Pop-Eyed Ram

[SomethingFishy]

Had a Long-Finned Blue Ram for some time and then one day he developed what appeared to be Pop-Eye.

He was sluggish and his poor eyes were buggin out. I read the advice on the Disease Forum and did what was indicated. Unfortunately he died - but not before my Green Tiger Loach decided to make a meal of one of his bulging eyes!

Poor thing.

Any additional advice on what caused this and how I can avoid it in the future. I want to purchase a small group of Rams in the future with the hope of getting a breeding pair and then return the un-paired Rams.

Advice??

 

[KB87]

From my experience rams pair fairly easily. I have tried to pair them 3 times, two of them took to their mates almost imeadiately, the third was a little holy terror and wouldn't pair for anything (occasionally went insane and killed his mates) But that's not the point. I can probably save yourself some money by learning to sex them well and just buying a male and female. They will probably pair for you just fine.

 

[SomethingFishy]

Any insight on how to sex Rams or are you not sure either? The LFS people I spoke to did not know and suggested the "group approach" and wait for a pair to form.

 

[KB87]

they can be quite easy to sex if you know what to look for. If you are looking at adults it's a piece of cake. Juvis can be a little harder. Adult males have extended first 4 dorsal rays. Females have red bellies, and I have heard that they have blue flecks in their black spot on the side of their body, some people swear by that meathod, I have found it useless. Females often have a bright red belly. Once you have seen both a lot it's no problem, you also see that they have a slighty different body shape, but I couldn't begin to explain that! Also, the ends of older male's fins are pointed rather than rounded. (If you don't know what I'm talking about on any of this, the ram in my avatar is male )