Ram Behavior

[joshua]

i have 2 rams, a male n a female around a inch long. the male sometimes goes up to the female and seems to peck her at the side and she will seem to flee.. no obvious damage done and am wondering if the male's attacking the female or merely nudging... is it possible that they will not pair up together to spawn? anybody with rams with similar behavior? shud i replace the male one?

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Rams are South American (new world) cichlids, not African. Expect this to be moved any time soon!

Anyway, my rams are always squabbling. In fact they can get quite nasty with each other, jaw locking and all. Don't worry about the behaviour you've seen. it's probably just one ram making sure the other is aware that it may be in the wrong part of the tank (the other fishes territory).
They might breed, you never know. Giving them the right living conditions and good food will help.

WK

 

[EMdina]

My Rams nudge eachother also...and they are a 'pair'...It should mellow out...Like Waterloo Kid said, try good foods- a variety. I keep my water around 82F and they seem to really enjoy that- combined with water changes- if they're going to pair off that will help.

 

[Moe]

I started out with 4 rams 2m 2f. For some reason none of them liked one of the females the other three would chase her all the time especially at feeding time. She began to look bad and got really skinny. I brought her back to LFS but it was too late she died there within a few days. I'd keep an eye on them. If things look serious I'd take one of them back.

 

[joshua]

now my female is a same size (length as the male) just that its much rounder and i think there is a reddish patch on its belly... but once it goes near the male the male will just flee and i dunno what happened when i was not looking but the male doesnt look injured and those 2 are the only fish besides some bottom feeders

 

[joshua]

by the way does the anal fin tell the sex? the guy at the shop said it the anal fin is sharper is male; rounder is female

 

[joshua]

is it true to let them pair naturally instead of pairing them? because i jsut boughta male n a female without noticing if they paired... so is it possible to 'wean' them to pair?

 

[Moe]

The male has larger more colorful anal fins. Can't help you with the pairing thing. Mine never paired off. Here is a link with lots of info on rams.

http/hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/blu...lue%20rams.html