5 German Blue Rams

[Brahmza]

So, I have 5 German Blues. I'm not sure whether they're male or female. I've read all of the signs for them being each sex, but all of my rams have traits on each side. One with a high spiked dorsal, but it also has black on its pelvic fin, and small amounts of blue on the outside of its black spot. I have one with no blue in the black spot, but black on the pelvic fins. Are some traits more noteworthy than others?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Look for pink to red bellies. That's how I've always sexed females from males.

 

[mishmash]

Look for pink to red bellies. That's how I've always sexed females from males.

 
And which one is male or female, hehe ?

 

[Jakes]

pink belly will be female.. but the absolute easiest way to tell = the black spot on their side, if it has blue speckled through it then its a female, if the spot is pure black with no blue in it at all then its a male. should be easy to tell this way.

 

[Brahmza]

Yeah, 3 of mine have the red bellies. The other two have no pink, they have high dorsal fin spikes, but in the black spot there are small amounts of blue fleck on the outside of it. Center is solid black though. Hoping I have at least one male.

 

[Jakes]

around it is ok aslong as the black spot is solid black its male. sounds like you hav 2 males and and 3 females. when they pair up youre likely to get one female that gets left out and bullied.

 

[Brahmza]

Hoping I have 2. If the third female is bullied I'll be bringing her back to the lfs. Thanks for the help!

 

[MissLori]

Some GBRs have beautiful colors and markings...but no spot at all!  Some males have lots of blue dots running throughout their black spot.  Can't say I've ever seen a solid black-spot on a female, though.  Some males have a pinkish color on their bellies, but when the females have eggs their pink spot is more of a rosy-pink than just a little pinkish.
 
The second spike and the shape of the dorsal fin at the end is usually what you can rely on when other indicators are in question.
 
Can you post some pictures?

 

[Brahmza]

I will be posting pics as soon as I get a decent camera. But, as it turns out, on a different topic I posted a picture of one and everyone said it looked to be a female. It is now the dominant male of my tank and the first pair to spawn. I have 4 German Blues, 2 males and 2 females and a pair of Electric Blues. Seems all is well, the other male German Blue hardly has a black spot at all, and has blue sheen across his whole body. I'll be relying on the dorsal fin/pink bellies from now on to tell the difference between sexes. Thanks everyone! I'll have pics up in a different topic when I have a better camera.