More than one kind of blue ram?

[bigfoot150]

Well as some of you may know I got me a load of rams last month. The thing is that they all share male characteristics but at the same time appear to also exibit female characteristics. The also look a bit different from other rams I have seen. They have also not formed any pairs and seem to be a bit picky with their food even though they do eat. Here are some pics.

As it happens, I went down to the LFS the other day and what would you know, they have blue rams aswell. However, these appear to me more like juvenile rams and are a bit smaller than the ones I already have. However, they are very sexually dimorphic with the males sporting the typical extended dorsal spine and the female being smaller and less colorful.

So I bought 3 of them making sure that the guy at the LFS got me a male and 2 females. The guy who scrooped them out was also very knowledgable on sexing rams so I trust he did get what I want. I brought them home and almost within 24hrs the male paired off with a female while the original rams seemed to care less. The new rams also seem to be less picky eating pretty much everything I throw at them. Here are some pics of the new rams.

One Lady

The other lady I believe

Male and his ladyfriend

So are there more than one type of blue ram? I know they can come from various places like asia or germany or even direct from the breeders but are they really that different?

 

[blueturq]

well for rams, their are Blue(what you have), Gold, and Bolivian(much bigger)

So are there more than one type of blue ram? I know they can come from various places like asia or germany or even direct from the breeders but are they really that different?

Cichlid have their own personality like humans. Now you say they can come from various sources which is true. Your new ones may not be picky about food, probably because the breeder that raised them may have given them a varied diet............

 

[depthC]

I probably wouldnt say different types of rams but some of yours do seem to vary in color. Which i believe is normal since youve stated youve got yours from different regions. Where did you get your load or rams and how many?

Ive had rams in the past and they seemed to lack the bright colors you might see in some rams including the first picture you posted. It appeared they were wild but just not as colorful as the domestic ones you may see around.

.depthc

 

[bigfoot150]

Well I got my first load of rams on aquabid. That deal went south when all of them died over the next couple of days. I called the seller about them and they sent me some more for free. I have had these guys for about a month and over the course of time that I have had them 7 have died from unknown issues.

I have had the new guys on the block for a week at this point and all three are doing well. I got them from a very very good LFS that stocks all kinds of fish and actually makes a point to get fish from distributers that use now chemicals. The are also very young at this point and I am thinking that is why they have less color then there compatriots.

 

[ScubaSteve]

There's the Blue Ram and the GERMAN Blue Ram.

The German Blue Ram is much more colorful than the Blue Ram (selective breeding) and also more delicate.

Somebody really took a big bite of the one Ram's (3rd pic) dorsal fin....

BTW: Your tank looks awesome !!!!

*celebrate

 

[blueturq]

There's the Blue Ram and the GERMAN Blue Ram. The German Blue Ram is much more colorful than the Blue Ram (selective breeding) and also more delicate.

Wow i never knew that!

 

[wayne]

I suspect that your first bunch are very inbred - thus their lack of vitality, and the first ones you bought repeatedly died. This is, unfortunately typical of rams nowadays. By the bye, they looked like females to me - I use the presence of blue spots in the dorsal midbody spot to indicate a female and that's pretty reliable.
Blue rams, german blue and golden rams are all colour variants of Mikrogeophagus ramirizei (prlly spelt wrong). This fish is from venezuela, lives in small pools and streams on a near sea level plain in high temp , low pH conditions. At some point I'd like to do more biotope research on this fish.
Peruvian ram is Mikrogeophagus altispinosa from a river complex in Peru.
There is also a twin spot altispinosa that's a dfferent species that I have seen for sale once. I don't have a scientific name for this. I have also seen photos of something that looked like a ram but was definitely a different species

 

[jeanne]

I have blue rams that were wild caught. The females have the blue spangles on mid-body, as Wayne says. Also, the dorsal fin is rounded off on the back edge and the tails are rounded at the upper and lower "corners" on the females (as in your first two pics). The males have a distinctly long (almost trailing) point on the back of their dorsal fins, and their tails have such distinct points on the "corners" as to be almost a very mini version of a lyretail (I think your third one might be a male, since his fins seem to suggest they'll be pointed once they grow back). Both male and female are very brightly colored, with lots of gold at the head, irridescent lavender in the bodies, blue speckles in the fins, etc. The females do have a bit more of a blushing color to the bellies. Hope this helps.