German Blue Ram Aggression..

[ozzkilledtoto]

Hello everyone, I have a 29 Gallon tank, in it are 11 neon tetras, 2 German Blue Rams, A Flame Gourami, 5 Pangio Kuhli, and a L129(i think) pleco. Lately the smaller German Blue is being chased by the larger, I think they are both males but I am not positive. Imma post some pictures of em, although the quality came out horrible so I don't think it'll be very useful in sexing them, but you never know. the larger one, He literally does not leave the other one alone sometimes... Constantly chasing him and looking for him. There will be times, where the larger one will ignore the smaller, maybe chase him a bit here and there but ultimately just forgets about him. But tonight it's been constant chasing, He doesn't nip his fins or anything, thats not to say he doesn't try though, just think the smaller one is a bit swifter. If anyone knows why the larger one might be chasing the smaller one i'd like to hear what you think, and what suggestions you may have. I also tried moving decorations around, but this time, it did not work. I really don't wanna have to get rid of em.. ;\ but we shall see I suppose.

Here is a pic of the smaller one that gets bullied :

And here is the Bully :

Maybe they are male and female and he's just chasing him cause he wants some play? But I don't know as I have no idea how to sex them properly.

Anyway, Thanks in advance.

-Danny

 

[ozzkilledtoto]

Anyone?

 

[Enna]

They both look like males to me as I can see no pinkish area on their lower body, no blue spangles in the black dot which is a trait of males and also they just look like males.... Had they been living peacefully together before? You could try rearranging the tank, plants for hiding in etc. Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to give you some advice.

 

[PDSimon]

I thought rams were meant to be kept as 1 male and atleast 2 females?

 

[ozzkilledtoto]

2 Fem and 1 Male might be better? But as far as i'm aware it's not really a problem to have a pair, so long as adequate tank size is provided, as well as plenty of hiding places and "natural borders", I thought I had enough but maybe I should try to re-scape it in a way provides more dividing spaces/territories. I wan't to start planting some live plants, maybe some sort of rock/stone structure to divide? I need to see some good examples to work with. But as far as my particular pair's sex, i'm beginning to think the smaller one is the male and the larger bully is the female. It's wierd, the larger one has a black spot but the blue spangles don't run through it, typical of males, BUT it has the females black stripe on the front of the pectoral fin. And the adverse goes for the smaller one. He/she has no blackspot, and no stripe, not sure how far the blue spangles run through but i'm assuming through his whole body, it's hard to see when he's always being chased and stressed, and it has no black stripe on the pectoral fins. So, i'm at a loss. The smaller ones body shape seems to look like a females to me, seemingly longer, while the males seems more rounded. I don't know. Any help would be appreciated. Just wan't the little one to be able to chill, lol.

 

[Enna]

Males and females can have the black stripe on the pectoral fin, females have a very definate pink blush on their lower tummy, guy in the LFS has been giving me advice recently as I'm looking to buy some rams in the future.

 

[meguro]

I thought rams were meant to be kept as 1 male and atleast 2 females?

thats apistogramma not rams. and even with apistos its just a recommendation, not a necessity