How do you sex young gold rams?

[mattmathis]

I currently a pair of blue rams and 1 gold male in my 70 gallon tank. I would like to get a female gold to go with the male, but the only way my LFS can get gold rams is when they are VERY small.

Is there any way at all to tell which are female when they are so young?

Thanks!

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well normally, females have a pretty noticable pink spot on there belly, if you could get your LFS aquarium guy to put a couple in those little plastic things they have and let you look at them closely, you should be able to notices the differences.

Also, the 2 front lower fins should stretch further back, behind the anal fin then the males.

 

[bs6749]

Gold ram females generally don't have pink at all and the females' pelvic fins (the ones Ben is talking about) will be shorter than the males' and they won't reach the anal fin.

The dorsal fin should be shorter on the females and you may be able to see the ovipositor if they are mature enough. If you can only get really young ones buy 4-6 of them and let them pair up on their own. If you buy 4 at random, you have a 87.5% chance of getting a sexed pair (doesn't mean a pair will form though). If you buy 6 the odds are nearly 97% that you will have a sexed pair if they are randomly selected.