Bolivian ram pairing behaviour?

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Mrs.h2012

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I know some of you on here breed Bolivian rams, what behaviors did you notice when they paired up? I've read on how to tell a male and female bolivian ram apart, please tell me if this isnt an accurate way to tell them apart, males bellies are more flat and females are more rounded, and I believe I've managed to get a male and female. One is really flaring it's top fins and chasing the other ram around.
 
they also do what they call head shakes , vibrating their head, if one of them is ready ,he or she will be cleaning an area getting ready for eggs, if you have a male and female, you might get some chasing if one of them is not ready, and yes the female will be more rounded. in really mature rams the back top fin in the male will be usually a little longer and pointed,
 
one other thing you will need to think of is baby food, they sell some dry food called first bites that are good but you will need some live food also, like newly hatched brine shrimp, but my favorite is microworms, these are alot easier to keep and to maintain than brine shrimp,
 
funny most fish cichlids can be difficult to sex, but i think the easiest cichlid to sex is the rainbow cichlid, one of my favorites, their pesonality is amazing, the female when full grown is maybe a little more than half the size of male, the male is much longer, with a bigger head, when they are getting ready for breeding their colors darken greatly . i have a pair in my 55 gallon community tank that are doing the head shakes to each other and staying apart from the rest
 
How does all of your Bolivian rams act? I just got 2 and they don't swim much just sit towards the bottom of the tank. Is this normal??
 
How does all of your Bolivian rams act? I just got 2 and they don't swim much just sit towards the bottom of the tank. Is this normal??

How long did you get them? They need a certain time to adjust. I got a new ram last Saturday and it's still figuring out the 'glass box' lol. Let them get used to the surroundings both in the tank and in the room the tank is in.
 
I got them yesterday evening. I guess I'll give it more time. Thanks for the input. :)
 
I'll do that tomorrow. Leave the lights off all day. Thank you!!!
 
biss444 said:
they also do what they call head shakes , vibrating their head, if one of them is ready ,he or she will be cleaning an area getting ready for eggs, if you have a male and female, you might get some chasing if one of them is not ready, and yes the female will be more rounded. in really mature rams the back top fin in the male will be usually a little longer and pointed,

I haven't notices his vibrating their head i don't think (I could be thinking to literally and thinking you mean literally vibrating its head in place), but I have noticed what I think is the male moving its head from side to side a lot, like maybe over a space of like 1/2inch or smaller. Is head shaking? Also the only one that's really displaying a lot of
Behavior is the male, it does what I think are tail lashes and body curling and what I mentioned with its head. It's just the female doesn't seem
Interested at all... She's always chasing him away. Should I try and get another female for better ( hopefully) success? I do have a spare 30g I can have set up as soon as I need to if things at ugly in the community tank. Also I read an article tonight about how to sex them, and this
Article said you can tell by the anal fins, a males
Will be more squarish and (usually) shorter with more angles while a females is longer and more rounded and doesn't have hardly any angles. I can tell a huge difference in the anal fins, one is definitely more rounded and longer and the other is shorter with more angles and kind of squarish looking.
 
You should have a little cave or two for them as well. You can use small terra cotta pots and lay them on their side.

A good way to bring out the personality in rams is to have some dither fish in the tank. A nice school of middle level swimmers works well. My German blue ram actually schools with my black skirt tetras. Pretty cool.....
 
creic38 said:
You should have a little cave or two for them as well. You can use small terra cotta pots and lay them on their side.

A good way to bring out the personality in rams is to have some dither fish in the tank. A nice school of middle level swimmers works well. My German blue ram actually schools with my black skirt tetras. Pretty cool.....

I actually have a school of 6 serpae tetras in with them :) as I currently have a hollowed out log they both love to hang around, they swim in and out of it a lot. And I'm going to get a pot for them tomorrow, all the free ones I have access to have all had plants planted in them already so I know I can't use them.
 
I actually have a school of 6 serpae tetras in with them :) as I currently have a hollowed out log they both love to hang around, they swim in and out of it a lot. And I'm going to get a pot for them tomorrow, all the free ones I have access to have all had plants planted in them already so I know I can't use them.

If you can, get two pots. One for each. Even though they share the log for now. You can bet they will have a blow out. Also, I never heard of the anal fin sexing. I'll go look at my rams now.
 
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