# German Blue Rams, male/female???



## Drowki (May 8, 2012)

Top one is a male, very nice colors
Second one is a female. 

Yeah, you might want to get a female in there for the other male.... then you will be good to go... 

I had my rams for about a month now and they spawned last night. This morning all the eggs are gone and the nest is no more... (maybe the moved them) or ate them to a secure spot. 

Its really fun to watch them, i love their personality and I am considering buying an Electric Blue Long Finned Ram... 2x (male female)

my male:










my female:


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## MarineEdge (Jan 14, 2012)

hard to say. Im leaning towards the same conclusion as Drowki, but generally the males wont have any blue flecks in their black side spot, and the female does. It might be a tad too early to tell yet, or they may just be lower quality GBR's. I have a pair myself, and i wasnt sure if i had really gotten a male/female pair until they spawned, they look really similar


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## Drowki (May 8, 2012)

Start feeding them live food (blood worms) mine went CRAZY for it! It also brings out the color.

But MarineEdge might be right, they might be a little younger... when they are ready to mate the colors on the male will come out. Variation of food is a must! - Live food, Algae pellets, shrimp food, flakes. I change their diet (with the exception of the algae pellets - for my bottom feeders so they are fed that every day) 

But I must say, I love the male in your pic, really nice colors... I wonder my male has a lot of red.... (he was tank raised too) 

The bottom pic too, looks like two males... 

Black front fins and black spot with colors and transluecnet colors = female
male is usually larger, and the dorsal fin spikes in a different spot too.. 

I would add a second female, try to find a high quality one.. tank raised (you will have a lot of success)


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## jbig (Jul 13, 2012)

thank you for the advice i really appreciate the comments about the color. 

i'd been having a tough time distinguishing and i thought they might be too young as well. i've only had them for about a 1 1/2 weeks and i got them from petsmart... 

do the male's dorsal and tail fins always get that red tint like yours drowki? i like that a lot. sorry to hear about your lost fry!

the black spot is what really throws me off because they all have a little bit of blue. 

one other thing that made me think the middle pic is a female (although its hard to see in the pic) is that the stomach seems like its starting to turn a little pink. 

i have been feeding them "color enhancing" flakes and frozen brine shrimp (i did throw an algae pellet in there and the they devoured it). i will have to pick up some blood worms as well. 

my only concern with getting another female is that i have read that two blue ram pairs need a lot of space and i only have a 20 long...maybe this isn't always the case so i'll definitely consider it. 

the personalities are great! i love them, the female is so curious. whenever i do some maintenance on the tank she is the first one to swim right up to my hand and watch.


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## Plant keeper (Jan 27, 2011)

jbig said:


> thank you for the advice i really appreciate the comments about the color.
> 
> i'd been having a tough time distinguishing and i thought they might be too young as well. i've only had them for about a 1 1/2 weeks and i got them from petsmart...
> 
> ...


I would not get another Pair that is a male and female..


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## Drowki (May 8, 2012)

Plant keeper said:


> I would not get another Pair that is a male and female..


only reason why i suggest getting another one, is that he has 3 in there. Typically when rams pair up, they will pick on the other one. 

Its sort of cute, my ram attacks me when i go in there to clean.... well not me the hose... I feel like they are the batman of my tank.. 


I go by the black fins on the bottom to see if it is a female. The pink belly is a huge indicator a male does not.

Since you live in NJ, Look for Ely's Aquarium and Pond in Florham park. That is where I got my male. Very, very nice coloring and tank raised as well. I think he was the hands of select breeding. The male as he gets older, more colors come out... especially around the breeding/spawning time. But I don't think he will get that red, but i could be wrong... it looks like he will be more of a blush color...


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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

Wheres the OP pic? Mobile version fail? Everyone else can see it?


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## jbig (Jul 13, 2012)

Drowki said:


> only reason why i suggest getting another one, is that he has 3 in there. Typically when rams pair up, they will pick on the other one.
> 
> Its sort of cute, my ram attacks me when i go in there to clean.... well not me the hose... I feel like they are the batman of my tank..
> 
> ...




thanks drowki, surprisingly enough, the pair tends to mind their own business while the single male tends to be more aggressive towards them. this only really happens when they get curious and wander to the other side of the tank. 

I'll have to check out Ely's. It's a bit of a drive for me but I am out that way sometimes so i'll give it a look.thanks again!


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## jbig (Jul 13, 2012)

DerekFF said:


> Wheres the OP pic? Mobile version fail? Everyone else can see it?


the pics are there, i promise lol. mobile app fail it is.


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## Waterrat (Jun 29, 2012)

jbig- The fish in the top photo is most likely a male as he has the long black extensions on the first 2 rays of his dorsal fins. The second photo is surely a female. While not always present (especially on wild caught rams) yours has the rose colored spot on her belly- a dead giveaway, plus she does not have the dorsal fin extensions. In the bottom photo, the top fish looks to be a male, while I'm not sure about the lower fish, but appears to be a female (can't tell from the photo).

Sorry about loosing the fry. Rams tend to be very poor parents. In the hundreds of ram spawns that we have raised, not one pair has ever raised their own fry, but I know other breeders that have had parents raise their own fry successfully.

You can have more than one pair in a 20 gallon tank together, as long as the tank is planted with some places to hide. When we "colony breed" we'll put 4-6 pairs of rams together in a 40 gallon breeder tank that is very lightly planted. Unless the fish are actually spawning, they are not too territorial. In fact, our experience has been that more fish in the tank make them less territorial as they aren't focusing their aggression on any one fish. We use 55 gallon tanks to grow out our rams, and several times a week, a young pair will spontaneously spawn on the heater or silicone. They will defend the immediate site, but the 200 or so other rams don't seem to bother them.

For spawning surfaces, we use small 2" x 2" pieces of slate placed around the back and sides of the tank. It will be obvious when one pair picks a spawning site. Once they spawn, you can remove the slate containing the eggs and hatch them as you would angelfish eggs. The process is exactly the same.

Good Luck!


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## jbig (Jul 13, 2012)

Waterrat said:


> jbig- The fish in the top photo is most likely a male as he has the long black extensions on the first 2 rays of his dorsal fins. The second photo is surely a female. While not always present (especially on wild caught rams) yours has the rose colored spot on her belly- a dead giveaway, plus she does not have the dorsal fin extensions. In the bottom photo, the top fish looks to be a male, while I'm not sure about the lower fish, but appears to be a female (can't tell from the photo).
> 
> Sorry about loosing the fry. Rams tend to be very poor parents. In the hundreds of ram spawns that we have raised, not one pair has ever raised their own fry, but I know other breeders that have had parents raise their own fry successfully.
> 
> ...


Thanks Waterrat, great info. That last pic is actually of the male and female. the other male is not in that picture but off to the left. 

after reading your thoughts on pairing the blue rams i think i will wait until my jungle val grows in a little more and buy the other male a little friend. 

thanks again


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## moogoo (Dec 7, 2007)

looks like 2 females to me. males don't have black on their pectoral fins at all and no blue specs in their black dot. the seemingly elongated 2nd spike on the dorsal fin is throwing me off a bit though.. but 2 strikes out of 3 points toward female imo.


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