German Blue Ram behaviour

[GrubbyGirl]

I'm confused. I bought a pair of blue rams and one died pretty quickly. The one that was left I was pretty confident was a male and still am. He'd been on his own for a few months so I decided to buy, what I thought was 2 females and 1 male to join him. Anyway, the older male seems to have paired up with one of the newbies and as she has a pinkish belly I think I had got my original sexes right. Now here is the odd thing. The "so called" female that has paired up withe the male has become a really bully to the remaining rams, so much so that the other two have lost their colour though neither are hiding away (the bigger male also chases them but not as much). Both the unpaired rams appear to have pinkish bellies so I was thinking they might be female.

Anyway I decided to remove the 2 that were being bulled and put them into my quarantine tank until I could figure out what to do with them. Almost immediately one started bullying the other, so much so he/she hid away as it's a much smaller tank and couldn't just swim away. I decided to put the bullier back in the big tank. She/he is now being bullied again, but the one on it's own has coloured right up and looks great - and happy.

Now I'm not sure what sexes I have. I would have thought it would be the males being bullies not the females, so now I'm wondering of I have 3 males and 1 female. I was thinking of trying to get a couple mopre females but of it is the females that are the bullies that could make things worse.

As for sexing, they all have the longer second spine on the dorsal fin and I understand that is not reliable anyway. From what I have read it's the anal fin that is more relaible with the males being longer than the females, in which case I seem to have 1 male (the original one) and 3 females. Is it normal for females to be aggressive to each other? I'm very confused.

 

[Jo Crane]

This often happens with rams I have heard of people using mirrors to defuse the aggression, nice tall plants and tall wood to hide around does help a bit, the weird thing is with rams in a big group you don't see the same level of aggression at all the smaller the group the more intense the fighting seems to be as you get one or two fish fighting to rule the tank

 

[GrubbyGirl]

Maybe I will get a couple more.....try and get males then if that doesn't work I could put a pair in each of my tanks I guess. I'm surprised it's the females that are the aggressors though

 

[Irene0100]

the pink belly is best way to sex them.
I am not surprised however, you cannot put two mature males ( or females) in a tank, they need to be singles or a pair of both sexes. have not tried the larger shaol idea but you could run out of tanks if you have to separate them!!

 

[Jo Crane]

Stock tanks with loads in no problem large tank with a couple in they are a nightmare

 

[GrubbyGirl]

Anyone want 2 female blue rams?? :whistle::whistle:

 

[aew]

Grubby Girl, That's a common blue ram behaviour. When they form a pair, the pair will chase the others away. They are a territorial fish. If your aquarium big enough, you should put a big and tall plant and try to separate your aquarium to 2 or 3 section by using plant, glass or even driftwood. It's just so that they do not see each others. If the male and the female are not a pair, the male or the female will chase the other sex away.

If you buy more rams or if the pairs are spawning, the problem will become worst unfortunately.
Hope that make sense.

 

[GrubbyGirl]

I Have 2 other tanks I'll split the remaining girls up and put one in each tank. I already have a lot of planting in the big tank, although I do have some redmoor wood to put in which would also break up the tank niceley