Sexing Balloon Rams?

[Emily_R]

Hello all,

This weekend I purchased two balloon rams from my local aquarium store, I’m just curious about the sex of these two cause I can’t seem to find any information online. They’re still a bit shy so these are the best photos I could get at the moment.

https://ibb.co/gVjgyLb
https://ibb.co/mym6f2b

So far I’m loving them and hope to get more!

Thanks in advance

 

[Byron]

Sexing rams is not easy unless they are in spawning mode. Their behaviours/interactions are often better guides, once they are settling in. Males will continually challenge if not actually attack each other, charging, headbunting, biting. Females tend not to do this. But the fish do not accept mates at random, they must decide for themselves and bond or it usually doesn't end very well. I would not advise more, unless you have a very large tank with space for individual territories of the males. Even so, if a pair should form, they will not tolerate other rams.

As you have balloon rams, there is something to mention. "Balloon" rams are selectively bred with midbody swelling and spinal curvature and are notorious for health problems related to swim bladder, digestive, and internal organ deformities. They have considerable difficulties getting through life. Whether they feel "pain" is difficult to say, but such deliberate deformities in mammals for example would cause the animal pain. The hobby discourages such fish, and the only way to stop these cruel practices is to not buy them. Please reconsider.

 

[Emily_R]

Sexing rams is not easy unless they are in spawning mode. Their behaviours/interactions are often better guides, once they are settling in. Males will continually challenge if not actually attack each other, charging, headbunting, biting. Females tend not to do this. But the fish do not accept mates at random, they must decide for themselves and bond or it usually doesn't end very well. I would not advise more, unless you have a very large tank with space for individual territories of the males. Even so, if a pair should form, they will not tolerate other rams.

As you have balloon rams, there is something to mention. "Balloon" rams are selectively bred with midbody swelling and spinal curvature and are notorious for health problems related to swim bladder, digestive, and internal organ deformities. They have considerable difficulties getting through life. Whether they feel "pain" is difficult to say, but such deliberate deformities in mammals for example would cause the animal pain. The hobby discourages such fish, and the only way to stop these cruel practices is to not buy them. Please reconsider.

Thank you for your input. I don’t have any plan on breeding these guys, I was just curious as to what I ended up with. They’re also in a 55gal planted tank with a few different decorations throughout, that should be a suitable environment, right?

I was not aware of the health issues associated with these guys so I’ll definitely keep that in mind and consider a different fish to add to my collection next time I’m at an aquarium store.

 

[Colin_T]

To sex mature Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (blue or gold rams), look at the first few fin rays on the dorsal (top) fin, they are the black rays. Males have longer fin rays than females.

Female rams develop a pink colour on their belly when in breeding condition, males don't.

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On a side note, the gold ram has lots of excess mucous on its body and fins, and it has some damage to its tail and dorsal fin. The white patch in middle of tail and white edge on the dorsal fin.

Make sure the water quality is good and there is no ammonia or nitrite, and the nitrate is less than 20ppm. If there is any ammonia or nitrite, or the nitrate is above 20ppm, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Monitor the white bits on the tail and dorsal fin and post more pictures if it gets worse. If the water is kept clean the problem should clear up without any medication.

-------------------------
Balloon rams are not the only fish that have been squished up by inbreeding. Balloon mollies have the same problems and so do fantail goldfish. Basically the fish are inbred to get a shorter body and this causes the internal organs to get squished up. When the organs are squished up they cannot function properly and the fish are more prone to developing health issues, particularly digestive problems.

 

[Emily_R]

To sex mature Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (blue or gold rams), look at the first few fin rays on the dorsal (top) fin, they are the black rays. Males have longer fin rays than females.

Female rams develop a pink colour on their belly when in breeding condition, males don't.

-------------------------
On a side note, the gold ram has lots of excess mucous on its body and fins, and it has some damage to its tail and dorsal fin. The white patch in middle of tail and white edge on the dorsal fin.

Make sure the water quality is good and there is no ammonia or nitrite, and the nitrate is less than 20ppm. If there is any ammonia or nitrite, or the nitrate is above 20ppm, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Monitor the white bits on the tail and dorsal fin and post more pictures if it gets worse. If the water is kept clean the problem should clear up without any medication.

-------------------------
Balloon rams are not the only fish that have been squished up by inbreeding. Balloon mollies have the same problems and so do fantail goldfish. Basically the fish are inbred to get a shorter body and this causes the internal organs to get squished up. When the organs are squished up they cannot function properly and the fish are more prone to developing health issues, particularly digestive problems.

What makes you say the gold one has excess mucous? Not asking in spite, just curious so that I can understand what you mean. I monitor my water quality anyways so my parameters are kept where they should be and I do weekly water changes, unless there’s a problem then I’ll do one sooner, but thankfully the ammonia and nitrite levels are not going up. I had noticed the damaged fins, unfortunately they were like that when I got the fish but it’s not looking any worse.

Here’s a better photo of the Gold Ram.
https://ibb.co/ykq43Yp

 

[Colin_T]

The first picture of the gold ram, the fish has air bubbles on its fins. These are just normal bubbles in the water but they stick to fish with excess mucous.

The second more recent picture of the gold ram, the fish doesn't have this so it appears to have stopped producing the extra mucous.

If you took the first image shortly after adding the fish to the tank, it was probably caused by stress due to transport.

 

[Emily_R]

The first picture of the gold ram, the fish has air bubbles on its fins. These are just normal bubbles in the water but they stick to fish with excess mucous.

The second more recent picture of the gold ram, the fish doesn't have this so it appears to have stopped producing the extra mucous.

If you took the first image shortly after adding the fish to the tank, it was probably caused by stress due to transport.

Okay, makes sense. The first photo was right after adding them to the tank so that’s why.

Thank you!