Please Help Sex My Blue Rams

depthC

depthC

Superstar Fish
#2
Feb 24, 2003
1,417
0
0
WI
#2
Ooh, now thats difficult. My best judgment is that they are both males. I cant find any major distinction, no red bellies nor blue spangles in the black shot.

Andrew
 

R

RobD

Medium Fish
#4
Jun 14, 2004
78
0
0
Mt. Pleasant, MI
www.cst.cmich.edu
#4
Tough to judge by the pictures. Any chance you can get some better side shots? Anyway, my limited experience opinion says:

Ram A: Female. No spangles in the spot, but I had two females that were very similiar to this. These were my best-looking Rams, still have one of them. Anyway, your ram's top fin starts out with two short spikes, then the third one (last black one) is only the same height as the rest of the finnage. Not that it is science, but all the males of pairs I have seen have had at least two of the first three be a tall spike.

Ram B: Male, maybe Female. Spangles in the upper region of the spot, but the picture is too grainy. Some taller spikes, but this is a body style that seems to be the run-of-the-mill rams as of late. I have six of these, all females, with taller spikes. It's almost like they have a mix of something in them. They never display the colors of a ram as seen in the catalogs and the breeder sites. Kind of plain, lots of orange in the head, washed-out spot. Usually some lacey finnage as well.

If I second-guess myself, I would say A is a male and B is a female. How's that? I know, not much help...sorry.
 

NoDeltaH2O

NoDeltaH2O

Superstar Fish
#6
Feb 17, 2005
1,873
0
0
52
SC
#6
a - male
b - female

I have these rams and the female just looks more feminine.

Also, the male's height to length ratio is higher than that of the female. In other words, males are "taller" than females are, which tend to appear longer.
 

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RobD

Medium Fish
#7
Jun 14, 2004
78
0
0
Mt. Pleasant, MI
www.cst.cmich.edu
#7
Cichlid-Man said:
I think you are getting the spangles mixed up Rob. Males have them around the dot, females usually have them in the dot. ;)
Click to expand...
No, I know that is the primary rule, but doesn't always work. Here is one of my first rams, a definite female. You can see the red belly and I watched her lay eggs. But the spot is very deceiving with spangles very near the outside edge. I think soh15's ram A is similiar to this, which is why I thought Female.



Here is the male I had that spawned with the one above several times before he croaked. As you can see, the spot has spangles almost completely within. But check out the spikes - one very short one and then 3 very long ones. This one was doing the fertilizing.



So in short, rams can be very difficult to sex. What you think isn't always what you get.
 

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