Sexing blue rams

[C-paan]

How do you sex blue rams. I have just got two that I added to my 10g planted tank. I am wondering what i need to look for to see if I have a male and a female. Are tehy hard to breed or is it something that will just happen if I have everything set up perfect and keep my fingers crossed. Can you make money breeding blue rams? Or are they just as worthless as breeding guppies?

 

[fredmir]

Hi

I been breeding German Blue Rams for a few years

The female`s do have red on there belly.That how I sex them.I always right, sexing them this way

Not hard to breed,but quiet hard to raise

Making money on them,depends where you live?? If store what good quailty German Blue Rams(Locally Bred) or Asia Blue Rams (I called them Death with Fins)

I breed and raise at least 400 Rams a years and get good money for them

Good Luck

George

 

[Gary W.]

Hi

Female blue rams in most cases have blue spots within the the black spot on their sides. Also they are somewhat smaller then the male.
Rams need soft water and and low ph to breed and to get the eggs to
hatch.
My younger rams took about four egg lays before they got it right.
Some are good parent's , some aren't.
The ? of raising is tough , i use liquid fry food 1st week then on to newly hatched brine shrimp.

Hope this helps
GARY W.

 

[2la]

My take:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2060

 

[John7]

Sexing rams.

Very nice photos, 2la! It was very easy to see what you were talking about when you said the speckles overlay the spot on the female and not on the male. I am about to take the plunge and buy four or five German Blues from my lfs. Is $5.50 each a reasonable price?
John

 

[2la]

Thank you kindly, John. Prices vary even within local markets. A "reasonable" price is whatever you're willing to pay for the quality of fish you receive in return. I'd pay through the nose for a single healthy wild male--I just can't find any locally. :?

 

[John7]

Blue Rams

2la,
Hey, I just bought two blue rams at my lfs and was able to net them myself. I looked for and found one with the white spots overlaying the black spot and one with the black spot with no white overlays. Thanks for the tip! 8)

The female seems to have the better color of the two, :? but it hasn't been too long since I put them in the 10 gal. with some white clouds and a quartet of mini gold stripe corys so maybe the male will color up some more.

Hopefully they will like each other enough to start a family. Then I will worry about raising fry if I get any. :wink:
John

 

[Neil]

John7,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

The female will likely have a touch more color, especially during breeding. Let's hope you get to see that soon!

Good luck with them,

Neil

 

[John7]

Blue Rams...

Well, so much for the blue rams... Both of them died within 24 hrs. I went back to the lfs to get my $ back and every one of them had died in the tank at the store. They lost about 20 within 2 days. Nobody knows what was wrong with them.

I had my tank all ready with low pH water and apparently they had some sort of problem that came with them from the breeder. Who knows. I am really down about this. :cry:
John

 

[Ray McCaleb]

I seriously doubt the problem was with the breeder. I Know of no way to breed or raise a fish with an internal timer that couses it to die within a 24 hour period. I would look at two variables imposed on the fish subsequent to leaving the breeder's site. First, transportation. How long were the fish in the bag? How many per bag? How well were they bagged/packaged...overcrowded? Oxygen? Temperature variations? Secondly, what happened when they arrived at the store? Significant environmental parameter changes? Temperature...pH...light...toxins?

As a small breeder I want nothing more than the customer to be absolutely thrilled with receiving healthy, quality fish. I ALWAYS enquire as to the destination environment before shipping. If an obvious problem exists at the other end I make suggestions to mitigate the issue. I understand that large operations can't always do this...but it would be nice. After all, it's a hobby...it should be fun...especially for the customer.

Ray

 

[John7]

Ray,
In no way did I mean that the breeder did something intentionally! That is ridiculous! What I meant to say was that the problem was probably with the water parameters that they were spawned and raised in Vs that of the LFS. I presume that the damage was done to their systems by the shock of going from their shipping water to the LFS water by the time I took them home and nothing could have been done to help them. I am sorry if I did not make myself clear in that remark.

I will try to find my next rams at a fish auction. We have quite a few here in north east Ohio. Five over the course of the last month and this month. I have had very good luck with fish from auctions.
John

 

[crimsonrain]

I have a gold ram with another and 2 blues on the way...is the rounded fin a good way to sex the golds? cause mine is distinctly rounded and it has the first "spike" on the fin longer than the rest. and according to blues that is an indicator

 

[Neil]

crimsonrain,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

It can be, but it is not enough of a dead give away to be sure. I am in agreement with 2la that the "best" method is the lateral spot. More often than not, that is a sure thing, but it helps to look at several factors, including the "roundness" of the fins, etc.

Good luck,
Neil

 

[crimsonrain]

but the gold rams have no spots.

 

[Neil]

I'll be a monkey's uncle, I forgot about that. Been so long since I have looked at Golds that i forgot they they lack the lateral spot.

Unless you have fairly mature specimens, they are difficult to sex. Males tend to be a little larger. Females tend to be a little stockier with more of a belly that will often have a pinker color that extends further than the male. Males usually have a lighter gold or orange color on the belly or can even have blue because the gold barely extends beyond the chest area. The first few rays on the dorsal fins will often be elongate in the males, which can be seen when they are compared side to side. I am not sure whether you are refering to the "rounder' tail (caudal) or lower fins (anal and ventral), but these are less likely to be good indicators. If you meant a rounder dorsal, because it doesn't have as much of a spike on the top, then yes, that is true.

Neil

 

[crimsonrain]

Yes i meant a rounded dorsal near the tail. I am confident mine is a female because it has a plump pink belly that is pretty wide and has the rounded dorsal fin near the back end. Thanks for your help!

 

[crimsonrain]

Yes, the fins are an excelent way of telling the golds apart. The difference is so drastic and easy. so now i have a happy couple (went to the lfs today )