Ram_Kelly

I'm going crazy. Half the things I read point to male rams, half to female. Short pectoral fins, "blue spangles"= female. No pink belly=male. I honestly can't tell about the dorsal fins and the fact that they are the long-fin variety really doesn't help anything. I know the pictures aren't too great but its the best I got. Thanks everyone!

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mathas

My guess is that both are males, but I'm not as familiar with the german blue rams.

I'm guessing male for two reasons:

1. Lack of pink belly
2. Lack of visible ovipositor. Look at the second picture in this thread, between the pectoral and anal fins... that's the tube used to deposit eggs, and is visible even when not spawning. The male's breeding tube is narrower and more pointed, which as best as I can tell from your pictures, is the case on both of your rams.

capekate

Hi Ram-Kelly
I tried to identify the gender for you from these photos, but I was not able to. Is there anyway you can snap a photo when they have their dorsal fin open? It seems that they are swimming at the time of the photo and the dorsal fins are flattened out.
If you look at the black spike of the dorsal fins, usually if the very first dorsal fin is shorter than the rest of the black spikes, you have a female. It also seems that a lot of LFS sell only the males and its very hard to find females, at least it is in my case.
BTW, I love the long fin rams... they are gorgeous!

Allie

I useto have 3 long fin german blue rams(sold them, too shy), the females are smaller, not as much color. Males fins are flowier.
I think you have two males there, by the looks of things.

Ram_Kelly

Thanks guys. I'm pretty sure they are both males, too. I have a 26 gallon so hopefully they won't become to aggressive to each other :/ If I happen to find 2 females by chance I will get them but otherwise I can only hope they don't fight. As long as they stay well fed they generally don't fight.

04_si

going by pictures they are for sure both males.

With the dorsal fin it's only easy to tell once they are a little older. If your rams are young it'll be difficult to tell sex by looking at the fin.

If you add 2 females and a pair forms you will need to move the other 2 because the pair will kill them. Good luck!

Steen16

two males fo sho

Ram_Kelly

Gah oh well. I'll just leave well enough alone and hope they don't become aggressive. Thanks for the help, everyone!

04_si

is your tank planted? or does it have lots of places to hide?

2 males in a 26 might fight a little, but it should be okay. give them lots of places to hide, and they should be happy together.

Ram_Kelly

04_si: yes, its planted, lots and lots of plants. I also have a large piece of driftwood and little rock caves. I occasionally see the larger one chase after the smaller but for the most part they seem ok. The reason I originally thought they were a male/female pair is that they spend so much time together. Maybe they aren't straight fish, lol!

04_si

hahahahaha. Hopefully they don't want to breed. I guess they could always adopt though!!

Steen16

haha