Could anyone sex these rams ?
- Thread starter Fish Friend
- Start date
Blus speckles in the midbody spot = female, no blue in spot = male.
If they are really rams , they are either very small or the horriblest quality I've ever seen, but are you sure they're not bolivian rams (altispinosa).
Try this - which one do they look like?
http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery.php?genus=Mikrogeophagus
If they are really rams , they are either very small or the horriblest quality I've ever seen, but are you sure they're not bolivian rams (altispinosa).
Try this - which one do they look like?
http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery.php?genus=Mikrogeophagus
Nope, its the ramirezi, my friend took the pics, over here in the UK, at my LFS theyve got some male rams in quarantine, but there suppliers are breeding the rams now with long fins so it is hard to sex them. But there is also different kinds rams at my LFS, they come in all different shapes and sizes and colours.
It's hard to tell from those photos being so dark and the fish that far from the cam. I've tried going with the speckles in the black dots to sex them but it's just never right for me.
One way I have been able to sex them reliably is by the pink belly. Females have a pink or lavender wash in the belly area, male's don't (this works even for golds where you can't see any black spot). The tips of females fins also should be more rounded and shorter but in the long-finned varieties this just doesn't hold true.
I've seen female rams where the only difference with males was the pink belly and these females weren't necessarily in breeding condition. This was true of 4 baby rams I aquired which looked exactly like yours (had been living in terrible conditions and were infested with parasites). The smallest two of the 4 were identical in finnage, colour, and size but one (the only female) had the slightest lavender wash to her belly.
I suggest you try to deworm your fish with a med who's active ingredient(s) are metronidazol, praziquentel, or levamisole (you can find levamisole in livestock feed shops). Deeply sunken bellies like that would suggest internal parasites. I lost the 2 smaller rams to their parasitic infestation despite the fact that they'd finally been eating well, they just seemed to waste away.
One way I have been able to sex them reliably is by the pink belly. Females have a pink or lavender wash in the belly area, male's don't (this works even for golds where you can't see any black spot). The tips of females fins also should be more rounded and shorter but in the long-finned varieties this just doesn't hold true.
I've seen female rams where the only difference with males was the pink belly and these females weren't necessarily in breeding condition. This was true of 4 baby rams I aquired which looked exactly like yours (had been living in terrible conditions and were infested with parasites). The smallest two of the 4 were identical in finnage, colour, and size but one (the only female) had the slightest lavender wash to her belly.
I suggest you try to deworm your fish with a med who's active ingredient(s) are metronidazol, praziquentel, or levamisole (you can find levamisole in livestock feed shops). Deeply sunken bellies like that would suggest internal parasites. I lost the 2 smaller rams to their parasitic infestation despite the fact that they'd finally been eating well, they just seemed to waste away.
i think you have got bolivian rams there fish_friend. I purchased two bolivian rams from an extremely reputable source and they are identical to yours. They also had green rams and blue rams and they did not look like the ones in your pics, sorry.
But no worries, bolivians are great little fish, hardier than their cousins and interesting to watch.
But no worries, bolivians are great little fish, hardier than their cousins and interesting to watch.
Yes, i was just going to point that out, these rams are my friends, he took a pic of them, i wanted to know wether they were females, because males are so easy to get hold of, but females are very hard, so i was going to buy the rams off him if they were females and get 2 males aswell and then breed them, no worries
Adam
Adam
They are not M. altispinosa. They're M. ramirezi, very young, stressed and ill M. ramirezi.
The fish in FF's photos are identical to the ones I aquired months ago during their first few days in my tanks. They're a bit coloured up in the photos but you can clearly see the faint vertical barring in the sickly smaller female.
I keep both the blue and gold ramirezi as well as a pair of the Bolivians. These are definately not Bolivs.
The fish in FF's photos are identical to the ones I aquired months ago during their first few days in my tanks. They're a bit coloured up in the photos but you can clearly see the faint vertical barring in the sickly smaller female.
I keep both the blue and gold ramirezi as well as a pair of the Bolivians. These are definately not Bolivs.
Last edited:
Agreed ^.....
I think we are all, except strait are comparing these with the "perfect" models. While in acctuality these are less than great, or so it looks so its hard to tell. I've seen the exact same thing in an LFS near me and i'd put my money on regular Blue rams...personally.
They also look real young so perhaps give them time to color up and mature and then look and see.
I think we are all, except strait are comparing these with the "perfect" models. While in acctuality these are less than great, or so it looks so its hard to tell. I've seen the exact same thing in an LFS near me and i'd put my money on regular Blue rams...personally.
They also look real young so perhaps give them time to color up and mature and then look and see.
Last edited:
They look like my Blue Rams when I picked them up at the lfs. I had to special order them, so I know that is what they are. They started to show more of their colors after about a week. Like straitjacket said, the only way I could tell my male and female apart was that the female has a red area on her belly toward the tail. The male also has longer spikes on the front (first 2 or 3) of his dorsal fin (which are also black, whereas the females is more the same color throughout).
lol, ok, i guess if you wanna talk to the owner about these rams, then his email adress is daleprior@hotmail.co.uk, hes very mutch into his fish !! lol
my own rams
Hey, i managed to get a pic of my own 'disformed' rams, here they are....... and can anyone tell me what sex they are, because i think there females and i was going to get a male but im not sure...... sorry about the quality of the pics, thats my webcam for you! lol
Ive just bin to the fish shop today, i got one so called 'male' without the long fins and here he is in the bag with the other ram, is he definantely a male ?? i heard that they might attack it and kill it but the guy in the fish shop said 'just before youre going to put the fish in, just move some stuff around in the tank and feed them so that accupies the other fish and that sould do the trick'
P.s. ive just put the fish in now, and the other ram that can swim keeps following him almost everywhere when he moves and keeps going up to him to get attention and showing her 'pink' belly off to him, im exited now *BOUNCINGS
Hey, i managed to get a pic of my own 'disformed' rams, here they are....... and can anyone tell me what sex they are, because i think there females and i was going to get a male but im not sure...... sorry about the quality of the pics, thats my webcam for you! lol
Ive just bin to the fish shop today, i got one so called 'male' without the long fins and here he is in the bag with the other ram, is he definantely a male ??
i heard that they might attack it and kill it but the guy in the fish shop said 'just before youre going to put the fish in, just move some stuff around in the tank and feed them so that accupies the other fish and that sould do the trick'P.s. ive just put the fish in now, and the other ram that can swim keeps following him almost everywhere when he moves and keeps going up to him to get attention and showing her 'pink' belly off to him, im exited now
*BOUNCINGSAttachments
Last edited:
ok, do you think they will breed ? because im pretty sure at the behaviour ive seen, that they like each other, but the fact that there different puts me off, the female shows her pink belly to the male and mostly they hang around with each other but i just dont think itll work
P.s. ive seen like the little piece of skin that eggs come out of, but no eggs ?? im noit saying that theyve bin spawning but its just odd ? thanks anyways adam
P.s. ive seen like the little piece of skin that eggs come out of, but no eggs ?? im noit saying that theyve bin spawning but its just odd ? thanks anyways adam