Pair of Bolivian Rams

gershwin

gershwin

AC Members
Apr 24, 2006
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Vic, Australia
Hey all,

just a quick question...I have a boy and girl Bolivian Ram. The boy bascially chases the girl away when ever she comes close- and nips a bit as well. I'm pretty sure they're adults (about two inches). I only bought them on the weekend. My tank is 22G, medium planted, 3 gold barbs, 2 guppies, 3 ottos.

My questions is, is there a chance this behaviour may change? It would be terrible to think they simply will never get along. And i'm pretty sure the female is keen to be friends...
 
How do you know you have a boy and girl - they are difficult to sex.

If you know you do - and you really do - they can carry on like this until she is ready to spawn. Then things will change drastically! He may mouth her a bit, and she may even mouth him back at times, but there will be no real damage and not all that much stress for her. (Watch carefully though, nipped/damaged fins will indicate that she is indeed being overly chased.)

Make sure she has lots of hiding places, places where he can't see her.

If you have 2 boys, they will settle it out eventually. One will be colored up nicely and the other will stay rather grey. They will establish territories and though might still mouth each other a bit, they'll work out their hierarchy and live together.

If you just got them, give them more time and see what happens.
Cathy
 
Cathy G said:
How do you know you have a boy and girl - they are difficult to sex.

If you know you do - and you really do - they can carry on like this until she is ready to spawn. Then things will change drastically! He may mouth her a bit, and she may even mouth him back at times, but there will be no real damage and not all that much stress for her. (Watch carefully though, nipped/damaged fins will indicate that she is indeed being overly chased.)

Make sure she has lots of hiding places, places where he can't see her.

If you have 2 boys, they will settle it out eventually. One will be colored up nicely and the other will stay rather grey. They will establish territories and though might still mouth each other a bit, they'll work out their hierarchy and live together.

If you just got them, give them more time and see what happens.
Cathy
Click to expand...


agreed
 
Cheers Cathy,

You're right in every way. I did ask for a pair, as in male and female, and i made this very clear. The young guy at the LFS said he knew the difference. I don't think he did. Upon reading Bolivian Ram literature about their sexual dimorphism, I'm pretty sure they're two fellas. man...

So the dominant male has established four fifths of the aquarium, the subjugated one is allowed one small area under a plant. Of course, he isn't satisfied with this, and constantly oversteps the boundary and gets chased and nipped and bitten. His caudal fin is a sorry site. Poor guy, its very hard to get him food without putting outragous amounts of food in the tank, which i refuse to do more than a few times. One of my Gold Barbs is **** near about to explode now because of the extra food.


Like you said, I'll give them time, see how it goes.
 
If he is beat up you might need to return him... it is a small space for 2 males...

I often will use an eye dropper and squirt stuff down past all the top feeders. If it is flake food, soak it in a bit of water before you suck it up with the dropper, then put your hand in the tank and shoot the food down in front of the fish...

I definately have to do this with blood worms and the like or my top feeders will explode like yours!

Cathy
 
Just an update for those into it. Things have evened up little between my two male Bolivian Rams. While the dominant one is still the dominant one, the other has now battled for more territory, with success! He cruizes the back half of the tank now, although still he has to remain in the lower levels while the other enjoys all levels. I do indeed use the eye dropper two feed them, and both have learned to suck the live black worms right out of the dropper without me even having to squeeze....

Which leads me to the point that I just want to say how cool Bolivian Rams are!!!! Yay!!! Such personality. I'm in love with them.
 
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