capekate

Hi Carol,
I knew what you meant... I mistyped the (1-3) ratio part. lol...
Ok.. then when I go look for these females tomorrow I will figure out the one male to 2 female ratio. I sure hope they know which is which or I will end up coming home with more males! yikes!!
~ kate

Butterfly

LOL Just a good excuse to go back and get more
Carol

Howeyg

i also think a good way t sex them is that the males are generally longer in my experience with the females being more stumpy, i think you may have 2 males and one female

capekate

LOL..... but can I have them all in the tanks?? lol...I would if I could..
btw... does anyone know if they get along with angel fish??
thanks, kate

capekate

thanks Howeyg
I will keep that in mind when I look at them tomorrow! Looking at the dorsal fins again.... and again...lol. It seems that one of them has a shorter spike in the front and two actually look like they are longer. So you may be right there!
well.. off to get a good nites sleep and dream about GBR's! heheh...
can't wait to head out tomorrow, its about a 60 mile round trip and Im heading out early!
~ kate

Kevin

did you get a couple more today?
not to brag or anything but i was the first to say 2 m and 1 f

capekate

Hi Kevin
No I didnt get out yesterday as I wanted to. But that was a good thing in the long run. Here on the Cape, holidays and summers get pretty crowded. And even in autumn it still is. I forgot that it was a holiday weekend and a lot of folks were leaving Cape. (Only one main road in and off the cape). So hearing on the radio of the back up for a number of exits going off, I did the right thing and stayed home on this rainy day and finished up with painting my living room walls instead of sitting in traffic with everyone else. The store that I was going to, I havent been to yet and found thru mapquest that it was about a 48 mile one way trip. ugggh.... So my husband said that he will take me on sunday morning. I think thats a nice idea, we have fun on our road trips, and it gives him a chance to see what fish there are out there. Plus we usually end up coming home with more stuff than I planned on.
But I will be taking a ride to petsmart today and bring the lone serpae and black skirt tetra back and hope that they will take them off my hands. It seems sad to see them be the only ones of their species in the tank, I know they are not happy like that and I have no plans on getting anymore of them, so they can go back into the tanks and be happy with the others and hopefully find a good home with someone else. Not a big exciting trip for me, and i do need to pick up a heater for my great neice's birthday this weekend for her betta tank, as I promised.
Sooooo.. it will be a long week for me waiting to make this trip for some more GBR's..... oooohhh welllll......
~ kate

Butterfly

Did you really mean to say 2 males and 1 female?
Carol

neverendingninja

Also, check their pelvic fins. The male have extensions on them, as well as the caudal(tail) fins, which the females are lacking.

capekate

Hi! NEN! (is abbreviated hope you dont mind lol)
thank you for the tip... any possible way you may have a photo or two to show me this extension and caudal tail fin difference? It sure would be a big help for me to identify the females when I go get them.
~ kate

Butterfly

Kate- check the pics out over here. some of them are labeled Male and females. there are really some good examples.
Ram photos
carol

Isabella

Kate! OMG! The Rams are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ADORABLE ! I love your tank setup too! Everything looks so beautiful. Ahh ... you're making me want to get my Rams so bad!

neverendingninja

After re-examination, I have to retract my statement about the caudal fin. But, the pelvic fins do have extensions on them. I posted a picture with Bolivian rams as the example, I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: here ya go

capekate

Hi Carol
thanks so much for the link... my goodness.. those are some beautiful ram photos! Will my guys ever color up like that? I sure hope so. So I believe I can tell the difference... hope so anyway. My confusion is in the very very first black spike closest to the front of the head. That one appears to be shorter on all the rams. I believe that was what I was looking for. So from the photos it looks like its the second and third black spike that is longer on the males and that the females tend to be about the same size as the rest of the dorsal fin. Correct me please if I am wrong on this observation..
~ kate

capekate

Thank you NEN...
and btw I love those bolivian rams as well. I assume they do ok in the tank with the GBR's?
~ kate

capekate

Good morning Isabella
thank you for the compliment on the tank set up. I do need to get more plants for the rams. Im thinking of trying the java fern moss in low clumps. They may like that. I try to keep that tank as clean as possible at all times. Now that its been running for 7 months, the diatom invasion is finally passed. thank God!! lol...
I want more rams too! hehe...
~ kate

Kevin

did you get any new girls today?
if not, ask that lfs to hold the ones that had ich and once they have finished their ich meds, go back and pick them up

capekate

Hi Kevin,
I called another place that I was going to head out to yesterday and they had no new delivery as they expected. So of what they had, the only one that interested me was the bolivian ram, but they only had one. So for a round trip that was going to take almost three hours, I said forget it. So ended up in Petsmart and picked up some silk plants because their live plant selection was dwindling and a new air pump. Wish they carried dwarf rams there, but they dont.
As far as those two females with ICH, they are treating them and it would be a week before I guess they would be ready. Ive decided to give them a call today and ask them to call their supplier and see if he can send in some females. Which would be on wed. I was hesitant on asking them, since I wasnt too happy with the coloring on the males and wanted to try somewhere else first. And wondering if the ICH came in from the suppliers So you can see why I am hesitant about buying from them.
My only other alternative right now is a trip to the next state which will be a five hour round trip. For that I am waiting for the extra so that I can make that trip worthwhile...

~ kate