Questions With Pics

[black molly3]

i bought 2 rams yesterday and i would like to know if they are male or female. also are these german rams. can anyone tell me what sort of things to look out for to distinguish there sex. thanks
my thoughts are the smaller one is the female. could anyone confirm this.
here they are both together

sorry about the quality

this is the one i thi nk is female which is the smaller one

i am not sure she is female because her doral fin is longish at the top but not as long as the possitive other male. help
thanks also the flash has taken the colours right out of the fish. how can i prevent this

 

[tom_os]

i dont know anything about rams, but i know in quite alot of fish the female is bigger and duller coloured.

but size could just be age or sometihng

 

[minxfishy]

Female GBR's (yes they are german blue rams) tend to have a pink belly, although not when very young, however those look old enough to say, that the one you believe is female is indeed female, although the pics arent that great. Females have a pink belly and another sign is the blue flecks in the black spot on the side.

The males dont have a pink belly and normally not flecks in the black spot, they also have the larger spines on the dorsal fin, usually the first 3 spines are raised higher than the others.

From those pics, you have male and female, but that doesnt mean they will pair up.

 

[Dan Robbins]

to be honest with you, i cant really tell from the pics.
but heres a guide,
the female will have a pinkish abdomen whereas the male will not. You may also find irridecence scales inside the black midlateral marking of the female whereas there is rarely ever seen on a male.
The male also has longer dorsal fin rays, notable the first 3.
The rams you have - Mikrogeophagus ramirezi are a south american species of fish from the rivers of the orinoco of venesuela and columbia. "german rams" are just rams which have been bred in mass numbers in germany for the aquarium trade. These are generally the better quality and more vivdly coloured specimens of the trade.
Dan

Edit: you took the words out my mouth minxfishy, quite literally word for word... STRANGE.

 

[minxfishy]

Great minds think alike!

 

[Dan Robbins]

so they do. So they do.

 

[black molly3]

thanks. they are always next to eachother following eachother around like sole mates. if they were both males would they fight. thanks

 

[minxfishy]

Not necessarily, males in a large enough tank will happily co-exist, especially if they are new to the tank.

 

[black molly3]

o ok i will try and get some better pics up as soon as i can. what is the breeding behaviour of the dwarf cichlids.
thanks

 

[black molly3]

here are some better pics of them.

hope these are better.
thanks

 

[Truck]

firstly your substrate is going to be a problem, and what temperature are you keeping them at?

 

[black molly3]

i am keeping them at 27.c i have just been reading up on their breeding behaviour and realised that the substrate may well be a problem however there are large peices of slape in there with them and a big smoothe pebble about 4inches long and about 2 inches tall

 

[Truck]

its not that they need slate, rams are earth eaters and need a sandy substrate and are best kept at 28oC to prevent illness etc.

what are you keeping them with?

 

[stonedcamel]

sorry to interupt....

i bought 2 german rams yesterday, hopefully one male and one female but im not to sure as they are very young. but i have noticed that on the smaller one (i think is female), doesnt have any spots on the tail but has a flicker of blue on the body in some light.

anyone help?

 

[Truck]

the spots arent a very acurate way of sexing the number one is the fins then the belly