Bolivian Rams

[Haldane86]

I have 5 of these cute little buggers living in my tank and Im really hoping to get a pair lol fingers crossed. I bought them from our LFS over 2 months ago and I believe at the time that they were sub adults because they were pretty much all the same as far as size, fins and itty bitty fishy parts go lol. I think I may have 1 male and 4 females on my hands. The suspected male is now bigger and more robust than the other 4 and has longer fins he also seems to be the boss. The 4 are visibly smaller with shorter fins and seem to be more timid. What has really set the 4 small ones apart from the larger ones is their itty biity fishy parts lol I have read and looked at loads of pictures and It apears that male's breeding tube is smaller and more pointed, while the female's is rounded and a bit larger. I have taken a few pictures and want to know what you all think and sorry if I ramble.

Suspected Male




Possible Females?




Hanging Out

[BelieveInBlue]

The male is for sure male; I can't see the dorsal fins of the "females" so I cant be sure, though the 3rd picture seems like a female; I'd say the two in the last picture are a pair: male on right, female on left.

[crazy72]

I too would agree with your guess here. But sexing Bolivian rams isn't easy. Certainly more difficult than for GBRs. You often read about the pointy extensions of the caudal fin for the males and not for the females, but apparently that is not necessarily a good way to tell. Sexing Bolivian Rams

I had a group of these guys before, and I was never quite sure about their sex. Things really depended on what criterion I used. In the end they never bred for me so who knows, perhaps they were all males or all females! As you can see, I'm being really helpful here.

[AquaAddict]

HI,

I have 6 Bolivian Rams. My males have very long 'lyre/threads' on their dorsal and tail fins. The females' dorsal and tail fins are rounded. Going by my experience, I am guessing all of your rams look like females in your photos BUT hopefully that one photo of the ram with only a lyre tail is a male. Maybe you need to wait and let them grow a little bit more in order to get a positive id. on their gender. My males have locked lips when 'sparing'. If your rams 'spar' but don't lock lips, maybe they are females.

AquaAddict