Bolivian Rams.... Lots of pics........ Beware load time...

[Lonewolfblue]

Since I posted pics in my 75G planted thread, thought I'd throw them in here as well, as this is the first spawning of my Bolivian Rams.

Wigglers:







Free swimming:

[maxwell1295]

Wow, Wolf...congrats on the new fry. At what point were you able to tell sex your Bolivians? Did you know you had a M/F pair from the start? Most people can't tell until they actually spawn. GBR's are easy to sex, but I can't tell what my Bolivians are. Even at the LFS...there's no way to pick them out.

[Billsgate]

Congrats on the fry! Keep us updated. I'm curious to know if they make it, would be a good job since it's their first spawn!

And what's that hungry cat staring at?

[Zagz]

Congratulations wolf. They look great! but there is one strange looking fish in the middle of those pics.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, they didn't make it. Just too many other fish I believe. When this morning came, no babies, and the parents were swimming around with the other fish.

[Skyrmir]

Sorry to hear about the fry Lonewolf. Don't worry though, they'll try again soon. Mine are spawning every week or two. They haven't actually raised any fry yet, but each time they last a bit longer. Hoping the next one or two attempts will show some results.

Maxwell, sexing gets a LOT easier one they're older. Half the time the ones in the store are very juvenile so they're harder to tell apart. A lot of times on the young ones you can tell the males because they don't have the pink belly, most of the time. What makes it real rough is when they're young the fin spikes are all tiny and either sex might or might not have a pink belly to start with. It's hit or miss, but the best odds I've seen are going by the belly color in comparison with the others in the tank.

[maxwell1295]

When I went to the LFS, it looked like they all had orange looking bellies. They all looked exactly alike. They could all be females for what I know.

[Lonewolfblue]

I couldn't actually tell til recently, as the males are a little bigger. And then when they paired up, then I knew for sure.

[Skyrmir]

I wonder how much of a correlation there is between the sudden gbr death and the age of the fish. I had 2 out of the 6 I've bought die and both were pretty young. The second extra male I bought was a bit older (made it a lot easier to figure out he was a male) and he acclimated and started acting normal much faster than the younger ones.

[maxwell1295]

LWB - I figured as much...everything I read says pretty much what happened to you. You never know until (if) they pair up.

Skyrmir - With GBR's, mine have all been very deeply colored juveniles (hormone-injected Asian imports perhaps?). They have all adapted very quickly, even thriving in my community tank. They at about the 3 week point, things completely fell apart and the would die without warning. One day I'd look in the tank and they were breathing quickly, laying on the bottom. With a day or two they would be dead. Every one one my GBR deaths happened this way with the exception of one male who was probably harrassed to death by another male. My water conditions had been perfect every single time. I have a pair in a 10g tank with some tetras. Maybe they'll survive longer than a month. They seem happy and are thriving in a less busy environment.