Hello! And a first topic ... help with sexing rams?

Firstly, hello from a forum newbie!

I hope you don't mind me going straight in with a question ...

I need help with identifying the sexes of our new German blue rams. The LFS didn't know how to sex them and, during the netting process, they all turned rather dark, presumably from the stress. I'm afraid that I lost track of the ones that I thought were female.

Now that they're in my tank at home, I've a horrible feeling that they're all males. I know that it's a little hard to tell while they're still young but those dorsal fins look long to me. I'm not sure what to do about it. A couple of them have already lip-locked a few times but maybe they're just adapting to their new home.

There's a video of them here (see link below). I'd really, really appreciate your thoughts!

Other than that, I'm looking forward to getting to know you all!

 

welcome to the forum

it's really hard to tell.... maybe if you took another video in a week, to give the fish time to settle in. BTW, great video.

 

Thanks, Jaysee. I was concerned that I'd need to take at least one back immediately but from your answer, I gather that it'll be ok to wait.

Thanks for the compliment about the video. Glad you enjoyed it (the wonders of an iPhone )

 

I thought those were albino congos - wasn't sure if it was just the lighting. Those kinds of cichlids aren't going to kill each other overnight. You've got time to sort things out. There is the possibility that they will do it for you. If 2 pair off the other will be pushed out. It's usually a good idea to get a few so you can see which ones you want to keep. 6 is usually a good number if you want to get a pair. Then, you can remove fish as needed. You'll know when a fish needs to be removed.

I meant more about the editing of it. Anyone can point and shoot Although you'd be surprised at how bad some videos are ....

 

.Do any of them have pinkish colour on belly.Was told this is a way to determine sex from my LFS guy( I don't know if this is true) but I have 4 in my tank and the smallest 2 have this colouring.I brought the smaller 2 from a different LFS and they had all their colouring even though they are the smallest.Mine don't seem to have paired up yet.They are behaving very well together and only chase each other away when food is present.

 

I can't see any pinkish colour yet. I did look for that and it's possible that I'm just missing it.

I did have four of them yesterday. The stress was too much for one of them and we lost him / her last night. The remaining three have been healthy. It was another reason for me thinking I needed to do something quickly though: I didn't have time in the end but I was going to speak to the LFS today about the fish we lost. We might buy a few more but we're hoping to add sailfins and possibly dwarf rainbows (or maybe two kribs). I don't want to overcrowd the tank of course, so I'm not sure about that at this stage.

 

Skip the kribs.
They like the same part of the tank that the rams do.
Once either species gets a breeding pair going, this would cause a lot of issues.

 

Oh, and WELCOME TO FISHLORE!!!!!!!

 

Dino—thanks! I'll take your advice on the kribs.

 

You are most welcome!