Bolivian Ram Anatomy

[Jen_S]

I recently purchased 2 Bolivian rams. One is definately a male the other one I think is a female. My question is for anyone familiar with both angel fish and rams.
When I purchased them, they were pretty faded for a few days but seem quite happy tooling around the bottom quadrants of the tank. Yesterday I noticed that the one the I think is female has what looks like an ovipositor protruding slightly. It looks exactly like what my female angel had (when I had a breeding pair years ago). Do female Bolivian (or butterfly) rams have this???
I would take a picture but my camera doesn't cooperate for closeups of a fish let alone part of a fish LOL
They are both 2-2.5 inches in length including tail.

 

[zakkp8]

I think yours are going to breed within the next day or so, because yesterday I noticed mine had the same thing then the male had one, the females is round and the males is more like an upside down cone?!? Is that what your looks like? And mine bred yesterday just after I noticed that. Does your tank have sand or gravil? Because mine has gravil, they bred on a flat rock. They will chase other fish away after breeding, and they can beat some fish up pretty bad. Good luck if this is what you were hopeing for!

 

[jayjay]

Yes the ram's have ovipositor's and they will be visible shortly before they are about to lay eggs.

 

[Jen_S]

Thanks for the responses. I was hoping that was the case. We will just have to see what happens from here I have gravel in the tank but no rocks yet. I'll see what I have around. Hopefully the fyling foxes and tetras leave them alone.

 

[Jen_S]

Does the rock need to be flat on the bottom or tilted like for angels?? If tilted, how much?

 

[jayjay]

I'd leave it flat.

 

[Jen_S]

Thanks JayJay. I've had it tilted because that's how angels spawn. I'll go move it now. No eggs as of yet that I've seen at least but I do have fish in there that would probably eat them too. We'll just see how this plays out

 

[jayjay]

A round pebble or flat piece of rock will be your best bet probably. Are they guarding any territory?

 

[Jen_S]

They are definatley gaurding territory (around the now flat rock) but I have yet to see any eggs... this would be their first time so either they are taking their own sweet time or the other fish have eaten any eggs. My 7 year old son is very interested in the whole process. He was enthralled that they don't actually mate (only other babies have been guppies). What lesson did he walk away with? That the male ram uses fertilizer on the eggs. We didn't correct him LOL