Sexing My Rams?

[Phenz]

Hi, i just got some blue rams, and the guy in the shop seemed to think that the batch was mostly female, but he got me what he (and i) thought were a male and a female, i'm not too bothered about them mating, i just wanted them to pair up and act cichlid like

i took over a hundred photos - none of which i'm very happy with, but the best ones are;










i'm going to read up on how to get better pictures, but i hope this is enough to work out if i have a male and a female.

i'm not sure which of the photos is which ram, but if there are only 2, so if one is obviously male, and one female then i'll know.

thanks

 

[cichlid-mad]

they look like a male and female but we need clearer pictures good luck anyway

 

[Phenz]

Most of these are the same one, a male i think - he definetly seems more masculine than the other one anyway. he was posing at the front of the tank.

The other one is harder to snap, *she's* hiding at the back and i don't have access to the sides of my tank

hope these help.

 

[DarkEntity]

Easy way to tell.

Male has long pointed dorsal fin with a large crown at the front.

Female has short rounded dorsal fin and not such a prominent crown at the front

 

[Phenz]

these are ones of the ram i think is female.





This one is much lighter coloured than the other, and i know the males are brighter coloured than the female, but i didn't know if that was just because its new to the tank and a little shy.

when they're swimming with eachother the masculine one flexes his fins whilst the other one doesn't.

does this mean they're male/female or just that there is a more dominant fish of the same sex?

 

[ox5477]

The belly can be a tell too. I think a female rams belly will have a little color on it

 

[smoothvirus]

That looks like a female to me. Pink in the belly and the dorsal fin is rounded.

these are ones of the ram i think is female.

Looks like it might be a juvie that hasn't colored up all the way yet but possibly female.

 

[Phenz]

would it be worth trying to get a third ram from somewhere else, that i can be sure is a male? or will 2 females pair up? will a male to 2 female cause conflict?

 

[bobf]

I do recall reading somewhere (very possibly on here?) that the black spot on the side differs between male and female.

Can't recall which way, but I think on one it appears shiny/irrediscent and mat on the other?

Do you see any difference on yours?

 

[Phenz]

one certainly does seem to have no blue spots in the black patch on its side. but they both sem to have pinkish bellies which i think might indicate they're both female.

One question which i don't know if its stupid or not...

is there a difference between bolivian rams and german blue rams? i've gotten very mixed results when i've searched for pictures, i can't work out which species mine are. I thought they were blue rams, cause of the shiny blue colour when they catch the light, but i really don't know.

what type of rams do i have?

 

[juwelfan]

I think sexing with your Rams may be illegal and seen as animal abuse.......


... sorry, really bad bad joke... cudnt help myself...

.. i shall go back to lurking about now....

 

[Phenz]

ha, good one.......

my fish have characteristics of both bolivan rams and blue rams - every picture i see is slightly different to the point where i'm convinced my fish are both?!

 

[tetraman]

Yeah, that second one looks like a very young or sick female, as you can see a little blue.

 

[smoothvirus]

one certainly does seem to have no blue spots in the black patch on its side. but they both sem to have pinkish bellies which i think might indicate they're both female.

One question which i don't know if its stupid or not...

is there a difference between bolivian rams and german blue rams? i've gotten very mixed results when i've searched for pictures, i can't work out which species mine are. I thought they were blue rams, cause of the shiny blue colour when they catch the light, but i really don't know.

what type of rams do i have?

Yours are definately Blue Rams.

 

[Phenz]

thats good to know, thank you.

they have fairly prominent stripes so i wasn't sure. i love the way they look i just had 7 neons in there before - these are really interesting to watch.