Wild Ram Breeding Behavior Question

[Duff83]

im new to rams all together... im more a live bearer owner, but i fell in love w/ rams a year ago and finally took the plunge. now im seeing them face to face and they kind of "kiss" even though i know it isn't kissing... it doesn't LOOK aggressive, but is it courting behavior or is it anger? what should i be looking for, as far as signs go, to know they have bonded up? thank you.

 

[fatheadminnow]

If they are "jaw-locking" this is related to a human punching another person in the face.

Are you sure you have a male and female? Usually males will do this.

-FHM

 

[Duff83]

If they are "jaw-locking" this is related to a human punching another person in the face.

Are you sure you have a male and female? Usually males will do this.

-FHM

no, im not 100% sure, but the rays on the "female" look to be short...

 

[fatheadminnow]

What other signs are they showing towards each other?

-FHM

 

[Duff83]

What other signs are they showing towards each other?

-FHM

not much other signs... they tend to stick together, but i also read that black on the pectoral fins indicates a female, a trait neither of them have... im beginning to think i have two males. they both dont display intense colors, but one has more defined coloration than the other. my wild rams dont share many marking w/ the germans or bolivians, instead of a black patch they have some stripes as well... iv been trying to get decent pictures of them but they get spooked by the camera even w/ no flash.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Turn all lights off in the room, so it is pitch black. The only light should be the tanks light. Then try to take a pic; use no flash.

-FHM

 

[Duff83]

heres what i have now, ill turn the lights off and do it again... each is a picture of one of the two that i own.
hold tight, ill get back in a min.

 

[meguro]

bottom looks female, top could be a male. They are definitely mikrogeophagus ramirezi aka blue rams.

females use lip locking as a way to test the males strength. it is also used to fight over territory

the dark markings on the fish look like stress marks. Should disappear once the fish become used to their surroundings and sort out territory.

 

[Duff83]

bottom looks female, top could be a male. They are definitely mikrogeophagus ramirezi aka blue rams.

females use lip locking as a way to test the males strength. it is also used to fight over territory

the dark markings on the fish look like stress marks. Should disappear once the fish become used to their surroundings and sort out territory.

they have been in the tank over 3 weeks now... should i plant more heavily?

 

[Duff83]

some more pics

ram 1 same as in the second pic of the first post i had...

and ram 2 same as the first pic...

 

[Truck]

Regarding your last post, the second is a male and the first a female.

Out of interest is there a space in your tank that has sand?

 

[dave_oddballs]

aren't they supposed to have a higher temperature than other tropical fish? certainly higher than those platy's should be in i would have thought.

 

[Bebobb]

Agreed with Truck. I think that it was just pairing behavior.

 

[JA5ON]

i have 2 that i thik r male and female that face been goin face to face. then dancing round each othere abit then the male chases the female around then they go back to carmly swiming about thanks jason

 

[Duff83]

if you see platies in my pictures im in trouble, because my male "platy" has a huge 2 inch yellow sword coming from his tail

so i do have a pair then, and im to assume that they are courting? that would be the goal... i keep my tank at 80 - 82*f i like to keep it a tad on the warm side for the rams sake... the other fish dont mind at all.

keep the input coming gang. thanks a ton.

if you see platies in my pictures im in trouble, because my male "platy" has a huge 2 inch yellow sword coming from his tail

so i do have a pair then, and im to assume that they are courting? that would be the goal... i keep my tank at 80 - 82*f i like to keep it a tad on the warm side for the rams sake... the other fish dont mind at all.

also no sand in the tank.

keep the input coming gang. thanks a ton.