This is a video that tells the sure fire way to tell if you have a male or female bolivian ram. Its a little long, but at the very end there is a surprise.
Great video, when do the vents become more pronounced? I went to my lfs and saw some beautiful bolivian rams but i couldnt tell the difference as i was told that they are still juveniles, but im sure the vents should be obviousnto help tell the difference. Can you enlighten me. Thanks
Thanks for the video, I picked 4 rams up yesterday and by luck I have 2 of each, when I picked them I thought they were the other way around just going off fins, but a close look at the vents has put me straight! I have put a couple of flat rocks in and it’s gotten a bit pecky and territorial, once I have a couple paired up the other two will go back to the shop.
Thank you so much! I have 2 Bolivian rams that I bought in October 2022...they were about 20 weeks old. Here we are January 2023 and I still can't sex them. They have been aggressive towards each other...so I need to figure out what sex they are so I can get the correct sex added to break up agression and so they can spawn.
I have 2 bolivian rams. They were the last 2 for sale at my lfs. They are very different from each other as far as tail fin shape. They do hang out together constantly and one follows the other wherever the other goes in the 40 breeder tank the occupy. Other then a few nerite snails and ottocinclus cats they are the only fish that are in this aquarium. I am hoping they breed but only time will tell. Very informative video.
At what size are you able to vent them? I've been to a few local fish stores but they are only about an inch to 1.5 inches and I've tried to vent but their vents are so small lol.
I have 7 Bolivian Rams and 3 Golden Rams, I have no idea what sex they are, now with this information it will be easy for me to identify them and hopefully get a couple of breeding pairs. Thank you for the information, and your fish look great.
I'm not even seeing a vent on one of them. I see a male vent that is pointed back on one of the fish but the other looks like it has a completely flat underside. They are both mature/full size.
I can't speak for german rams as I have never had them. I have ottos and corys as well as a few BN plecos. The only time things get a little rough are when the rams are protecting fry.
Bingo! You nailed it man... Thanks for the heads up on sexing! One question: Does this 'vent' sexing approach work on 'Longfin' German Blue Rams? Reason why I'm asking is because sexing LF GBR's isn't exactly the same as sexing normal GBR's. Was wondering if you'd know that it would apply.
I have four that are pretty aggresive. Not sure what to do. I have 3 juveniles that i just got yesterday. and I had an adult for a couple of months that was not aggresive until the juveniles came and now she chase them around the tank.
This will be helpful to use when I get home and can take a closer look at the pair I just added to my tank. I'm guessing I have a pair of males but I could be wrong.
I know this is six years old, but thank you!! I had some issues with my rams and now i know why. I now know i have 3 males and 1 female, and i think these 4 bullied 2 others to death.
Dude thank you. I was getting mixed advice on the vent tube. I have three bolivians and one has the smaller vent flush but is smaller than my other two females. Any methods to getthem to spawn or if they pair they pair and thats it?
I'm glad I could help Mark! The first time mine did was when I did a water change and a slight rescape. Make sure you have some flat rocks for them to spawn on,
My local store only has Juvenile rams, I can't really see the vents on them. Do you have any recommendations on how I can get a mated pair? Would it be okay to have 4 rams in a 55 gallon, if 2 pair off, can I still leave the other 2 in there?
What type of food do you feed these Bolivian Rams?? Pellets,flakes?? Specific brands you will recommend,cause I don’t know if I have the correct food for mine.
I think I have a female and male but the male just keep fighting and chasing the female, thats mean is not a female or could be normal ? They are juvenile
I'm just wondering, not sure if it would work (or even work) but would would the fish look like if it was bred with a Bolivian Ram & A Electric Blue Ram?
I have a 20 gallon long aquarium with a pair of GBR 3 Bolivian Rams 1 male 2 female and 9 NeonTetras 6 Harlequin Rasbora 2 African Dwarf Frogs 2 Albino Cory Cats 2 clown pleco's 3 bumblebee catfish. My pH is 7.0 my temp is set at 80
Allso what are good tank mates as i was thinking of starting again and putting in 2 extra german rams khulli loach and tettras allso what else it is 180l tank??
Strangely my female has a male type vent and is more masculine looking in general, I did pick her based on the vent and at the time it looked like a nipple, the pair spawned within a few weeks, but now they haven't spawned for a long time (I'm talking quite a few months) and the vent has looked like a males (triangular and flush to the body, it's now starting to change though so maybe a second spawn coming, maybe she's capable of changing gender lol, I would say no guarantees with any form of sexing with these guys, I think you can be certain that you pick a female, but I think that not all females look female even by the vent, and I think you can be very confident you pick a young male, or certain with a fully mature male, the 1/2 inch tail extensions are a dead giveaway!
I'm currently experiencing the opposite in the sense that I believe I might have 4 males. I'll have to try to see the vents once I get home. but based on basic looks, the look like males. two of them are pretty territorial as well
+Jennifer Martinez the females can be very territorial as well. Vents are the only true way to know with these fish. At the end of this video there is a female I show that looks just like a male other than the vent
+Undertow that's a little comforting. I've been trying to look at vents on my 4 this morning. I could really only see a vent on one kinda sticking and to me it looks like a female. the very aggressive one stays in the back on my bubble disk lol. that one has claimed that area so it's difficult to get a good look at him/her
omg this changed my life thank you!! looked at my tank and instantly sexed all of my 5 rams. ive had a couple pair off and start breeding for a month or so now so i knew i had at least one male, turns out hes the only one! what a lucky guy lol
+Flemming Jaeger The only real way to tell is looking at the vents as i explain in this video. I tried to go by black dots, head shape, and fins and i ended up with 5 females and 1 male. The last fish I show in this video I show a female that looks just like a male, but ended up being a female when looking at her vent
eyedea24 I'm not sure about this. I just lost the male from this video due to old age, but still have the female in the tank with one German Blue ram and I don't see anything going on between them. She is twice the the size of the GBR and seems to not want him on her side of the tank. I have never read anything about being able to cross B. rams with GBR.
Hey I'm having a really hard time sexing my Bolivian Rams. Going by fins, it looks like I have two males & two females, but when I look at the vent it looks like I've got 4 females! Let me know if you can help & I could send you some pictures? Thanks :)
You can't go by fins. With Bolivian rams you have to go with the vent. If the vent looks like the one that I pointed out in the video then it's a female. If you watch the end of the video I show my other female that has many things that make her look male, like her fins and head shape. The male's vent is pointed almost straight back pretty much flush against him. The female's is almost squared off and sticking down.
One of them has a short vent that is rounded. Another looks like it's vent is a right angled triange. So the first one is a female & the second is male?
Undertow I've tried to find a way to send you a picture but I can't seem to do that. Would you be able to give me your email & I'll be able to send you some pictures that way? Thanks :)
Awesome!! Thanks so much. But what if you don't see any bump at all sticking out? Is my fish still too young? It's about two inches long... I looked at it again and there's definitely nothing there, lol. "She" must just be hella young still. Dangit. If I can't sex it, does it matter what I get it as a pal? I might just get one with extended rays and hope bc this one doesn't have them. Obviously that's not bulletproof, lol.
Hey man I have two rams I kno ones male for 100% but the other I can't tell but the male is about twice the size got them from pets smart they were fine in there tank but in mine the bigger one chaces the other I have a video on my youtube account if u could look at and if you cant tell ill try and get a pic thanks