Sexing German Blue Rams

[Fishalicious]

So you've decided to buy a pair of these cuties... maybe in the hopes of breeding ... but even then they are lovely to keep as a couple as a male & female... even if they don't breed they will happily live alongside each other and stay together pretty much all of the time. We all know how things can be if you put two females or two males in a room after a while <grins> That is not to say that these characterful little guys never have a 'lovers' tiff - mine often get the hump with each other but usually make up again pretty quickly.

So your in the store and you see a tank full of these cuties... usually if you can get comfy and the store owner is not bothering you too much you can watch their behaviour and pick out a dominant male pretty quickly - even when they are young... a dominant male likes his ladies and will have picked his favorite in the tank... by observation and patience you should be able to see 2 rams that have taken a shine to each other as they will stay together quite a lot... usually this is already a good sign that it is a male and female... but you have doubts niggling in your head so to be sure here are some signs.

The female:
Will have black stripes going though her pelvic fins (this is a great one to remember as when they are very young this coloring already shows if all others fail... the stripes are usually also apparant in a stressed colorless fish)

If she is a happy little gal and shining then you can see that her shiny blue dot's cover her side black marking.

If she is a very happy little gal then her belly will show a pink hue to let those men know that she is ready for a mate.



Sorry for the horrible pic of her.. (she'll kill me if she see's this on the net) but it shows nicely all the above points

Males:
No black lines in the pelvic fins

The black marking on the side is solid black

Bigger built and the dorsal fin will be longer and spikier

Not a pink hue in sight on the stomach area




I hope this helps some peeps who are going to treat themselves to a pair of these beauties or those who have some doubts on the ones they have.

[Algenco]

Great info as usual Jess
Fantastic pics too!

[Incredulous_Ed]

good good wrtiteup!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

perfect explanation. Well done. Thanks Jess.

[LosC]

A Very accurate, helpful and humorous article. Helped me out alot and from the looks of it I have 2 females. I only knew of the pink belly sign but none had pink bellies at the lfs only until a few days later after bringing them home.

[Tolley]

Very Helpful Information.

[SkarloeysMom]

Thanks Jess! That's great info and pics too! I have a few other related questions that I'm pretty sure you can answer. How long does it normally take for GBR to grow to an adult? And do you have pictures you could post that show the differences as they grow up? I'm having a hard time finding pics online of juvenile GBRs. I've seen fry but not a 1 or 2 month old compared to a 6 month old. I'm trying to estimate how old my fish are. Mine don't have a single spot but rather dark vertical stripes all the way along their body with one that looks a bit darker. I just assume this was juvenile markings. One other question, what accounts for their color lightening and darkening? I noticed that after a water change one of mine looked very dark and within an hour the color had lightened up. Is that a sign of stress?

[country_boy454]

Well I guess I was wrong about my GBR being female. It is most definately a male. No black on the pelvic fins. No pinkish belly. Thanks for the great information. I will remember this when I look at getting a female for my male.

[RainMan]

This is perfect Jess... I'm going to print this up when it comes time to get my GBRs. This will make it much easier.... I bet it will even teach the LFS a thing or 2. Those are great pictures and the explanation was entertaining as well.

Thanks again!

ps. I promise I won't show her picture to anyone else. LOL

[Lady Hobbs]

Awesome explanation and very easy to see the difference in them if you know what you are looking for. Nice job, GF.