Sexing juvenile german blue ram?

[coolfishguy12]

First, I posted this yesterday with the wrong title, if I'm breaking rules by reposting please feel free to remove this thread!

I'm able to tell the difference between full grown male and female GBRs but how does one tell the difference between juvenile GBRs?

Many haven't developed the features that full grown specimens exhibit.

 

[CoronaBlue]

Do you have pictures? The easiest way for me is the black spot on the side. Males won't have the translucent/bluish sheen on it and females will. It develops rather quickly. Not sure how old the GBRs are.

 

[coolfishguy12]

These ones are really young, I haven't picked them up yet, they're still at my LFS. They all have similar colouring and body size


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[Gillie]

Do you have pictures? The easiest way for me is the black spot on the side. Males won't have the translucent/bluish sheen on it and females will. It develops rather quickly. Not sure how old the GBRs are.

Don't use this as a diagnostic unless the rams are wild stock, male German rams will also show this trait. The best way to sex is by finnage and the pink belly on a female.

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[Gillie]

These ones are really young, I haven't picked them up yet, they're still at my LFS. They all have similar colouring and body size


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Your best bet would be to by a group let them grow and pair, then sell the rest.

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[coolfishguy12]

Your best bet would be to by a group let them grow and pair, then sell the rest.

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Thanks for your response, I got one male who was a few months older than the rest in the tank so it was easy to tell. The others all had pink bellies and other subtle female characteristics.

 

[CoronaBlue]

Well now you have me thinking the male I have might not be a male. I'll try and get a good photo and post it. Out of the four GBRs I have 3 have definite pink bellies. The one in question doesn't but as for finage they all look the same.

 

[coolfishguy12]

From what I've read, the best way to tell is the pink belly, as males will never have that. Problem is, a female might not be showing the pink belly at the time you look. Otherwise it seems like you have to take all the parts as a whole because no one characteristic is 100% reliable (ie some males display blue sheen in the black spot, some females have male-like dorsal fins etc)


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[notenoughtanks]

The males tend to have a longer, more pointed dorsal fin. Females tend to be smaller in size and have a red or orange hue on their pelvis.

 

[Gillie]

The males tend to have a longer, more pointed dorsal fin. Females tend to be smaller in size and have a red or orange hue on their pelvis.

These fish are juvenile, some of the females may show a pink belly but there will definitely be no fin extentions in the males.

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[Ruffers99]

just in case anyone was interested, as previously mentioned its a combination of differences.

Sexing Rams - SomeFin's Fishy | Freshwater Breeder | South American Dwarf Cichlids