newbie with Bolivian Rams - sexing 2 rams

[poorgirl]

Hi all,

Just brought 2 Bolivian Rams a few days ago. they are still only about 1.5 inch long and I am finidng it hard to sex them.

One has the small sex tube? at the base that resembles some of the male photos so could be a male but the other doesnt show any anyhting there at all.

Are they too small to sex? and how long before they grow to maturity?


Thanks

Poorgirl

[MalawiLover]

My absolute favorite place to find Bolivain Ram info. The site owner is a member of the forum.

http://brc.moonfruit.com/

Great pics for help sexing and lots of info.
_________________
125gMale peacocks/haps
95g-Malawi Mbuna
55g-Mixed community
30g-x2 Grow out
12.5g-Fry
IS YOUR DECHLORINATOR WORKING??

[Dutch Dude]

Hi there,

They are probably to small to be sex them accurately. Also fish that tend to be skinny are very hard to sex en unfortunately most of the Bolivians from the stores are skinny. If you are able to take a clear pic of the vent aria and a pic of the fish (from the side) we can give it a shot to sex them.

[poorgirl]

Thanks guys.

I will upload pic when I can take them.

At the moment one of them is sort off pick on the other one. It would charge up it or grab hold of fins and pull. The other Ram would dart away to safety then no more than 5 sec later it will return like it wants more punishment. Sometimes the weaker ram does return a nip or two but usually it is just one way. It doesnt seem to hide away though. Not sure if that is normal behaviour. Anything to worry about?

Also I find that overnight, both fish's body seem to go a darker marking then disapears when lights are turn on.

[Dutch Dude]

Hi there,

During the dark period Bolivians become pail with dark blotches and paterns. Thats normal. It disappears in 5 minutes after the lights switched on. Notice the fish are still sleepy in those first 5 minutes. If you ever need to catch fish you can take advantage of that sleepy period

Abouth the picking,.....in a way it is normal. Only problem is,.....there are just 2 fish and one might end as being chased all the time around by the dominant one. This is one of the reasons why I always recommend to keep Bolivians in a small group of 5 or more. Unfortunately not everyone does have a 40 gallon or larger tank. I hope the two work it out. Make sure there is enough hiding place to escape the dominant fish.

Ruurd

[poorgirl]

Er i have pics now...how to I post them.


er..never mind ...see below

[poorgirl]

My 2 B Ram:


and 2nd ram which is always been chase by the top one:



I do have a 165 litre tank (50 gallons?) with the following fishes:

8 Neon Tetra, 2 Serpae Tetra, 3 Pristella Tetra, 1 Zebra Danio, 1 Chinese Algea Eater, 3 Galaxy Rasbora and 2 Bolivian Rams

How many more Bolivian Rams can I keep in the tank?

Thanks Guys.

[MalawiLover]

That works out to between a 40 and 50 US gallons so you could easily do a small group of 5-6. If its closer to the 4ft mark on length you could probably up it to 7 if you wanted. Their social interaction in larger groups is really neat
_________________
125gMale peacocks/haps
95g-Malawi Mbuna
55g-Mixed community
30g-x2 Grow out
12.5g-Fry
IS YOUR DECHLORINATOR WORKING??

[Dutch Dude]

For some reason it takes ages for the pic to show up so I'll try tomorow and hope things work normal.

For that size tank you could have 5 bolivians without any issue. Theyr social behaviour is indeed much more interesting in groups and most likely you will have some spawning fish as well.

[poorgirl]

Thanks MalawiLover and Dutch Dude.

My tank is more tall than long. So I will probably get 1 or 2 female rams depending on what sex my current 2 are.

I have just added more plants to the tank and they seem to be liking that.

I fed some flakes today but they dont seem to be interested, well the strong one spits them out and the weaker one takes notice, just wants the stronger ones attention all the time.

Not sure if they are eating enough though

[Dutch Dude]

Hmm,...I'm not sure why but for some reason I can't see the pics. Not sure if this is a problem with my computer or something with your pics. I don't seem to have issues with other pics dough. I like to give sexing a shot but I do need pics for that

[poorgirl]

Try these links:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu273/tinypoorgirl/IMG_0921.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu273/tinypoorgirl/IMG_0897.jpg


Does anyone see the above Pics or is it just me seeing it?

[Dutch Dude]

I still can't see the pics

[poorgirl]

Not sure why you can not see it..

Can any one else see it?

[Dutch Dude]

Hi there,

I think it was an issue with my computer and after a clean up of the memory I can see the pics.

The fish in the top pic is almost certainly a male. The second is not visible but it might turn out to be a female. Like I wrote skinny fish are hard to sex and there two defenately need to gain weight. Unfortunately Bolivians are often to long in the lfs and skinny fish is the result. I remember Blair bought his skinny fish and after a couple of months it grew out to a gorgeous large and strong colored male.

I suggest to feed the fish some good qualety flake or small discus pellets like Tetra discus or from NLS. They also need protein rich foods to beef up more. Frozen foods are fine for that and artemia an bloodworms are a good choice. I suggest to do 3 small feeds a day until they look like the fish from the profile section. Don't feed to much bloodworms at once and alway's feed them, along with an other food. To much bloodworms can couse gas build up in the intestines. You also need to check their poo. Is it whitish and stringy they might have a health issue. If it looks normal and dark don't worry and they be fine. Try to keep the water clean as well and I suggest 2 times a week 50% water change. Skinny fish are more suscepteble for illnesses and clean water helps them to grow faster. Once the fish have normal proportions again you can go back to your normal routines and 1 or 2 times a day feeding will be fine. When they are to a healthy weight again I'm convinced it will be much easier to sex them.

Feel free to ask and It would be nice if you keep us posted.

Ruurd