Bolivian Ram sexing

1301 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Ka Splat, Sep 14, 2021

Ka Splat

Discussion Starter · Sep 6, 2021

Recently purchased my first ever rams and was just wondering what I actually got!
They’re still fairly young, as my platy is much larger, so maybe I’ll have to wait a bit longer to tell for sure.
To me, they both seem to show traits of both males and females. They look quite similar to me in most areas, and can’t say I’ve noticed much of a difference in the vent area, but can’t really say I know what I’m looking for.
However, I did just notice a slight difference between them.

Ram #1—>
Black coloration on the top fin is more extensive, and extends to the 5th spine

Maybe making it male(?)

Ram #2—>
Black coloration only extends to the 4th spine

Maybe making it female in comparison(?) or perhaps a younger male than the first? I kept reading that females should only extend to the third spine.

Any one with a trained eye able to tell their sex?
They're in my 40 gallon, so shouldn’t be an issue if I did end up with two males.

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Aaronious

· #2 · Sep 9, 2021 (Edited)

from what I know, I would say the second image of the fish looking left is male and the last one facing right is female. But would only say I am 75% sure about those guesses. Left facing has the slightly larger looking dorsal fin and the right facing looks to me to have slightly smaller dorsal with a slightly more red belly.

Having said that these fish look like they will need a few days and it will be easier to tell when they get more comfortable and color up. They can grow up a little more and honestly these guys look a little malnourished to me. If they are I doubt it's your fault. But I would get some live food going for them. blood worms or copepods or something. Frozen would be totally fine!

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Ka Splat

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 14, 2021

Thanks for the reply!
I guess I’ll know for sure if they suddenly breed one day. I’ve had them for 10 days now and have been feeding them a mix of things, but I’ll deifinitley go get some live/frozen food! There was a thriving copepod colony in my tank before I added my fish, but can’t say I’ve seen any since then.

Behaviour wise, the right facing fish (4 fins) seems to be the dominant one/aggressor when it comes to feeding time. Haven’t really seen the left facing fish (5 fins) fight back at all, just runs away.

Maybe I’ll bump this with new photos in a couple months.
I am enjoying them a lot so far!

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