german rams agressive when mating?

[mr funktastic]

as i have mentioned i just got 2 german blue rams and i cant sex them. i have noticed that the one ram is with the very dark black spot on its side (i am assuming male) is chasing the other and nipping at its bottom. i was wondering if this is a mating thing or maybe just territorial? i dont think it is territorial because the one is chasing the other one relentlysly around the whole tank. and advice would be great thanks

[cinciboy]

Originally Posted by mr funktastic

as i have mentioned i just got 2 german blue rams and i cant sex them. i have noticed that the one ram is with the very dark black spot on its side (i am assuming male) is chasing the other and nipping at its bottom. i was wondering if this is a mating thing or maybe just territorial? i dont think it is territorial because the one is chasing the other one relentlysly around the whole tank. and advice would be great thanks

I had the same problem with my Bolivian Rams.. chasing all day resulting in death of the weaker one.. So watch out..

[mr funktastic]

really? that kinda sucks is there anything u can do to prevent the chasing?

[Meredith]

If you can get your hands on what you know are some females, that might help.

[severum mama]

If it gets bad and you think one of them is really stressed, I would put in a tank divider until you can come up with a more permanent solution. They seem to stress easily so keep an eye on things.

[mumrah]

My two breeding rams have never nipped at each other. They'll nudge and chase one another, but i've never seen fin nipping.

What size tank is this in? If it's a 10g, then i believe they will be very territorial. Even with lots of plants and caves, when i had 2 pairs in my 10g, no one got along - one of the females died.

If it's at least 20g, there should be plenty of room for 2 males. You'll just need to provide them with good hiding spots on opposite sides of the tank.

[mr funktastic]

it is a 20 gallon and i dont think that they are actually nipping at the fins. it looks as though the one is going and nudging up on the bottom of the other one. if u look at the pic i have the one has a very dark spot on its side and the other doesnt really seem to have a spot, it has a kinda bluey silver spot but it is really hard to see. do they have stress lines like other fish? i mean do the lines get darker or go down there side?

[mr funktastic]

the top one i believe to be the female, and the bottom one i am positive is a male. the bottom one chases the top one

[koffee]

Originally Posted by mr funktastic

i dont think it is territorial because the one is chasing the other one relentlysly around the whole tank.

Depending on the size of your tank, it can be easy for a fish to want to claim the whole tank as his territory. Even if you have a 500gal tank, keep in mind that many aquarium fish evolved in a much bigger "tank".

You may also want to look into dither fish. In this case, they might just help the abuse to be spread out. I don't have any recommendations about what dither fish work well with rams, though.

Are there plenty of spots to hide and get awya from each other? That could be another consideration.

In the end, though, even if you have a male and female, they may never get along. Fish have unique personalities, and anyone that talks about fish compatabilty is, [acronym:f5fe1cfa67="In My Honest Opinion"]IMHO[/acronym:f5fe1cfa67], just saying what works in most cases.

[Jchillin]

One of the benefits of having pics in your photo gallery is that it allows recommendations based on what is present at the moment. You have a largeempty space on the left side of the tank. Since I know you are in the process of planting the tank, a few fake plants on that side will provide more hiding space and slow the aggression down tremendously.

The bottom pic is definitely a male. I'm not too sure about the top one...looks too close to call.