Trouble with German Blue Rams, sexing?

[hennaartist]

I'm having some trouble with my rams. While I am not new to fish keeping, I am fairly new to rams. I have them in a 55 gallon, with rocks, plants, and lots of caves. I've had these 3 rams for a couple weeks. They are approximately 1.25 inches. I have thought they were all female because there is no difference in dorsal fin height, they have just a little blue within their side dot, and black on the pelvic fins. They were very stressed at first, and two regained their color quickly. The 3rd is slightly smaller and rarely shows any color (I believe it's stress). They constantly chase each other and ram each other. (Except for the smaller colorless one it just runs.)

Anyway, I would like to know for sure what sex they are? If this is the problem? If adding 1 or 2 more of a different sex would help (along with more plants upon adding them) or what I should do?

 

[hennaartist]

So... Is this normal? Any advice?

 

[Fett999]

Hi. They all look like girls to me. I would personally swap it about so that you have 2 males and 2 females in the tank and let them work out if they are going to pair up or not. You will need to have a lot of plants, ornaments and several caves in the tank so that they can work out their territory's and can get out of line of sight of each other which would cut down the chances of aggression between them.

 

[hennaartist]

Hi. They all look like girls to me. I would personally swap it about so that you have 2 males and 2 females in the tank and let them work out if they are going to pair up or not. You will need to have a lot of plants, ornaments and several caves in the tank so that they can work out their territory's and can get out of line of sight of each other which would cut down the chances of aggression between them.

Thank you. I will probably see if I can get 2 males today. I will leave the 3 females for now and re-home those that don't pair.
I currently have 8 caves, but they don't use any of them. I have plants but will add more today.

 

[Fett999]

No problem just keep an eye on the 3rd female when you get the boys. She could get bullied by the two pairs.

 

[hennaartist]

No problem just keep an eye on the 3rd female when you get the boys. She could get bullied by the two pairs.

I definitely plan to do that, and have a back up plan. thanks again

 

[erikmoseley]

I can never sex them right! Females are supposed to have pink bellys and shorter front spines if that helps. Sorry! I still don't know what mine is so haven't bought another!

 

[jahonnimyfav101]

There girls and not heathy looking myn is so bright

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

They are all girls, IMO their bad color, (not bright, little blue) comes from some bad breeding. I would find another source when you look for some males. They looked stressed to me as well. Do you notice any fighting?

 

[hennaartist]

They are all girls, IMO their bad color, (not bright, little blue) comes from some bad breeding. I would find another source when you look for some males. They looked stressed to me as well. Do you notice any fighting?

They were more colorful at the lfs, also keep in mind these pics are from my phone.
Yes they are stressed, and fighting. Which has me stressed too. I'm new to rams and I'm not used to this much bickering between my fish.

 

[hennaartist]

UPDATE: I got 3 more GBRs yesterday afternoon (2.25 inches). I think they are males (and the lfs thinks so too, but even admitted its hard for them to tell).

So 24 hrs in the tank... The 3 new larger possible males have separated into what appears to be 3 territories (left end, middle, and right end of tank). The 3 smaller (1.25 inch) females are starting to get VERY slight pink bellies. However, there don't appear to be any clearly hanging out together.

Here are some pics of the 3 I got yesterday. (Yes, they are stressed. Also, keep in mind the pics are also from my phone, using zoom.)

 

[Brookster123]

3 males!

 

[hennaartist]

So I know females and males will bicker too. Right now the males seem to just be running everything out of their territory. What signs are there that they are pairing (other than eggs). I don't want to keep all of them too long because I know this is too many for my tank and I think it's adding to their stress.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

They will follow each other around and act like teammates. If the male is chasing the female away from a spot, usually not a good sign. If hes chasing her chances are he likes her and shes not to sure. Id hit the lights for the day and let them explore tomorrow.

 

[hennaartist]

They will follow each other around and act like teammates. If the male is chasing the female away from a spot, usually not a good sign. If hes chasing her chances are he likes her and shes not to sure. Id hit the lights for the day and let them explore tomorrow.

I think I may do that.

Also, here are my water parameters
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 10
Nitrate 0
Gh 75
Kh 20
Ph 6.5
Temp 79f

Should I turn the temp up one or two degrees?