# German Blue Ram Sexing



## Bercey

So I picked up some german blue rams today from the LFS and I'm not top convinced I received a male and a female.

Any help in sexing these guys would be great.

Fish 1:








Couple hours between the two photos...









Fish 2:

















And here's a pic of the two together:








Fish 2 is in front and fish 1 is farthest.

As for behaviour, there is no chasing, except for the odd moment, they just seem to just chill side by side for the most part.


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## Dis

The female will have a red patch of skin on her underbelly and the male will not. Give them time to settle in and feed some high protein foods. In your first pic fish #1 sort of has the red, hard to tell in picture


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## Tropicana

They both Look like Males to me.

This is what one of my females looked like.


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## Bercey

Thanks for all the help, guys - really appreciate it.


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## bettaforu

I believe that the females have spots inside the big dark black circle and the males do not (course that could be the other way around) but that is how you tell the difference in sex. Unfortunately with Electric Blue Rams, this is not the case...very hard until they start to fight.

I would say both males.


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## Neon

I agree....both GBR's are males.
Here is one of the mated pairs I have.
Notice the taller elongated second ray that is present in the dorsal fin on the male. (females won't have this)


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## Tropicana

Neon said:


> I agree....both GBR's are males.
> Here is one of the mated pairs I have.
> Notice the taller elongated second ray that is present in the dorsal fin on the male. (females won't have this)


Actually because of inbred genetics females have shown the elogated dorsal spikes for quite some time. Though it is not present in some.

Just be careful some traits arent tell tail signs of male female anymore.

One of my EBR x GBR males vs a female.


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## Neon

Tropicana said:


> Actually because of inbred genetics females have shown the elogated dorsal spikes for quite some time. Though it is not present in some.
> 
> Just be careful some traits arent tell tail signs of male female anymore.


Wow??....I've never had any of my stock show any signs of "inbred" genetics?


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## Tropicana

Neon said:


> Wow??....I've never had any of my stock show any signs of "inbred" genetics?


Rams have been inbred for years upon years. any fish you have is inbred. Unless you somehow got wild caught. Its not a big deal, just some traits appear in females because people wanted silly long fins on fish for some reason.


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## Neon

Tropicana said:


> Rams have been inbred for years upon years. any fish you have is inbred. Unless you somehow got wild caught. Its not a big deal, just some traits appear in females because people wanted silly long fins on fish for some reason.


If your talking about "hybrid" variations (...not inbred), then yes GBR, EBR, Golds, Balloon and Long Fin all fall into that category.


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## Tropicana

How are they a hybrid? I believe hybrid is the wrong term. But Colour morph, and genetic deformities are more correct. All have contributed to the misleading traits in females.


And please do explain how they are not inbred for specific genetic traits such as the blue, or long fin etc.


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## Neon

Google is your friend.....


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## Xox-Zip-xoX

Both of those fish look like males to me. Females will have a distinct pink belly.

I have to agree with what Tropicana is saying, the long fins and color variants are not a result of hybridization but rather selective breeding (which includes linebreeding and inbreeding). Hybrid refers to _two different species_ being paired together. A morph on the other hand is when a _single species_ has been selectively bred to result in a variance from the normal.

Longfin Rams, Electric Blue Rams, Gold Rams, and Balloon Rams are all just morphs of the species Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi. There is no other species involved in the making of them.


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## Tropicana

Neon said:


> Google is your friend.....
> 
> http://bit.ly/1t6MVW7


Cute. Grow some balls and know your stuff before posting. And if your Just learning don't negatively reply to someone who knows what they are talking about.

Sorry OP.


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