German Blue Ram Behavior

**KevinVA** · 02-26-2013, 07:52 PM

Hey guys,

I've been observing my two GBRs over the last couple of days and noticed some odd/interesting behavior. First, I saw a physical change on the male. He developed a black spot on his forehead - something he didn't have before. At first I was worried, but then saw pictures of other GBRs and they had several of them like that. I'm assuming he's becoming mature.

That being said, I noticed this behavior from the female yesterday: http://www.kevinbush.com/gbr-pair-female-acting-funny/

Today, I saw a complete change with the way they interact with each other, which is leading me to believe that either one of them is ready to mate and the other isn't, or they just don't like each other and I'm seeing the beginnings of territorial disputes.

On a fairly typical day, these two will follow each other around and stay in the same position. They usually hang out by the rock caves I created, and also a single standing, smaller rock in the corner of the aquarium. That's where the video took place. Today, I saw them stare at each other... for a relatively long period of time. It looked like they were eyeing each other up... then one of them would swim closer (or charge, as it were - they are "rams," after all), they'd circle each other and kind of smack each other with their bodies. Then they'd separate, stare at each other again, for a long period of time, and repeat. It ended with the female being chased away into a different corner of the tank, when the male returned to his corner.

At first glance, it would look like territorial disputes, but I honestly don't know enough about GBRs to make that call.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate your insight.

Thanks,
Kevin

**fishmommie** · 02-26-2013, 08:10 PM

I'm NO help but I think it sounds really intriguing. Couldn't get your video to play ... not sure if it's my PC or the link.
Are you hoping for a mating pair???

**KevinVA** · 02-26-2013, 08:15 PM

Not sure I should be hoping for anything, knowing my luck. lol It'd be nice to have a mating pair, though. A real shot in the dark, too, since I only bought these two, together, and no others. =X

I'm going to start a Youtube channel... it's a pita to get anyone to see my vids. haha

**KingFisher** · 02-26-2013, 08:29 PM

Your rams are testing each other out to see if they want to form a pair or not. If they do you can expect them to lay their eggs on that rock they were cleaning off. They will just wait until the female is plump and full of eggs. You can feed them some frozen bloodworms every other day for a week and they will be ready to breed, maybe sooner.

**KevinVA** · 02-26-2013, 08:34 PM

Wow, that's awesome! Thanks Kingfisher. =]

I have noticed, that while they do this to each other, they'll chase anything else that gets within their little realm away. My Gourami is one of the biggest annoyances and I noticed that they even nudge Assassin snails out of the way.

Just setup Youtube. Here's the vid, FM: