German Blue Ram Gender Description And Weird Behaviour :o

[electric yellow]

Hi Guys,

I have 4 GBR's in my communal tank and today i noticed one of them is hiding in the back corner down the bottom a lot. Seems to be fixated on its own reflection. I thought when i bought them 12months ago that i had two pairs. im wondering how do i tell the difference between sexes? Im confused as two of them are quite large compared to the other two. Maybe i have 3 boys and 1 girl?

They are all healthy and happy but the hidding i noticed today when cleaning the filter concerned me. Their tank buddys are as follows:

2x clown loaches
2x bristol nose plecs
1x gold gourami (2yrs old and a midget and slow moving. One of the first fish bought when setting up the tank)
1x PK betta
1x lonely neon (2yrs old and one of my first fish i bought when setting up the tank)
1x albino cory


ph: neutral
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate up a fraction but nothing noticable on the chart.

Filter overdue for a clean so thats what im doing now.

there are plenty of silk plants, hiding spots. Its heated to between 26-28degrees celcius. Gravel subtrate. Ive had all these fish for quite sometime. they are all very active and love when i sit in front and fiddle with the filter. I was puling the filter out today when i noticed one of them wasnt out the front.

Is there a clear way to define male from female or something that would explain the suddent quietness of it? Possibly having a nap after breaky?

 

[Alliecat420]

i know nothing about rams.. all i know is that females tend to be larger when it comes to most fish.... perhaps the betta is picking on him?

 

[electric yellow]

Nah its not my PK. He is as timid as a kitten. they are all passive fish in the tank, thats why the PK is in there.

 

[electric yellow]

ive even googled pictures and they both look the same....

 

[minxfishy]

If you have any females, you will know it, as they have pink bellies and if you have had yours for some time, it will be very prominant as it gets more pink as they grow, in the LFS its difficult to tell as they are not usually mature enough.

Another sign is the female will have blue speckles in their black spot (not always definitive) and the male has larger extensions on his dorsal rays, usually the first 3 are larger than the rest.

But the pink belly would be the definate factor.

 

[electric yellow]

Do orange noses mean anything in particular?

If pink bellies is something to go off then i have 4 females! i will need to check them more closely tmw when feeding i think.

 

[minxfishy]

Orange noses?

Can you put up some pics, be easy to id then.

 

[bagu]

pink bellies is a female, also the anal fin? i think doesn't go past the tail joint

 

[TigerIssey]

Need pictures to help you out. Also what size is the tank and what is the exact figure for the nitrates.

To be honest there is no other fish on that list that would manage to bully a ram. However one or 3 of the rams could be picking on the one.

Pictures to get definitive sexes would help to understand the behaviour.

Also when you get the pictures could you get them absolutely side on, this will allow us to note all factors that you need to look at.

 

[electric yellow]

Tested nitrate today and it is at 0. I cleaned out the filter yesterday and did a 25% water change. I took some photos today when breaky was up, but they are VERY fuzzy. I thought they looked ok till i loaded them onto my laptop.

Ok....first pic...in the photo i have one ram. But there is another one identical to this one who is currently chasing around the one who has been hiding. Its quite large this one. See how there is the orange nose?

The other large ram..

This photo is the hiding one....looks like a girl....

Tank is your standard 3ft tank. Heavily plants with silk plants.



On closer inspection it doesnt look like the two large rams have a pink belly. They are extremly relfective.

 

[TigerIssey]

Picture 1 - Looking at this one I would say male
Picture 2 - Female
Picture 3 - Female
Picture 4 - Female

I presume as you say there is another one hiding identical to number 1 that there is a duplicate picture of one of the females.

Looks like you have 2 pairs.
My guess is that there is not alot of territory for them and one female is actually being harrassed by both of the males.

The absolute minimum territory required for 2 pairs is 40 gallon, however as they do not seem to have paired properley although 2 males and 2 females there is not enough territory for the chased fish to get out of the way.

I will say I only have 2 pairs in 55g 4 foot tank. I did have 4 pairs until they paired off and I can tell you there was definately not enough space in there for more than 2 pairs.

Do you have lots of wood and plants in there to create hiding places. If you have you may end up biting the bullet and keeping just one pair. If you end up with a breeding pair this tension can be multiplied.

 

[electric yellow]

So a 3ft is not big enough for two pair?

(Sorry for the bad photos....)

this video should help....it is of what i THINK is a pair....

The other pair is identical all though the one with the pink in photo 3 and 4 is the one that is hiding away. I thought maybe guarding eggs or something but i cant see any.My Ram Vid clicky clicky

Does having 3 females (if they are) and 1 male cause them stress?

 

[electric yellow]

I added a few more larger silk plants last night to try to give more caves and hiding spots.

 

[minxfishy]

Agreed with Tiger, 1st pic Male, the rest are female.

 

[TigerIssey]

So a 3ft is not big enough for two pair?

Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. There is only one hard and fast rule, that is 1 pair needs at least 20g.

I will insert a picture of my tank just to show you what I mean when I say lots of wood and lots of plants.

If you see there are lots of hiding places.

Looks like I misunderstood you about the photos. Seems there are 3 females to one male. If the one doing the chasing is female, she is chasing other females away. You have two choices, swap a female for a male and see if this evens out and allows you to keep 2 pairs or take 2 females back and keep 1 pair.