New Bolivians

joeyg2100

AC Members
Oct 31, 2005
322
3
18
I just went to the store and picked up two new bolivian rams. Their color in the store was great. Nice and yellow with red lines on the fins. Looked awsome. They are a little stressed now from being put in the new tank so there colors are not very bright. I do have one question about them though.
I wanted to get a male and a female, so the guy at the LFS tried to get a male and a female for me. I defently got a male, but the female might be a male. Is there a way you can tell them apart. The LFS said that the female will have a more flattend nose. When I put these two fish together there is a big difference in them. In color and they way they are marked. I hope that I got a pair of them. These fish are really cool looking. I was thinking of getting some blues, but changed my mind because these seem to be more harty than blues
 
Male Rams have a pronounced crest on their dorsal fin, the females dont have it to the same extent. Males also tend to be a little larger than females. Females on the other hand tend to be fuller in the abdomen and exhibit a bright red coloration in this area when in breeding condition
 
Female bolivian rams don't have trailers on their fins. The males will have red trailers on their rear fin (top and bottom). Also the dorsal fin of the male will be taller near the front than the back where as the female its shorter. Females are also less colourful. If you want them to be more colourful raise the temperature to about 82F and they will be more colourful.
 
Ok I think that I have a male and a female. Because the one has trailers on his fins and the other one doesn't. Also the with the trailers is a lot more colorfull then the other one.
 
Yeah you probrably do then. I have 3 males and 1 female and they all pick on her if she gets too close to "their rock" its funny to watch them cuz when one male leaves his spot to get food another male will take his spot. Theres these 2 males that are squabbling over this rock archway lol they keep stealing it from each other.
 
Ya I am really glad that I got these fish. They are still getting use to the new surroundings. They keep looking in every cave the come back out. Just checking everything out. They also swim to the front of the glass when ever I walk into the room. They still haven't got all their color back from the move, but the male is starting to get more color. He gets really colorfull when the female comes over by him. These fish have a good personality
 
No. I can get some. I will have to get my girlfriends camera. I have been wanting to get some pictures of all my fish and post them for you all. I will get around to it someday.
 
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