New Black Ram!

I’m leaning towards a female, but I’m not 100% sure! Anyway, I got the best pictures I could, she’s extremely active so she never sits still lol.

 

definetly a female, you can see the egg laying tube.

 

Males have a protrusion often times as well, that’s where they release the sperm.

 

Well that's a pretty little fishy! I've never seen the black variety before.

Is it a variety of GBR or a different species?

 

it's just a new morph from my understanding

 

Still a Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, just a new color strain! bizaliz3 is actually breeding them, you should check out her post.

 

TRYING to breed them anyway. Lol

I'm pretty confident yours is a girl. Very pretty!

 

Thank ya

 

Not trying to be disagreeable (but I am so good at it!) but the dorsal extensions, lack of color in the belly, and slightly concave belly profile all suggest male to me. It does appear to be a very young fish, so I would take pretty much any sexing ID with a big grain of salt.

 

Not trying to be disagreeable (but I am so good at it!) but the dorsal extensions, lack of color in the belly, and slightly concave belly profile all suggest male to me. It does appear to be a very young fish, so I would take pretty much any sexing ID with a big grain of salt.

I just think it looks very much like my current female. But I don't know for sure.

What's your opinion on this ones gender?


Sorry for the hijack AquaticJ lol

 

These new color morphs just get tougher and tougher to tell lol. Mine is very young though.

 

These new color morphs just get tougher and tougher to tell lol. Mine is very young though.

Just for comparison purposes. This is my proven female. She is very small and looks very much like yours.


edit: I also read that the blue iridescent spots on the Big dark circle on their side are also indicative of female. And ours both have some blues spots on the main black spot. (yet another feature that has me leaning towards male with the one I posted in my previous post)

 

Very odd. BTW, the spangles are supposed to cover the entire spot on females, a few around the edges don't usually mean anything. Actually, spangles on the black spot don't always mean something toward determining sex, but it can depend on the population. Obviously the black ones are from the same population origin, which may explain females with male dorsal extensions while the male has none. But Biz, your male has no spangles on the body at all, and that is atypical as an individual; may be the result of the black mutation.

Verrry interestink. If I had tanks up and running, I'd be out looking for some of these. Probably at Preuss in Lansing.

 

But Biz, your male has no spangles on the body at all, and that is atypical as an individual; may be the result of the black mutation.

Verrry interestink. If I had tanks up and running, I'd be out looking for some of these. Probably at Preuss in Lansing.

Just to clarify....the one I posted a few posts back (with no spangles) is one that I am unsure of. It's one I think is a male...but not entirely sure. It's not fully mature yet.

This guy here is my proven male!! He doesn't have spangles either, but he's got the dorsal extensions! And wicked ventrals! Lol!

 

It’s kind of annoying these aren’t as easy to sex as their wild counterpart, lol. Yeah your male has extremely long extensions on all of his fins, so jealous, I love that!

 

Very strange line, indeed.

 

It’s kind of annoying these aren’t as easy to sex as their wild counterpart, lol. !

Its beyond annoying! haha! I am starting to think the body spangles play a huge roll here. I really do. And no one can disagree with that since no one truly knows how to sex this morph! haha If the body spangles end up playing as much of a roll as I am starting to think....they might turn out to be very easily sexed!

I am going back to the shop where I got my two last sunday. I am going to look for body spangling and see how the ones with body spangles look as far as body shape and fin size/shape. I am super eager to go do some more comparing! Luckily this store is only open from Thursday to sunday....so they should still have several left since they have been closed every day since I was last there! lol

 

Honestly, with the regular ol’ Blue Ram, I like using the spangle method. Though like chromedome52 mentioned, you have to be careful of how you conclude whether the spangles are in the black dot, or surrounding the black dot. That’s where I think people can get confused. Of course it also depends on the strain too. Severely inbred strains is where I think the males can sometimes have those spangles IN the black because, granted, shiny blue spangles catch the eye.

 

Honestly, with the regular ol’ Blue Ram, I like using the spangle method. Though like chromedome52 mentioned, you have to be careful of how you conclude whether the spangles are in the black dot, or surrounding the black dot. That’s where I think people can get confused. Of course it also depends on the strain too. Severely inbred strains is where I think the males can sometimes have those spangles IN the black because, granted, shiny blue spangles catch the eye.

I am going a different route though.....I am not just referring to the black spot. I am referring to the whole body. Notice how yours (that I think is a girl), and my proven female both have spangling all over the body. Especially my female on post #13.

Whereas my proven male, the LFS owner's proven male, and the two new ones I just got that I am starting to think are both male....They all have matte black bodies. Their only shiny spangling is on their face and fins. Could just be a coincidence I suppose.

This is a total shot in the dark. And I need to see my LFS owner's female now. (He kept a pair for himself from his first shipment). If his female has a lot of body spangles...I might really think I am on to something.

I could be totally wrong though!

How is yours doing?

 

Oh I see what you mean! Mines doing really well actually, she’s VERY active. If I put my finger in the tank she comes up and nips at it, it’s hilarious.

 

AquaticJ
Between you and bizaliz3
Really considering the Black Rams. I am breeding Bolivian Rams (well they are I'm just the keeper) at this time.
Interesting opinions about the sexing.

 

Bolivians are my favorite to sex because the breeding tube is pretty easily seen, males are sharp and small, females are big and round. If only these were that way

 

Bolivians are my favorite to sex because the breeding tube is pretty easily seen, males are sharp and small, females are big and round. If only these were that way

They are that way. As long as they are actually mature! Look at my female's tube! She laid eggs right after that pic.

 

Just to be annoying (which, as you know, I am very good at!) I wonder if these color variations are the result of homozygous vs heterozygous conditions? I could imagine a situation where a homozygous fish would be flat black, while the heterozygous fish can still develop some spangling. I seem to have noticed that the spangled fish are a little lighter in color, as well. If that's the case, you may still have additional females that are flat black because they are homozygous for the black gene.

Watch the other fish closely, see if anything happens.

 

Just to be annoying (which, as you know, I am very good at!) I wonder if these color variations are the result of homozygous vs heterozygous conditions? I could imagine a situation where a homozygous fish would be flat black, while the heterozygous fish can still develop some spangling. I seem to have noticed that the spangled fish are a little lighter in color, as well. If that's the case, you may still have additional females that are flat black because they are homozygous for the black gene.

Watch the other fish closely, see if anything happens.

You're always keeping me on my toes lol

 

I’m always on my toes because of him as well lol! Always informative