GBR sex confirmation

[Venturer4life]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to make sure I was sexing my german blue ram correctly because I am planning on getting another one cause I want a pair. She (?) was the only one at my LFS when I got her. I believe she is female because she has a pink belly, black on her ventral fins (the ones on the bottom), blue spots coming through her black spots, and I have noticed that male's dorsal fins are pointed in the back and female's are rounded. The issue is that the spikes on the front of her dorsal fin are so pronounced, which leads me to doubt myself. Here are a few pics (please excuse the algae! I assure you my otto is on the case!). Thanks!

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

From what I see, it's a male. The black on the pelvic fins isn't a good tell, and the red stomach can be iffy as well. There is red but not as much as I'd expect to see in a female. Head slope to me says male, along with the dot and dorsal spike. A lot of people tend to get the dot messed up. Males will have a blue sheen in the dot along with some jewels on the outer edge. Females will have the jewels throughout.

 

[Venturer4life]

The pics kinda tone down the pink. What do you mean by the head slope? I have not heard of that before? I kinda want to know the best ways to sex them cause I want to get a mate and I need to be able to sex the mate as well as the one I already have.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

By head slope I mean the angle of the forehead. Males have a flatter and sharper angles head, females a thinner and straighter head. The best way if to tell is add up as many signs as you can and make a determination.

 

[Venturer4life]

Ok, thank you so much!

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

No problem! Feel free to ask anything else

 

[Venturer4life]

Hi, ok, so is it possible that she is female, but her belly is not as pink because she is not around a male? I have had her for 2 months and know she was at my LFS with out a male in the tank for 2 weeks or more (I kept coming in and waiting for a male to come in, but I got impatient and bought her alone). Could it just be possible that she is not in breeding mode? Also if she is a he, then the pink of his belly is ok for a male? He/She has small pink dots/ pink hue all over her belly (when you look at her in real life), but they are jut not at dense/ as numerous as most females I am seeing in pictures and I do agree with you that the pink should be brighter, but I am scared that I am going to end up with 2 males or 2 females. She was also a little stressed when I was taking the photos (she was scared of my camera), you can see her stress lines showing, and her color seems dimmer in the photos.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

It could be but from the other signs I see it looks male. Maybe more pictures? Are you having a hard time locating a male?

 

[bshenanagins]

The picture definitely looks male, the body shape and dorsal fin shout male to me. Sometimes the males how such great color that they do exhibit some pinkish hue.

 

[Venturer4life]

I was/am having an issue (I'll see tomorrow) finding a male (they did not have any at my LFS, and the one that is a little further had them but their tanks all had columnaris), but I ordered one though my LFS and it was supposed to come in last Wednesday, but they did not get him (they said their supplier must not have had any). Well, they said that he should come in with this shipment (tomorrow), but we will see. I have not paid for him (and I don't think that I am stuck with him until I actually purchase him), but now I am worried that I don't actually need a male, but a female... I am going to try to upload more photos just to be sure! (sorry for being a pain, I just don't want to end up with 2 guys)

 

[Venturer4life]

Ok, here are some new pictures of her/him with my better camera. Some are a little blurry, but they are the best ones I could get of her/him flaring and showing off her/his dorsal and pectoral fins (he/she is really fast!). On 2 of the clearer photos (the bottom 2), you can see the dark pink dots/speckles I am talking about if you look closely at her stomach, right under her black spot.

 

[Venturer4life]

Here is one more. Did not know is seeing a front view would be helpful.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

100% male no doubt

 

[Venturer4life]

So it is normal to have a bit of pink on his belly?

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

So it is normal to have a bit of pink on his belly?

Not normal, but not uncommon. Like I said early there is no one way to tell. It's all the signs that give you a clear decision. The red belly alone isn't a good tell.

 

[Venturer4life]

ok! Thank you so much! I am going to my LFS today and seeing if they have anymore females! I'm hoping that they get along!

 

[Venturer4life]

So here is an update: He is definitely a she! I went and bought a female and when I released her into the tank (after acclimating her of course) my original's belly turned vivid pink. I think that my original thought the new addition was male cause her colors were dull due to the stress of a new tank, and my original tried to mate with my new one and laid like 3-4 clutches of eggs all around my tank, lol!!

In the end though, my new addition was not coping well with my original, and I wanted to find a male still for my original, so I took the new one home with me (I live in my college's dorm) and put her in my community 42 gallon. She acclimated so much better in this tank than the one at school!

Then today I decided to run to my LFS at home to see if they had any males (no males ever came in at my LFS at school). They only had one, so I got him. My original plan was to put him in a breeder box in my 42 gallon till I go back to school on Monday, but my female that is now at home immediately was interested in the male and vice versa, so I felt bad and let him go. I am going to go try to find another male tomorrow to bring back to school with me. So in the end, I will just end up with 2 pairs instead of 1 (twice the joy!!).