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Rams - Males or Female?

TBRO

TBRO

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Joined
8 Feb 2009
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947


I picked up two juvenile Rams today. I was planning to get some for a while but was looking out for a female. These two were the only ones left. I thought they both looked female. Opinions?

Either way they are great little fish, very pleased


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TBRO said:


I picked up two juvenile Rams today. I was planning to get some for a while but was looking out for a female. These two were the only ones left. I thought they both looked female. Opinions?

Either way they are great little fish, very pleased


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It looks like they are starting to get red/pink bellies if so I believe only the females show this. Males also have longer dorsal fins at the back and a bigger spike at the front. :)
 
Thanks all for confirming my suspicions. I’m quite pleased as I was under the impression that females were difficult to come by.

Now I’m not sure about adding a male? Don’t want one of the females to end up the bullied spinster!

I could just stick with two females, they seem to hang around together. Don’t necessarily want a tank full of baby Rams, had that once before with Angel fish. Would I be missing out without a male, what do you think?


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TBRO said:
Thanks all for confirming my suspicions. I’m quite pleased as I was under the impression that females were difficult to come by.

Now I’m not sure about adding a male? Don’t want one of the females to end up the bullied spinster!

I could just stick with two females, they seem to hang around together. Don’t necessarily want a tank full of baby Rams, had that once before with Angel fish. Would I be missing out without a male, what do you think?


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I had a pair of rams years ago, they were great to watch and even spawned on a smooth rock. You could see all the eggs, they protected them for a short while then decided to eat them. The males show more colour than females. I would add a male as when they pair its great to watch them, How big is your tank you didn't say? :)
 
TBRO said:
Hi Tommy,

It’s my AS 900 (90x50x45) https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/10-years-gone-aquascaper-900.53086/




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Hi TBRO, that's a decent size tank I see no reason why you couldn't have 2 males and 4 females. Your tank has plenty of hiding places, its only when you have a pair that has laid eggs where they become aggressive guarding them, but that is the same for all cichlids. Your tank has plenty of places the others could go if you had a pair that did spawn. :)
 
TBRO said:
Now I’m not sure about adding a male? Don’t want one of the females to end up the bullied spinster!

I could just stick with two females, they seem to hang around together. Don’t necessarily want a tank full of baby Rams, had that once before with Angel fish. Would I be missing out without a male, what do you think?
Click to expand...

Yeah I think two females as well. The size of your tank you could get away with adding a male as long as the spare female has plenty of places to keep out the way. The females are less aggressive than the males, as they mature they will want some space for themselves so will fratch a little but nothing too serious. I tend to think they still want their own space as their instinct is to breed so making sure there is no other choice of female about increases their chances should a male happen to be wandering past even though there isn't one (That's just my attempt at some amateur Cichlid psychology)

Adding the male definitely will step up the aggressiveness of the female though as she has something worth fighting for rather than just fish tank real estate, it's a fickle market though in the Ram breeding game, males tend to pick their partner at the drop of a hat and can even change in the same day. Rams are harem breeders really and it wouldn't be uncommon for them to try and breed with a couple of females at the same time given half the chance. One female will obviously try and keep the male in her bed though and that's when the fratching begins. One of the females will tend to colour down a bit and submit before things get too heated and like I said as long as they have somewhere to hide they shouldn't get bullied too much until the male changes his mind on the new wife again.

Don't worry about ending up with loads of young rams in a community tank it just isn't going to happen unless you're the luckiest fish keeper on the planet. Rams tend to eat their young or eggs just by mentioning eating eggs even at the best of times with a tank to themselves so you should be ok that way. For some reason they think eating their young is a great defence mechanism (Go figure) probably because they think if anyone's going to eat them it might as well be me so they gain the nutrition from them. In a community tank it doesn't take much to spook the fish into doing it, even just a fish they don't like the look of is generally enough.

Depending where you get the fish it's not uncommon to find females. The German and Chezq Rams tend to be smaller and you can get pairs but the Asian ones tend to be much bigger and more colourful (Enhanced I believe) and usually males only. You tend to come across the females only when the LFS has Euro Rams and people who don't know how to sex the fish buy up all the males because they are bigger, longer fins and more colourful.
 
Thanks so much for all the great information!

They are a super little fish very active, always exploring the green reef. Will look out for a lucky lad to join them. T


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