GBR sexing and questions

[Bubbles0oO]

Hi guys! Yesterday i bought 3 GBR s and have let them settle in.

Already two of them seem to stay together and the other is alone.

The one that is alone has dull colors , but the couple have light blue showing already.

Here are some pics and my guesses sorry for horrible quality pics its an iTouch camera and the water looks green because of the plants they were hiding in
The loner male?

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the pair

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The pairs female

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The pairs male
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[severum mama]

Hello. They look stressed in the pics, and the pics are too blurry to differentiate between the 3 fish IMO. Did you have other questions in addition to sexing them?

 

[Bubbles0oO]

And my questions.
1) will the loner be depressed?
2) should i look for a female for the loner
3) the pair like the opposite corner that i have put in a cave, will they move, or should i move the cave?

And incase he pictures didnt work, ill describe them.

The "female" out of the pair ( lets call her 1)
The black spot has several blue scales through it. It also has a slightly pinkish belly. Has some blue along her jaw , and her topfin( name?) is one line ( no first two sticking out) her lower two fins before her pelvic fin( name ?) have thick black lines along them

Im guessing shes a female

The male of the pair ( lets call him 2 )

His topfin( name?) has the first two sticking out slightly. The black dot has no blue flecks in it just around it. , his two lower fins ( name?) have lots of red and some black, where the black is there is a sheen of blue that sometimes shows. This one also have some blue on the jaw.

Im guessing that #2 is a male, but the. Black and blue on the lower two fins is throwing me off

The loner ( lets call him 3)

The black dot has outlining blue and none in it. His topfin( name?) has two very pronounced sections that are dark black. This one hasent shown any blue yet, but seven vertical stripes ( stress?) i cant really tell you much more about this one because it is dully colored

My guess is a depressed male.

Also, i have re arranged some plants today in order to place he cave in for them. So they may. Be stressed from that. Ill try to get a better camera for pics tomorrow sorry again.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

sorry the pics didnt workill try again

 

[daveho]

honestly i think unless the loner just happens to pair off with a new male then it will be basicly the same i have one pair and another two ram and the pair just bully the others but i cant imagin what would happen if u had 2 mated pair in a tank and they wanted the same aria... how big is ur tank?

 

[Bubbles0oO]

Its a 55 g , but i only have 3 rams. The two hat have paired up act like friendly neighbors; but the loner just sticks to his corner.

 

[Borderlesscott]

They look more like German Rams, like the wild ones rather than German Blue ones - harder to sex due to the paler colours.

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German Blue Ram, long finned type





German Ram, so called wild caught - doubt it very much, but they do display more of a natural behaviour. I've found the German Blue Rams and Golden Rams to be a lot more aggressive, probably due to the way they are breed and the chemicals used to increase colours.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

the last two pictures look exactly like my rams.
today i noticed that the "loner" has colored up and has quite a pink belly. she is defending a corner i have put some pots in, but she has really dark verticle stripes along her body, is this bad?

 

[Borderlesscott]

It could be stress marks, I would be worried - I usually find Rams don't last to long if stressed, if you've got a pair matched I'd think about taking the loner back or trying to rehome him or her, they can go downhill super fast from stress.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

Theres nothing i can really so for her today, unless it stop raining i cant get to the petstore to return/ get her a mate. Would getting another male into the tank mean that they would pair off? Or would it depend on the male ? I really want to keep her, but if i have to return her i will.

 

[Borderlesscott]

Theres nothing i can really so for her today, unless it stop raining i cant get to the petstore to return/ get her a mate. Would getting another male into the tank mean that they would pair off? Or would it depend on the male ? I really want to keep her, but if i have to return her i will.

I wouldn't go for another male, I would take her back when you get a chance - wait to see how things go with the pair you have in the mean time. There will be chasing within that pair at some point during the relationship, and speaking from experience it doesn't always work out even with a proven pair for some reason sometimes they just get uninterested in each other and things go nasty. Let the pair form a strong bond then maybe think about another pair, the less to stress them the better at the start.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

So take the loner back, and see how my pair bonds? Ok, ill have to arrange a ride and figure out how to catch her.

 

[Borderlesscott]

Better in the long run, Rams when not stressed are super little fish to watch, courtship is brilliant. I usually find they are very easy to net also, just take it easy it should be fine - I had one male Ram who would swim in and out of the net anytime I had to remove any of my fish, the only other fish I've seen do this is my Dojo Loaches in my cold water tank, but there just crazy fish.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

Lol, ill return her and watch the pair. Hoping they will take a liking to one of the numerous pots i have put into the tank!