Bolivian Ram making hollow in gravel

Some background .. I bought 2 Bolivian Rams a couple of weeks ago, hoping for a pair but hard to tell in the LFS as there were a lot of them in the tank. The guy there seemed to know a bit about them and went with two he felt were the "best chance of being a male and female". In my tank now, I believe I can see one is clearly a male based on the shape of his vent, the other one I am not so sure.

My question .. today the male starting building a hollow in the gravel under a crypt plant, using his tail and physically moving the gravel with his mouth, piece by piece. Pretty cool to watch. So is it safe to assume the other is a female and he is provoked to doing this? Or do they sometimes do this even when not paired?

They are in a community tank, 33 gallons.

 

He might be trying to get the female to lay eggs in whatever hes making,idk much about there's but can you post a picture of both I can sex them.

 

Okay here are a couple of pics I took this morning, tough to get clear shots as they are both very active. The top one is the one I am really not sure of the sex, bottom one I 'think' is a male as he shows a lot of traits I read about (red extensions growing on tail) and his vent seems right. Issue is I cannot see much of a vent on the other one. But it has no extensions in the tail at all. The bottom Ram is the one building out the hollow in the gravel.

 

The one in the second picture is a male the one in the first picture is a female.

 

That would be great, was hoping for a pair. Curious what makes you sure the top picture is a female?

 

It doesn't have the dark extensions on the fins,but it could be a young male.ifnyou have the money go buy a few more when two pair off sell the rest.

 

Yeah I may do that, might just wait a bit to see how these two grow up. They are the same size so thinking similar age .. so I would think the other would start growing the tail extensions by now if he was going to. Guess time will tell. Thanks!

 

Your welcome,what are you going to do if they breed?

 

If any fry survive to a large enough size, I may talk with my LFS to see if they are interested. I know Bolivian Rams sell pretty well in one of them and the other seems to have trouble getting them (they always have German Rams). So they may want some.