew

 

[Ben]

Yup, Bolivians are some times called Ruby Reds etc.
So you probably have Bolivian Rams

DD

 

[spanishguy111]

Yup, Bolivians are some times called Ruby Reds etc.
So you probably have Bolivian Rams

DD

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Crown Ruby Cichlid is actuall a more correct name than Bolivian Ram, as these fish are completely unrelated to rams and are more closely related (though distantly) to small eartheaters. Also important to note, and usually unknown to most people- there are two species of Bolivians in the trade, Mikrogeophagus altispinosa and altispinosus. More commonly encountered is the latter, which has two or more lateral spots, whereas the first only ever has one. Also "sa" has more prominent yellow and blue on its flanks, prefers slightly acid pH (versus the "sus" which prefers slightly alkaline) and the "sa" grows about 2" longer and much taller.

If you are in Toronto you can see the "Sa" at Wong's aquarium in Chinatown at Broadview and Gerrard. He has two massive ones on display not for sale.

 

[Ben]

Both Blue Rams and Bolivian "Rams" Are related to actual eartheaters (geophagus), they were both given the name Mikrogeophagus, meaning Small/Tiny Eartheater and therefore ARE small earth eaters.
I beleive what you say though, i wrote about how Altispinosa arn't real rams some where in this forum, i just use it as it is much easier for newbies to recognize them as that and that is what they're more commonly known as. They were only given the name Ram because they are a Mikrogeophagus as is the more common Blue/Gold Ram. And also given the name Bolivian, well because they come from the part of the Amazon that goes through Bolivia so LFS and exporters use it.

I always thought Mikrogeophagus altispinosa and altispinosus were the same fish Just the icthyologists getting bored again. Also, when i bred my Rams, i had some with two spots and some with one, so once again, im confused.

DD