Bolivian Ram

[Chuka1212]

I just got a sweet Bolivian Ram the other day. He is doing well in my S. American community tank, but I always hear of people keeping pairs of them. Do they do better with another bolivian in the tank, or do you just keep a pair when you breed them? He also dashes back and forth by the back of the tank, it sort of looks like he's trying to go away. Is this normal behavior? I guess the only reason I worry is because I had a dwarf gourami that did this often and shortly after got sick... coincidence maybe? Feedback is appreciated!

 

[thegnu]

i think they do fine on their own or in one pair per tank. if he didn't calm down after a few more days, as long as your water quality is good,( nitrates) then i would get him a mate

 

[Chuka1212]

i think they do fine on their own or in one pair per tank. if he didn't calm down after a few more days, as long as your water quality is good,( nitrates) then i would get him a mate

Cool, anyone know how to sex Bolivian Rams? Not sure if I have a male or female...

 

[Dave1]

if you can, take a pic, im sure myself or some others can help u.

 

[KathyM]

Females have a visible ovispositor (looks like a little lump) on their underbelly.

 

[DarkEntity]

Have a search in this thread there are loads of the exact same question.

 

[Chuka1212]

if you can, take a pic, im sure myself or some others can help u.

Ok, here's a pic. I think I might see an ovipositor, so I'm thinking female? What do you all think?

 

[KathyM]

Yup - that's a female - smashing pic by the way

 

[tmack]

Hi. I picked up 3 Bolivians today, no picture yet, and I'll check for the ovipositor when I get back downstairs. I've read that the males have longer extensions on the tips of the caudal (tail) fin, than the female. Mine probably aren't adult yet but one of them has a rounded caudal fin, and the other 2 definitely have long tips on the tail. Any merit to this being an indicator of gender?

 

[KathyM]

Yes this can work as an indicator, although I've found that it's best used alongside other indicators as sometimes they come from the fish shop with damaged filaments. Here are some pis to help:

Male at front, female behind.

The female, with ovipositor.

 

[Katchan]

Lack of an ovipositer does not guarantee male, just as a yellow tummy and red trailing filaments are not guarantees of male or lack of mean female. When sexing many types of cichlids (and fish in general) with many there are no hard and fast rules, only general guidelines. When fish have been bred in captivity, particulary on fish farms etc, or breeders looking for certain triats things can become blurred compared from the original wild varient.

Andrew

 

[tmack]

Hi and thanks for the replies. The caudal filaments on the one with a rounded tail are evenly rounded off so I don't think it's a situation of damage. I guess I'll wait & see what happens. Still haven't been able to check for the ovipositor on all 3, but I saw it one one last night. But, it sounds like that may not be a 100% guarantee either. They're about 1.5 - 1.75 inches (about 4 cm) so they wouldn't appear to be adults yet.

 

[Katchan]

the presence of an ovipositer makes it highly likely its female (I havn't seen a male rams tackle so I cant really comment as to if its similar and easy to mistake as an ovipositer) but just because it does not have an ovipositer doesnt meen its male, thats all i was trying to say, sorry if I confused you, LOL

Andrew

 

[Katchan]

PS forgot to say to make things really confusing its common for dwarf cichlid subdominate males to actually show female traits, eg not grow trailing filaments, the ovipositer bit I dont know, but eg in apistogramma turn yellow like female etc. This is done to for 2 reasons

a-so they dont get unwelcome attention from the dominant male

b-mainly just to confuse us , ok a bad joke, just for reason a

 

[tmack]

the presence of an ovipositer makes it highly likely its female (I havn't seen a male rams tackle so I cant really comment as to if its similar and easy to mistake as an ovipositer) but just because it does not have an ovipositer doesnt meen its male, thats all i was trying to say, sorry if I confused you, LOL

Andrew

Hi. Nope - you didn't confuse me. I understood it was just an indicator, and that the lack of it didn't guarantee that it was a male. I have them in a cycled quarantine tank at the present time - pretty little fish! At this point they pretty much stay in a group together, but I know that may change depending on what genders I really have. I'm sure they're getting used to the new tank setting too. Haven't even fed them yet - I thought they might not eat after bringing them home yesterday, and didn't want to mess up the tank with uneaten food, but will do so in a few minutes. Thanks.