GBR Behavior - pairing/aggression or just pissy

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Spent the day yesterday at my two trusted LFS looking for females. They had none. Or at least none that I was confident enough to believe they were actual females.

urgh.

On another note, dominance has now been transferred completely. GBR #2 told GBR #1 to meet him in the tiki hut and he said ok. #2 told #1 there was a new sheriff in town and the old way of doing business was exacty that; old. You can go about this the hard or easy way; your choice as I'm bigger than you are now and have no problem nipping the crap out of you.

#1 didn't put up a fight, then put his brilliant colors in the closet and laid sideways underneath the new boss. #2 (now #1) then spent the next 10 minutes chasing the crap out of the platy's until he got on my nerves and I turned off the lights and told everyone to go to bed and behave.

Search for a female continues....
 
If you can't easily sex them in a mixed sex tank I wouldn't even buy that stock. My last female was so obvious, her little egg tube was full blown. She was only a little over an inch. Granted the tank had about 50 gbr, 70% male so the girls were all in color and ready for action..

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Not to hijack your thread but I just want to make sure...

female / male ??
 

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hijack away...

Ugh, need a female so I can see some different behavior... Should be a shipment arriving to the good stores in the area today... Hopefully I can find one when I get time to get out there.

Now previous #1 has his color back (thankfully) and is somehow back in charge. Believe he teamed up in the middle of the night with the Platies and did the barracks scene from "Full Metal Jacket" on 'back in his place' #2. All fins intact so not concerned yet as they have plenty of room to retreat to.
 
Well if it makes you feel better my male pretty much does the same thing, chases the female around trying to get lucky but she seems frigid.
 
They act differently with different females. My current male used to chase around my old girl for months. They'd swim together and stage occasionally but she spent way more time hiding than chilling. His colors were amazing, hers were not. He paired with my current female immediately, it was a relief, they spawned the next morning. Her colors are now great and his gave subdued a touch. It's ok because I'm guessing he's more relaxed now. Felt bad he was all worked up for so long by a frigid female. He needed a nice girl to settle down with.
Paps- you can always order from yunite on ebay, said to have some of the best gbr around..

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They act differently with different females. My current male used to chase around my old girl for months. They'd swim together and stage occasionally but she spent way more time hiding than chilling. His colors were amazing, hers were not. He paired with my current female immediately, it was a relief, they spawned the next morning. Her colors are now great and his gave subdued a touch. It's ok because I'm guessing he's more relaxed now. Felt bad he was all worked up for so long by a frigid female. He needed a nice girl to settle down with.
Paps- you can always order from yunite on ebay, said to have some of the best gbr around..

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Thanks, just looked and very good site. They aren't shipping to places with temps less than 50 degrees so would likely be a while before I could order. Plus think I'll still need to deal with local LFS to keep the relationship open so they can take the evicted male off my hands.

Site has interesting info and makes me look at my males a lil differently. Don't think my colorful male is 6-8 months old yet so the fact that he's had colors consistently since i've had him make me believe he's hormone injected. He's the one from my #1 trusted store though. (personal opinion) But on the flip slide, when he lost dominance yesterday, he 'lost' all color which goes against the information posted about being in a stressful situation. It's the first time i've ever seen him stressed though and he definitely went pale. Maybe it was the shock that he was being stood up to.

HOW DO I AVOID HORMONE-INJECTED GERMAN BLUE RAMS?
Hormone-free German Blue Ram’s colors come in gradually with full colors emerging at age 6-8 months. If they are juveniles showing adult colors, they are hormone-injected.

German Blue Rams are shy and easily stressed. When they are under stress, their colors tend to fade temporarily as their natural physical response to blend in with environment and hide from predators. If the German Blue Rams are showing their best colors in situation where they are likely to be stressed (such as moving or change in environment), they are hormone-injected.

Hormone-free healthy German Blue Rams exhibit beautiful curves from their body to tail fin, and their fins would show stunning fluid movement as they swim. Hormone-injected German Blue Rams and their offspring often show physical defects such as tail fins being handicapped – looking tied up, showing no curves and exhibiting rigid movement.

Only buy from a trusted, reputable breeder or dealer

They seem to be absolute in their first point in showing colors, which mine clearly has versus #2. But according to them, #2 will likely end up the healthier version and will develop his colors.

Now I think I'm leaning more toward less dominant one after reading the site. Whenever I do get a female, I will see how she matches up with less dominant guy first.

What are signs of immediate pairing?
 
update:

Ended up getting two females and keeping both males. They've paired up and split the tank into halves. At feeding, they will meet in the middle with no issue (likely because there are fish 4x their size going nuts for food). Once food is gone, everyone retreats with and to their respected half.

One female has gotten the better of the deal as the older male will rarely not be by her side. Other guy (even though bigger) is around the other female enough to claim her but doesn't seem like he's ready to put down 'roots' yet.

Here are some pics:
Couple #1
Couple #2
Couple #1
Couple #1

Couple #1 is the dominant pair and always together and thus more pics.
 

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Yayyyyyyy.. wait until they spawn hehe

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Thanks.

Couple #1 is already prepping. They've claimed the corner to the right of the driftwood in the pic and will chase everyone away.

Except for Brutus (shark), he chases back.

Problem is now trying to find when and if she lays eggs. Will be hard to tell them apart from the sand granules
 
Throw a small flat stone or slate on each corner..

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