Blue Ram Cichlids: Male or Female?

[xoniac]

I'm thinking these are both girls, but I'm not sure. They both have really pink bellies and have taken up opposing sides of the tank. They also have their anal fins shorter than the tail fin, which I've heard is a tell tale sign for females but maybe you can help me out?

Here are a bunch of pictures I took of them. I'm not sure which is which in these pictures, but there are a few of each of them. As I said before, they both have pink bellies and round anal fins, so I'm thinking they are both females. One has taken to "perching" on top of a flat skull I have on one side of the tank while the other hangs out around a rock with my fire eel a lot. When they come into contact, the one from the rock with the eel usually chases the other and s/he dulls out quite a bit until the other leaves him/her alone. Opinions?

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[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] <--- That's the one that gets chased; s/he dulls out like this.

[rich311k]

I would say they are both females. the last one certainly is.

[Red]

I concur, both females by the photos.

[Sandz]

I disagree, pic 1 the dark black spot with not even a sign of fleck in it tells me that ones a male. I have had males with pink in every male but 1 that was breeding for me. Also, look at the headdress on the fish in pic 2, same as pic 1 but flared... it all points to male to me. The other is female for sure though. Also, the chasing is common for unmated male to female activity IME.

[xoniac]

Well I went out and purchased what looks like two males for my tank, same size as what I think are my girls. I hope I got it right - it's kind of hard to tell when there's a whole bunch of them swimming around in the tanks. But I got them for 3.99, so whose complaining!

Anybody know how big they have to be before they pair off? Mine are only about an inch and a half...

[xoniac]

I put those two males in and look what happened, quite quickly in fact. My dominant female let one of the males into her home. Female is the one up top.

[Sandz]

Great deal on the rams! I would say all the ones pictured are breeding size now.

[xoniac]

Great deal on the rams! I would say all the ones pictured are breeding size now.

Awesome, thanks!

[xoniac]

Here are the two boys I purchased today.

For clarification; I hope these are boys. The females are really giving them a hard time, but they both have more pointed fins and their anal fins SEEM longer than their tail fins - it's kind of hard to tell yet as they are a bit torn up from the store. They don't have pink bellies or black on their front fins... They are also kind of dull right now b/c the girls are chasing them around a lot, but... males, yes?

I sure hope so....

[Lab_Rat]

The ones you just purchased are bolivian rams, not blue rams.

[xoniac]

REALLY!?!?! I was wondering why they didn't have the same blue sparkles to them... I figured they were just stressed out. Darn it. No more buying fish from that pet store. The tank was definitely labelled as blues. :/ Guess I'll try to trade the bolivians in or something. I don't have enough territory space in my tank for all four of them to take up their own place, and the bolivians are being terrorized this morning still.

[Sandz]

Yeah, with blue rams, you can count that they will look very similar. See this link ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]) for sexing.

[eroc1085]

Unfortunately Lab_Rat is right. The purchase you made were bolivan Rams. They are cousin of blue rams. The BR is much more begginer oriented, if you will. They are much hardier and can indure a bit more as far as water parameters. IMO, The GBR is a delicate fish and requires pristine water conditioons much like discus. Do not let this discourage you. GBRs are amazingly beautiful creature. And by no means are they "hard" to keep. They just require more of your attention than most, again, IMO. I keep GBRs. LOVE THEM.

The two will co-habitat IF your space is big enough. If its small, than you'll have some issues. The same for just GBRs too. Small space with multiple males and females = no good (for them) Small space with multiple males, def a better idea than multiuple females... That's just from experience. Sounds off but the males in my experience are more easy going and less territorial.
and I think the pix you posted of the GBRs are female.
If the store sold the bolivans to you as German Blue I would go back and speak with them.

PM with any questions, or just to chat about GBRS

E

[xoniac]

Yeah, thanks. I ended up taking those back to my favorite LFS. They gave me more for them than what I paid at the other place... and I think I was mistaken. They marked the tank only as "Rams". Ah well. I did find a little male Ram at Petsmart for 6 bucks though, so now I have two females and a male in a 40 gallon. I would have bought two but I couldn't be sure on the rest of them in the tank, so this is good for now.

Also looking in to getting a peacock eel and trading in my Fire Eel, seeing as they get so big and I don't have the space for him at that size... Anyone have any experience with the peacocks?

[xoniac]

He's gorgeous, and he's taken to one of my females (even though they bicker a lot, lol)

[Lab_Rat]

Very nice looking male.

[xoniac]

Very nice looking male.

Thank you!!!