# German Blue Ram female wont color up???



## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I'm not sure but I thought you only need a pair of Rams, the female should be naturally slightly dull compared to the male but, clean water condition or regular maintenance, a good quality food(s), some live or frozen foods like brine shrimp, and a heavily planted tank with some floaters will help almost any fish relax and call your tank home. There may be something she doesn't like about her new home.

Oh, moon lights also help with natural cycles.

I know Kribensis like clean water, they will live in any water but if you keep it clean they will breed like crazy.


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Get another female. That will increase they demand for the male and if the female isnt sick she will color up to try to get his attention first. Also regular WC to make them want to spawn also helps butI would go get another girl


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Page down at this link and you'll see she is just not as pretty as the male,  it's like that with a lot of fish.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Some fish demand a harem, like Cherry Barbs or else the male will chase her around until he stresses her so bad she will just drop dead.

From the link:
The German blue ram forms monogamous pairs and both parents engage in brood care. If you want a breeding pair to form you can purchase a group of juvenile fish and let them grow up together. They will then form their own pairs as they reach sexually maturity. German blue rams can reach sexual maturity at a fairly young age; sometimes the fish is no older than 4-6 months

If you want to coax your rams into breeding, provide them with soft water and increase the water temperature a bit, up to 28 °C (82 °F). The recommended pH range is 5.5 - 6.5. Use a timer for the aquarium lights, because erratic day and night patterns can confuse them and interfere with normal breeding behaviour. It is important to include flat stones in the aquarium set up. Some pairs prefer to dig small pits in the gravel and use as breeding sites instead or in combination with stones.


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

BTW what size is your tank? That might have something to do with it and no GBRs are not harem breeders BTW but another female will make the cometition higher lol


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Yeah your right about having fuller color than the male, but she was much more colorful when i bought her, she just hasn't regained it. The tank is heavily planted, they get nothing but bloodworms, brine shrimp and new life spectrum as a staple. They eat VERY WELL. All the other fish look great and they dont bother either of the rams. I feel like the male may be a wife beater. He doesn't hurt her, but bullies her by chasing her around and charging her. I can't figure it out for the life of me. Maybe she is just still too young to say. Im baffled


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Rams do that quite often actually and oftentimes its the male wanting to breed with a female who isnt ready and he gets frustrated and she gets stressed and loses color.


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

kribkeeper888 said:


> Get another female. That will increase they demand for the male and if the female isnt sick she will color up to try to get his attention first. Also regular WC to make them want to spawn also helps butI would go get another girl


This was my most promising thought. I think that's exactly what I'm going to do. Girl in the store told me they'd be getting more in a week or two. They get them from a local guy who breeds true German bloodline rams. my tank is a 29 so I don't wanna push it and get any more than another female. It stays at a constant 81 degrees via my inline hydor. And I hope your right, that he's just pestering her but shes not mature enough to breed yet.


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Sounds good, and she may be old enough but she just not be feeling it ya know lol But remember, even a slightly elivated stress level can leave rams open to diseases and will often kill them. And a pestered ram wont breed anyway


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

yeah they both had fungus after i got them, but i kept the water quality up and it has since disappeared completely on both of them.


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Thats good. Rams in my opinion are one of the hardest freshwater fish to keep happy. For somepeople it just works and for others it just doesnt. Gotta find the balance.


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

male eating, and the only crappy pic i have of them together. see the dramatic color difference?


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Yeah I see the difference but I hate to tell you thats normal. A girl ram will never look like a male


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

yeah i had a feeling you'd say that lol. maybe im just paranoid that shes stressed. they were 17.99 each so i was freaking out from the very beginning when they got fungus and were slow to acclimate. i damn near had a nervous breakdown


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

HOLY CRAP! you payed HOW much!?!?!?!!! Dude in my area we pay 15$ for ELECTRIC blue rams. wooow. thats wild.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

Maybe try and quarantine the female while the male adjusts, let her heal, and then try to reintroduce the female when the male isn't as territorial.


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

ThatGuyWithTheFish said:


> Maybe try and quarantine the female while the male adjusts, let her heal, and then try to reintroduce the female when the male isn't as territorial.


It doesnt have anything to do with territory. And its not like shes injured. Introduceing her to another tank will most likly make her stress more

(Im not trying to be harsh lol I just know these fish very well)


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

kribkeeper888 said:


> HOLY CRAP! you payed HOW much!?!?!?!!! Dude in my area we pay 15$ for ELECTRIC blue rams. wooow. thats wild.


Yeah dude I know I know.....this is THE ONLY LFS that's gets top quality fish, they're expensive, but I have no other chioce. Theres a breeder in York pa called Amazon Basement that has true german blues that are about the same price, but that's 3 hours away and I've never had fish shipped so I'm reluctant on that. Plus with tje summer fast approaching its risky. It hit 83 here today actually. They had electric blues in the store and longfin Germans when i was in there on Friday.......$27.99 each.....not ok....


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Thats crazy. No way Im going to ever pay that much for a ram. And Ive never heard of longfin germans. weird. At the wetspot tropical fish in portland (best fish store on the west coast) they have metallic blues for 9$ germans for 8$ golds for 8$ electrics for 20$ and they are very high quality. At my LFS i can get germans for 6$ and electrics for 15$ (from the same supplier as the before mentioned Wetspot) just to give you an idea of what i think the price should be lol

(27.99 is like what I get discus for lol)


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Actually I lied, they were $14.99 each now that I'm thinking about it. Still alot


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

I know its insane. And they have longfins all the time in there. East coast ripoff dude, can't fight it lol. Opposite for some things. I get cigarettes for $6 a pack in my area. Was in New York city last week, which is an hour away from me........$12........I almost had a stroke. Just goes to show you how prices vary in very short distances. Think it all has to do with taxes. Still makes me furious. Like gas prices....that's a whooollllleeee nother subject though lol!


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

I'm mad jealous of your fish prices though I have to admit


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

Im just suprised.... seems like you could almost buy fish online cheaper.


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Oh I'm sure I could and ill agree with that all day long. I get nervous when plants get shipped to me let alone fish lol. Have you ever done it? Did they arrive in ok shape?


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

LOL nope! Im just as nervous. But i hear of people doing it fine so I dunno....


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Ehhhhh. Crap. Think ill just wait till my store gets some more than lol. Gotta say thanks for your help man. I really appreciate it. You've calmed my nerves a bit about the female being normal. They still got some growing to do but I guess I'm just impatient Haha.


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## Brownthumb07 (Dec 8, 2009)

I dunno been a while since I kept Blue Rams but your female looks like a Bolivian ram to me. Could just be the pic but I have 6 Bolivian Rams in my 125 and they look exactly like your fish.


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## s_s (Feb 15, 2012)

That how my rams look. She only super colorful when she's ready to breed.


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## kribkeeper888 (Oct 8, 2011)

The Trigger said:


> Ehhhhh. Crap. Think ill just wait till my store gets some more than lol. Gotta say thanks for your help man. I really appreciate it. You've calmed my nerves a bit about the female being normal. They still got some growing to do but I guess I'm just impatient Haha.


Haha yeah anytime, you ever have any ram questions or problems PM me.



Brownthumb07 said:


> I dunno been a while since I kept Blue Rams but your female looks like a Bolivian ram to me. Could just be the pic but I have 6 Bolivian Rams in my 125 and they look exactly like your fish.


Yeah. NOT a bolivian. The color is similar on a drab GBR but they are very different fish


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Brownthumb07 said:


> I dunno been a while since I kept Blue Rams but your female looks like a Bolivian ram to me. Could just be the pic but I have 6 Bolivian Rams in my 125 and they look exactly like your fish.


No she's a gbr for sure. You can still see her blue scales just not as much. I'm a billion percent positive she's not a bolivian


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Will do kribkeeper. Thanks again


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## 50089 (Dec 11, 2011)

The Trigger said:


> Oh I'm sure I could and ill agree with that all day long. I get nervous when plants get shipped to me let alone fish lol. Have you ever done it? Did they arrive in ok shape?


All of my fish have come from hobbyists and breeders I bought from online and they were all healthy and arrived fine, never had a problem. I don't have Rams though so not sure how well they ship.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I think they are also still very young, take another pic in 3 months and put it beside these and the difference will be clear, they are just juveniles. 

The chasing is them practicing the mating ritual like kids it grade school, they will figure it out soon enough.


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

librarygirl said:


> All of my fish have come from hobbyists and breeders I bought from online and they were all healthy and arrived fine, never had a problem. I don't have Rams though so not sure how well they ship.


Yeah the breeders I was looking at say they have a live arrival guarantee so I guess they would be fine.


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

150EH said:


> I think they are also still very young, take another pic in 3 months and put it beside these and the difference will be clear, they are just juveniles.
> 
> The chasing is them practicing the mating ritual like kids it grade school, they will figure it out soon enough.


Haha well put.


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