# Sexing German Blue Rams?



## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

Well, after a long wait my favorite LFS finally got my GBR's back in stock! They only had 4 left, so I picked out a pair. Their names are Crayola and Prism. 

I believe I have a both a male and female, but would appreciate a second opinion. They're pretty dull looking at the moment, as I only introduced them into the new tank a few days ago and they haven't quite settled in yet.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Looks like a pair,but theyre dull so it is a bit hard to tell. The top pic is for sure a male though.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

I've always had a difficult time sexing GBR's myself. The determining factors never seem to show the way they should. I blame the wholesalers for feeding hormones to the fish to make the colors pop. It messes with the Peacock Cichlids as well.

From what I know, the males are supposed to have no blue coloring inside their black spot. The females have the blue speckles inside the black spot, have pink bellies, and will have the black line on their pelvic fins. Given these factors, it looks to me like you have 2 females, though I would wait and see if any more colors or behaviors develop. If you do end up with 2 females, I would just take 1 back and wait for the next batch of them and hope for a male.

The last time the fish store I work for got a shipment of these, we got about 20 and every single one looked like a female. Though I suspect the wholesaler feeds hormones to their fish, so there was no real telling until their real colors came in, and the hormone induced colors faded out. Really makes it difficult for the hobbyists that come in looking for males.


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## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

I'll try to get some better pictures once they settle in a bit more. I have a young convict that I tossed in that tank temporarily until I can re-home him, and he's been keeping the little guys stressed out a bit. I think they're still juveniles as well.


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## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

Well, it's been a little over a month since I bought my rams and they've both grown and matured a lot since I got them. I'm still very confused about one of their genders, one day I think they are both males, the next I have no idea.

Just recently they've started to display some interesting behaviour and I managed to capture a bit of it on video, it's not the best quality, I was using my iphone to record it and the tank had a pretty crappy incandecent light on it at the time, but here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1zAjRcaBOU

So what do you guys think? Is this two males fighting for territory, or is it some sort of courting behaviour?


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Both are male.


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## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

That's what I figured. I'm not sure what I should do, will they be able to live peacefully together? I would like to eventually get a pair.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

If they do not have torn fins, or cuts, i'm sure they will be fine. What size tank?


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## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

Right now they've been moved into a 35 community, hopefully they will be going back to their 55 gallon soon though. No tears or cuts, aside from that sparring thing they do in the video they don't bother each other. I have another younger ram in there with them aswell, I think it might be male also but it's really too young to tell, and when they feel threatened the larger of the three will push the other two into hiding and coax them out when the coast is clear.


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

A sure fire way to spot a female German Blue Ram is they have a pink belly. Their snouts are more pointed while the male is rounded. 

Males have a more sharper v-shaped tail fin while females have a rounded v-shaped tail fin.

Here's more info on telling the difference:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=21082


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## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

Ice said:


> A sure fire way to spot a female German Blue Ram is they have a pink belly. Their snouts are more pointed while the male is rounded.
> 
> Males have a more sharper v-shaped tail fin while females have a rounded v-shaped tail fin.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info, I've been to the page you've linked me to in the past, as well as other threads on how to distinguish male from female, the problem I have been having is that the one fish has traits of both a male and a female and I just wanted a second opinion from someone a bit more experienced with the species.


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

I understand. However - most folks who had GBR will tell you females do have pink belly. There's no other way around it to tell the difference.


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## Xox-Zip-xoX (Aug 14, 2010)

Regardless of gender there's a few things I can't understand about my guys though, I was told that only female GBR's will have black on their pelvic fins, and yet both my males have it, same goes with the blue sheen in the black spot, both my males have it as well. There's also the body shape, most rams I see have a more defined body shape, with shorter pelvic fins and much richer colour, where mine are kinda bland and square shaped, it makes me question if mine are possibly a hybrid, or a different strain?


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

No. those are normal blue rams.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Even a breeding pair shouldn't need more than half a 55 for territory.


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