bolivian ram

[Incredulous_Ed]

Well, due to the fact that I can't afford "true" german blue rams, I'm going t go with bolivian rams. I want to keep and breed them.

does anyone have any experience with them?
are they also hormone injected?
how should I go about breeding them?
how much should I expect to pay for a quality specimen?

thanks

[Kaga's Kritters]

how much more do blue germans cost for you then bolivian? where i live i can get either for $5.50 each. (same price for the golden rams too) as far as I know bolivians aren't injected with anything. I do know they can't really be sexed. You just have to get some and let them pair up on there own. The females are generally smaller than the males though. I currently have 2 bolivians but have only had them for a short time. I am not really sure what all requirements they have when it comes to getting them to breed.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

females usually have shorter fin tips and with more rounded dorsal fins i think. What do the bolivians where your at look like? i want some but in the store here they have almost no color and are really blotchy grey and are labeled as bolivian red rams? Im afraid to get them cause im not sure if bolivians will get more color, if they stay the way they are in the store there not really attracitive

[Incredulous_Ed]

Erik, this is what they will look like as adults with pristine water quality, good food, etc.

http://images.google.com/images?q=bolivian+ram&sourceid=mozilla2&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi


Blue rams around here sell from 5 dollars to 15 dollars. Pretty much all of them are hormone injected and die in a few weeks.

[Kaga's Kritters]

with the german rams you can sex them by the dorsal fins, the bolivians cannot be sexed this way.

some of those pics of bolivians look more like germans. i have never heard of bolivians getting that much color to them.


here is a pic of what i know bolivians to look like
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/photocontests/ss/photoace082005_4.htm

[Incredulous_Ed]

I believe the first two pics are bolivians.

[Kaga's Kritters]

on what you posted the third pic is what any bolivian i have ever seen looks like. the first two look more like a german to me.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ive seen those just wasnt sure if it was the same or not, my lfs doesnt use scientific name and ive never heard of bolivian 'red' rams before, so i guess it threw me off. I think ill get me a pair next weekend if i get a chance.

btw, all rams are $7.00 around here

[~Erik3.8.07~]

on what you posted the third pic is what any bolivian i have ever seen looks like. the first two look more like a german to me.

ive never seen a german blue that looks like the first 2, the first one in the second row looks like a german blue

[Kaga's Kritters]

ive never seen a german blue that looks like the first 2, the first one in the second row looks like a german blue


that one looks like a nicely colored bolivian

[~Erik3.8.07~]

that one looks like a nicely colored bolivian

did you expand the page? i'm looking at the 8th picture that looks like a german blue

[Kaga's Kritters]

do you mean this one?
http://americkecichlidy.akva.cz/f_hk2003/mram001.jpg

yes that is a german

[~Erik3.8.07~]

yup thats it, sorry for the confusion, didnt think to just post the link lol:c2:

[digital3]

I have a couple of Bolivian Rams. It's true they do come quite faded, but mine have started to color up quite nicely. I think they are going to color even further than that. I'll try to get pics.

The first image in the Google search does look a bit intense color-wise. I don't think they'll get that radiant. But the Reds and Blues on the fins of mine are becoming quite impressive.

[Incredulous_Ed]

ok, the pics on this search are ALL bolivians: http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=mikrogeophagus+altispinosa&btnG=Search+Images

What do you feed your rams digital3?

[digital3]

What do you feed your rams digital3?

I tried some Cichlid pellets but they didn't seem to like them. I'm feeding them flakes for now and bloodworms every once in a while. They really prefer picking from the substrate but have begun swimming to the top to get to the food faster. They also like going for the sinking pellets I have for my Pleco and Featherfin.

I haven't had a chance to shop for food, but I'm thinking I want to find something that sinks for them, because it seems that that is how they enjoy feeding the most.

:c5:

[Incredulous_Ed]

All right, I called a LFS and they have bolivians in stock for 5.99 us dollars each. I just need to know: are bolivian rams ever hormone injected?

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ive never heard of the being injected

[Incredulous_Ed]

alright. cool. Thanks erik, kaga;s, and didgital3