Bolivian Ram

[Chuka1212]

Hey, I was looking at the pics that KathyM posted,(nice pics by the way) and compared them to mine at the beginning of the post and mine is very colorless compared to the others. Could it be an indication of poor health? I am still waiting on a testing kit I ordered, but my tank shouldn't be overcrowded, she eats well, and doesnt get bothered. Should I be worried about her lack of color?

 

[LisaLQ]

Mine lose colour when they're stressed (in their case, usually during a water change - softies lol), could the angels be picking on him? Are they a breeding pair? Just asking, as my breeding pair of angels (seperate tank to my rams) are evil sods when they're getting ready to lay, so it could be he's being pushed about in the 25g with them in there too?

But it's probably just that he's still settling in - it took a while for mine to colour up again when they joined us, and they'd come from a good home and were in good colour previously, I think it was just the shock of a new tank and tankmates. Give him a week or so and I'm sure he'll be happier. Keep an eye on him though (well, you obviously are anyway) just in case he's coming down with something.

 

[Chuka1212]

Thanks for the info. The angels I have are not a breeding pair, they are still pretty young, but no I've never seen them pick on her at all, hopefully it's just the new home and stuff. I'll keep an eye on it though, how long should pass before I worry?

 

[tmack]

Well, I’ve had my 3 Bolivians for about a week now, and they confuse the heck out of me. Still trying to figure out what sex they are, and their behavior. They have been doing the liplock thing, and originally I was thinking that the 2 doing the lip locking were a pair, but I’ve now seen liplocks between all of them. I think I have one male, based on everything I’ve read and researched. The one I’m fairly sure is a male, shows no sign of an ovipositor, has the brightest colors of the 3, the longest tail extensions, and a pointed anal fin. None of these are probably guarantees in themselves, but maybe the combination of all of these together may be a good indication that it’s a male?

Another thing that has me confused though is that one of the 2 that I think are females, is very dominant over the other 2 (male & female if I’m right), and constantly bosses them both around and generally harasses them both. Is it common that a female would behave like this in a situation with 2 females & one male? What I think is the male is actually behaving the least dominant of the 3. I’d like to end up with a pair, and transfer the oddball to another tank, but I don’t know which one to move – the subdominant female, or the dominant female? If I’m right on the sexes, maybe removing the dominant female would allow the other 2 to get along better? Or would it be better to keep the dominant female and maybe she'll behave better if the "other woman" isn't around any more?

Cute little fish and very interesting to watch, but figuring out this situation is driving me crazy! Thanks.

 

[Zeoth]

I've just got 2 Bolivian Rams yesterday. They aren't very active. Is this common behavior?

 

[Chuka1212]

I've just got 2 Bolivian Rams yesterday. They aren't very active. Is this common behavior?

Mine did the same thing, I wouldn't be worried. It took 2 and a half days for my ram to start eating and scooting around, I would only worry if it keeps up for 5 or 6 days or so.

 

[tmack]

Yep - same with mine - after a couple days they starting moving around a lot & eating like little pigs! And the color will improve too. As far as sexing them I was able to get a lot of help in a forum that specializes in cichlids only, and there are some real Bolivian experts in there. Here's a post with a lot of good information and pictures on telling the sexes. The younger they are the more difficult it is, and most of the ones found in lfs are not adults.

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=137945

Good luck with your rams!

 

[Darkehorse]

I had bought a 'pair' of rams a couple of weeks ago. To recap, one of the Bolivians got bullied and then developed tail rot and had to be euthanized. I never saw who bullied the ram. I decided to buy another ram, but to be certain I read all the information I could and ascertained that I currently had a female bolivian. So with this information in hand, I trekked over to the LFS and bought what the fish guy and I thought was the biggest male in their tank (a juvenile, no ovipositor but no trailing tail spines either, so hard to tell). I brought the fellow home and put him in the tank, and my current Bolivian immediately went to task at nipping him (at one point, they even lip locked for a few seconds). Is aggression among these guys only between male/male or is it possible for a female to 'bully' a male? I'm just mystified as to why this is occurring. I put the aggressive fish in a floating breeder tank to cool her off for a while but as soon as I released her she went right back to bullying. The new guy doesn't seem too put off by the aggression other than a little loss in color (i.e. no wounds), however there is no way in heck I'm going to lose another fish by the bullying of my existing 'female'.

Any thoughts? Is it possible that my 'old' Ram is a male as well? Should I post pictures?
-Darke