Bolivian Ram: Sexing and School Size

[Bosemani_vh]

Hello! I'm relatively new to keeping Bolivian Rams. I've had two Rams for ~6 months or so.

When I first adopted these Rams, my intention was to try to bring home a pair with the intention of getting another couple of pairs. Or more females than males, but I'd wanted to do my research first on the best combos. My LFS thought that was a good plan as well, though I usually take any LFS advice with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Problem: My two Rams seem to fight pretty consistently. I'd read that this is expected at first regardless of sex combination, as the Rams will need to establish territorial dominance. It has reduce over time, but it's still nearly a daily occurrence that the aggressor Ram bullies the other Ram to a small degree. The aggression level has reduce though.

Question 1: It’s my understanding that Bolivan Rams are best kept in groups of 6, and I know that with ither fish, aggressive behavior is reduced in larger school sizes.

Would it make sense to add more Bolivan Rams to increase the school size to reduce aggressive behaviors?

If yes, how do you accomplish this safely? I've read that adding Bolivan Rams to an already established tanked can cause males to kill any intruders regardless of whether they are male or female.

Question 2: How do you consistently sex Bolivian Rams? I've read numerous articles about sexing Rams, however I'm convinced that every Bolivan Ram that I see is a male. I'll attach a couple of photos of the two Rams that I have. I think I have one male and one female though.

Can anyone help sex these Bolvian Rams?

Once sexed, I would greatly appreciate any advice on managing aggression between these two rams!

Additional Info: the tank size is 150 gal and is understocked.

 

[Bosemani_vh]

Attached are photos of the non-aggressor Bolvian Ram. I believe this might be a female Ram

 

[Bosemani_vh]

Attached are photos of the aggressor, which I'm almost 100% certain is a male.

 

[Ichthys]

The female anal fin doesn’t quite reach the caudal peduncle. The male’s does. You have two males which is why there’s aggression. The dominant one wants the tank to himself in case a female comes by. The submissive one needs to leave. You could replace it with a colourful female, or add another half a dozen or so, so there are too many to chase. Then a pair will sort itself out.

 

[Bosemani_vh]

Thank you so much! Do you by chance have a photo example of a female to compare against a male?

Even just scrolling through images trying to search for a female Bolivian, I can't seem to find any that I feel confident I can ID as being a female.

When I look at my LFS, all of the Bolivans seem to be males. Are males are disproportionately available to females? I've also looked into ordering online, but I haven't found a site that would allow me to specifically purchase females.

I would ideally like to do your latter suggestion of bringing in 4-6 females, but I'm concerned that I'll end up with more males.

Edit: grammar

 

[Bosemani_vh]

Attached is the only comparison image I've been able find, and even in this image the anal fin length seems very nuanced.

Should the males anal fin really be just past the caudal peduncle? Whereas the females might be just short of it?

 

[Ichthys]

Should the males anal fin really be just past the caudal peduncle? Whereas the females might be just short of it?

Yes, in an adult male. The male fin is also squarer, less rounded, although it can be very subtle. There are also differences in body and head shape, but this can also be difficult because of different growth rates, changes in growth rate, etc.
Sexing is easier if they’ve been raised together.

 

[Byron]

Here is a photo of a male/female pair that may be instructive to illustrate gender differences being mentioned. See if you can tell them apart.

Assuming you have two males, watch out.

General information on this species. The fish must select each other to form a bonded pair. That means having a group and acquiring an obvious pair. Forget external differences as the fish in the store tank will likely be too stressed or young to be certain. But their behaviours are in the genetics and easy to differentiate. The males in a group will be continually poking at each other, or charging, which may never result in actual physical interaction, but the movement will be obvious. Look around the males, and you will see the females (assumig ther are any) ignoring all this, picking at the substrate. Find a male with a female close to him and which he basically ignores. This is a candidate for a pair.

You have a large tank, so a group is worth considering. Two males eventually will likely end in one male, the dominant. The same happens to females if the male does not bond with them. This species was first imported to Europe by Horst Linke and Wolfgang Staeck in 1985, and their reported habitat observations suggest that this species appears to live in solitude (individual fish alone) apart from reproduction periods (Linke & Staeck, 1994). Single fish are therefore good cichlids for a community aquarium. More than one can be housed if the tank provides sufficient floor space for individual territories, and they are introduced at the same time--but peace may not last regardless.

 

[Bosemani_vh]

Thanks so much, @Byron! This additional information about the species is really helpful.

I could assertain from that photo which was the male, but I would not be able to diffentiate between the non-aggressor in my tank and the female in your reference photo. They look identical to me.

That said, even if I could differentiate them, it doesn't sound like it matters. At the end of they day, my aggressor Ram has already claimed the tank, and adding in even a group of new Rams would like yield aggressive results.

It sounds like my only option is really to move the submissive ram to another community tank and keep them both solo Rams in their respective tanks.

Otherwise I would need to trade them both in for a group of 6 or so juveniles, then see which ones bond, but knowing that some would eventually need to be separated into other community tanks or traded in.

Am I tracking that correctly?

 

[Byron]

Thanks so much, @Byron! This additional information about the species is really helpful.

I could assertain from that photo which was the male, but I would not be able to diffentiate between the non-aggressor in my tank and the female in your reference photo. They look identical to me.

That said, even if I could differentiate them, it doesn't sound like it matters. At the end of they day, my aggressor Ram has already claimed the tank, and adding in even a group of new Rams would like yield aggressive results.

It sounds like my only option is really to move the submissive ram to another community tank and keep them both solo Rams in their respective tanks.

Otherwise I would need to trade them both in for a group of 6 or so juveniles, then see which ones bond, but knowing that some would eventually need to be separated into other community tanks or traded in.

Am I tracking that correctly?

Yes. Re the appearance of the submissive male, this is a trait common to cichlids, the dwarfs anyway. The dominant male will look the part, and other males can seem to be females to avoid interactions they feel they would likely lose. I had a group of five Apistogramma bitaeniata back in the 1980's, wild caught. The dominant male was twice the size of the other four, which all looked like females. A pair formed and I raised the fry and sold them at the aquarium society. After a couple years, the male unfortunately died, and to my surprise one of the "females" developed the colouration and finnage of the male and spawned with a female. I have since learned this is not uncommon when they are in (to them) a small space, to avoid aggression.

Agree on separating the two. I had a Bolivian Ram in my 5-foot tank, and he clearly owned that space, and all of the characins and cories knew it. Never any roughness, but the ram was clearly in charge. I introduced a female after about a year, and they spawned four times but with peculiar interactions. The cories got the eggs at night. After the fourth spawn, the male had obviously had enough of this and her, and he killed her one night. He remained the owner of that tank until he died in his tenth year, which is a very long life for this species.

 

[Bosemani_vh]

Yes. Re the appearance of the submissive male, this is a trait common to cichlids, the dwarfs anyway. The dominant male will look the part, and other males can seem to be females to avoid interactions they feel they would likely lose. I had a group of five Apistogramma bitaeniata back in the 1980's, wild caught. The dominant male was twice the size of the other four, which all looked like females. A pair formed and I raised the fry and sold them at the aquarium society. After a couple years, the male unfortunately died, and to my surprise one of the "females" developed the colouration and finnage of the male and spawned with a female. I have since learned this is not uncommon when they are in (to them) a small space, to avoid aggression.

Agree on separating the two. I had a Bolivian Ram in my 5-foot tank, and he clearly owned that space, and all of the characins and cories knew it. Never any roughness, but the ram was clearly in charge. I introduced a female after about a year, and they spawned four times but with peculiar interactions. The cories got the eggs at night. After the fourth spawn, the male had obviously had enough of this and her, and he killed her one night. He remained the owner of that tank until he died in his tenth year, which is a very long life for this species.

This is extremely helpful and interesting! I started reading up a bit on affects of social hierarchy in the production of the GnRH in cichlids. I'll move the non-aggressor into another community tank where it can be the dominant fish, and will be interested to see if any of its physical characteristics change.

Thanks again for the help and information!