single ram nesting?

[SnakeIce]

we have one blue ram, sex undeturmined, that has made a smooth depression that is about 4 inches square in area give or take... it has cleaned all the gravel on the surface of this area and is really defensive over this spot, don't you dare clean the gravel any where near it

the reason I don't know what the sex of this fish is that I have taken all the "sure" signs of gender and some things match for it being a female and some match for it being a male...


Do both sexes of rams make the nest? does the male make the nest and tryes to impress the female with it? or do they both contribute

[Makino]

both sexes of my rams contribute to digging several pits in the sand prior to spawning. egss are laid on a flat surface, fertilised, then male chases away female and assumes gaurding responsility. female is not allowed near un-hatched. only when fry are free swimming is she allowed to help

[NatakuTseng]

From my experience both parents gaurd the nest site.. the male doesn't take full responsibility, nor does he chase the female away. Both my pairs gaurd their eggs in this fashion, and its usually the female that does the pushing around to try and get the male to take care of the nest for a while. Its very possible that a single ram could and would prepare a nesting site. I would be more inclined to think its a female, as she may be egg laiden and need a place to lay, a male wouldn't. Females have a pinkish belly area, and the black dot on their side generally has blue speckles throughout it. Males will lack a pink belly, their second or third dorsal ray will be twice as long as the others, and their black dot is generally black, there may be speckles of blue along the edges of it, but the vast majority of that dot should be just black and nothing else.