Ram Question

[Fishalicious]

Yesterday at my LFS I saw some long finned german blue rams.
My question is if there is any temperment, life span, or color differences between the reg. blue ram and long finned ones. I didn't even know that there were long finned ones until yesterday.

Also, I've read that you can keep two males together and the most you'll get is a few squabbles here and there over territory issues. No real damage. Is this true? Will a male ram be happier/more colorful with a female?

TIA
Dan

 

[mitche8359]

No answers, but would be interesting to see what a long fin ram looks like. Can you describe it?

 

[Fishalicious]

Looked just like the ram on the AA home page (not as colorful though, it was in an LFS tank) the bottom fin was just longer I guess?

Will Rams accept tetra-color and formula one flakes?
or do i have to buy a cichlid type food.
I also serve frozen blood worms, I know they'd love those!

Dan

 

[webmoose]

go for it dan! go get those rams..

They will eat all regular food.. They are not over tempermental

 

[Fishalicious]

...I think I'm gonna do it.
I'll keep ya'll updated!!!

-Dan the Ram

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

The long-finned rams are a "variant"- the result of selective breeding. There aren't any differences from the regular blue rams.

Although I've had a few serious injuries with battling male rams, the vast majority of ram aggression is simply for show. You're probably more likely to have trouble with an over-zealous male injuring a female that's not ready to spawn than you would have with two males (or two females) in the same tank.

Rams aren't picky about food: keep the diet varied and stay on top of your water changes and you should have some great looking rams!

 

[Guest]

Rams seem to do better in a planted tank. Cover (plants, driftwood, rock caves) is good so that males will stake thier own territory. Provided they are in a big enough tank.

I've also had more of a proplem with over zealous males chasing the females to the point of over stressed, than males figthing aggressively.

 

[Fishalicious]

Thank you all for your input.
I do not have real plants, however, I have ALOT of plastic plants. I went all out and bought a bunch to still make my tank look nice. Also, I have 2 medium sized lava rocks and 1 medium sized rainbow rock, and I built 3 pretty big caves as a DIY. I did the whole dye the pvc black deal, smear Aquarium Silicon all over them and roll them in my same color gravel. They're all in the tank and look great. Im not too too worried about them having a hiding space.

The only real problem will be distinguishing the sexes when I go and pick them out. Any gender signs that I should look out for? EX: Does the male have a longer or pointed dorsal fin as opposed to the female having a shorter, rounded one? Im sure the females may be lighter in coloration but being in the LFS tank, they could all be lighter. I think I want to go with the two males after hearing that.

Any hints/tips would be appreciated.
Thanks!
-Dan

 

[chrism]

i believe these guys are similar to the bolivian ram? I'm having a hard job telling the sexes of my three rams, 1m 2f when i bought them one was obviously a male, and it now looks like hes growing extended fins. and the two females... well one is becoming more colourful and fights back alot with the male, (not sure if ive got a male there) and the other one is still quite pale just a few black markings and a hint of colour but is a lot smaller...

as you're going for two males, i'd just go for the largest, most colourful and like you said with the extended fins... sounds like a safe bet to me

 

[chrism]

i believe these guys are similar to the bolivian ram? I'm having a hard job telling the sexes of my three rams, 1m 2f when i bought them one was obviously a male, and it now looks like hes growing extended fins. and the two females... well one is becoming more colourful and fights back alot with the male, (not sure if ive got a male there) and the other one is still quite pale just a few black markings and a hint of colour but is a lot smaller...

as you're going for two males, i'd just go for the largest, most colourful and like you said with the extended fins... sounds like a safe bet to me

 

[vega]

The female with have pinkish belly. But ram is very sensitive to water condition,make sure the tank's water is at optimum.

BTW if the ram is sitting at the bottom of the tank or breathing very fast in lfs then its better for you to wait for couple of days before purchase as these ram probabily over stress and will die easily.

 

[mitche8359]

BTW if the ram is sitting at the bottom of the tank or breathing very fast in lfs then its better for you to wait for couple of days before purchase as these ram probabily over stress and will die easily.[/quote]

It appears that new additions to the tank can result in rams getting stressed. Granted I added 13 new fish at one time, but my ram went from fairly happy to breathing fast and hiding and barely moving. This behavior lasted the better part of two weeks. Happily, the ram recovered and is swimming around more.

 

[Guest]

Identifying juvie Rams sex is difficult. Due to the size, lack of color and stress before the fish actually make it to the fish keeper.

IMO about the only thing to do is buy some that appear healthy. In time as they adjust and start to mature they will color up. As they mature to breeding age, males seem to chase the females relentlessly.

Another thing I have noticed is, as they mature and color up. The males will have a solid large black spot. Were as, the females will have specks of blue in thier spot.

The dorsal fin is a tough way to try and identify a juvie (useless IMO). Male adults do tend to have more of a tall spiked mohawk dorsal fin when mature. Where as females spikes are a little less pronounced.

Pick some up and give them a try. Their a great fish to keep if one can provide them with clean, stable water. HTH