ram question

zeebo

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anyone know how to sex them while still in the store tank and not colored up yet ? hope someone can help, thanks
 

bigbird

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that is vey hard. how long/big are they size wise ? Any chance of photos? This would only be a rough guess as well. If they have no colour they would be tiny cheers jk :thumbup:
 

scobie140

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Males top fin (dorsil?) goes to a point and female is more rounded. Easiest way. There's a few more but I've been on the beer so can't remember them sorry. Think the blue shows over the black patch on one of the sexes but can't remember which one
Not overly helpful sorry
 

bigbird

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it is correct in most cichlids, the male has a more pointed tail and the female more rounded. Also the female has a more rounded anal fin. I always if in doubt, get the largest and 2 smallest fish and try that. I find it is better to judge sex when they partly colour. Any chance of photos ? cheers jk :thumbup:
 

zeebo

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thanks guys, I will TRY to post a photo later tonight --always have problems trying to figure out photobucket :wb:
 

dw1305

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YAL05T

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It's a ram 100%. We bred thousands (literally) when we had the shop. The advice on fins is good. The dorsal on males will also elongate in the front few rays.
 

bigbird

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when I look at the photos, I can see Australian rainbows, Harlequin Tetras (not a True tetra), very hard in Australia anyway to get, Diamond Tetra and the other one is aquedins ( ? ) but no Ram/ sorry , type aequidens in google and look a pictures, there you get tons more info and photos. cheers jk :thumbup:
 
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zeebo

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thanks everyone , great responses and i appreciate them.

Reason I asked is because I want to get a mate .

So let me get this straight .... from the photo I have a male ? ?
 

dw1305

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Hi all,
Georgie this is a male:


& this is a female:


You can see the blue spangles in the black blotch half way along the dorsal fin. You can also see the front rays of the fin are quite elongated even though she is a female.

From <http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Ram_Cichlid_Mikrogeophagus_ramirezi.php>

This is Mike Wise's comments from this post <sexing Rams>.
Gerald is correct on all counts. Pink color means nothing. Extended anterior dorsal spines mean nothing, either. Both sexes can show these. For Rams with close-to-wild coloration, the shape of the humeral spot and where the metallic blue scales are located in it are what is important.
cheers Darrel
 
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leisure_man

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The spangles in the black blotch is the only sure way to tell male and female in regular rams like wild and german blue rams. Electric blue rams do not have any black blotches on them, so the only way to tell sex on them is by the body shape. The tail, fin, dorsal rays, DO NOT work and is NOT a good indicator for sex differentiation.
I breed wild, german blue, gold, electric blue, gold-face electric blue rams, so sexing them is essential for me.
 

bigbird

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well georgie, I am out of this race as leisure man breeds these so he is the expert which is good to know. have fun. cheers jk :thumbup:
 

leisure_man

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Sorry Bigbird. Not trying to offend anyone. Just want to point out the proper way to sex rams. Here is a few pics to prove my experience with rams. For the last few years I was into 'playing' with ram genetics. Needless to say, I was 'cranking out' a lot of rams on average of 2000 rams each month. It was simply a lot of work. I was getting five generations of rams in a year (from F1 to F5). Now I am down to a more manageable number as I have reached the final phase (the pinnacle) of the genetic experiment....the ballooned gold-face electric blue ram which is a combination of ballooned, gold, and electric blue genes. I know, the ballooned ram is an abomination, but to me it is just an extra gene to play with. I was thinking of working on 'long-fin' gene as well but I simply cannot stand the sight of any fish with long-fin, so it has to stop at the 'ballooned' gene.









 

zeebo

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ok , humm... I thought i purchased a german blue , but this one looks like a bolivian....I had seen the german blues colored up beautifuly, but found them pricy , but was going to go back and get a pair, but I learned we have an aquarium only store new in town , 1 yr here , so i purchased 1 to start with at a lower price , however , i don't think it is the german blue looking at the photos. ok before i putt my hair out... what do i have ? many thanks
 

leisure_man

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Your fish is a female ram. The lack of coloration indicates it can be a juvenile ram. There is a chance that it can be a wild ram as well. Wild rams are typically yellowish in coloration. German blue ram (as the name indicates) is overall blueish.

Bear in mind that all the ones I showed in the pictures are breeding size fish. Coloration intensified during the courtship, spawning, and subsequent brood caring. In addition, my breeders were all selected based on size, coloration, color uniformity, body shape, etc...etc. Unless there were a decent size group of rams at the store for you to choose from, you may be getting the 'leftover' fish.
 

zeebo

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hi l-m and others. Thanks for the expert advice . It is wild caught --they told me when i bought it . So i asked if it was de-wormed and they said no. So i gave it Paracide X on it's food for 5 days. Then recently I noticed what looks like a worm on its side ,so back into the q-tank and adding aquarium salt .

I really wanted the blue German ram, but if she dosen't color up anymore , i will assume she is a Bolivian ram. many thanks to all who participated in this thread :hi:
 

leisure_man

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Your fish is a wild ram, not a Bolivian ram (M. altispinosus) but a wild M. ramirezi. I used to breed M. altispinsus in the past. They get much bigger than M. ramirezi. Your fish is NOT M. altispinsus.

I get wild M. ramirezi from time to time and cross them back to my stock. For some reason, most of the wild rams I get are females. I rarely see a male wild M. ramirezi.