Shai Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 (edited) About a year ago I bought this GBR from another hobbyist who swore it was female. He said he had purchased two female and one male GBR, and the male had mated once with this fish, then ultimately rejected her for the other female. The rejected female was being picked on by the other two so he had to get rid of her. Well, I've never seen a pink belly on my GBR, but then, I've never had another GBR in the tank with it. I want to get this fish a mate, so I Googled sexing so that when I was at the LFS I could more accurately pick out a good male. But having read up on sexing GBRs, now I'm not sure if my female is actually female! From my reading it seems you can look for these traits: - females have the pink belly when spawning - females will have black stripes on the leading edge of the pelvic fins (this may or may not be accurate) - females will have blue shine over their black dot - females will have a rounded dorsal fin - males have more yellow and little or no pink on the chest/belly - males do not have black stripes on the leading edge of the pelvic fins (again, may or may not be accurate) - males do not have blue shine on their black dot - males have unrounded dorsal fin and the first, second, and possibly third rays on this fin are longer From this pic it seems she has traits of both genders. The dorsal fin has both longer rays at the front and some rounding at the back. The black dot has some blue shine on it, but only a little. There is black on the pectoral fins. There seems to be a lot of yellow in the chest/belly area, but I don't know if this is just because the fish has never gone into spawning mode in my tank. I searched for pictures on Google as well and some of the pairs I found showed females with pink bellies and longer dorsal fins! Here is a video of the fish. (Apparently I need to clean the glass on my aquarium.) Can anyone help me figure this out? http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=um5-whZ4OLE Edited September 20, 2008 by Shai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 20, 2008 Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 (edited) Looks like a male to me. A female will always have a slight pink belly, even when no males are around, they just get really dark when they want to spawn. And females black spots on their sides will be speckled all throughout, yours has no blue speckles throughout the black spot. As well the first 2 dorsal spines are longer than the rest, which is a very good indication that it is a male, females spines will be all one length or the first one or 2 will be shorter than the others (sometimes the males 1st spine will be short, and the 2nd and 3rd spines will be longer). IMHO you definitely have a male there, and a very nice looking one at that. Which would have been the main reason he was being picked on by the other male, he was just the sub dominant one. Hope this helps Some of the info on sexing them is correct, but alot of it can be inaccurate. Which site did you find that told you how to sex them? I had never known about the fins being longer or more pointed on a male, or that a females was more round. To tell you the truth, I would mainly rely on the fact that a female will have a blue sheen to her black spot, most of them have a pink belly, and the first couple dorsal spines will be shorter. Edited September 20, 2008 by firestorm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted September 20, 2008 Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 Looks like a male to me too The 3 things I use to tell the difference is: - Females have blue sheen/dots on their black spots, males do not have any blue in the black spots. - Females have a pinkish stomach - The first rays of the dorsal fin are longer in the males. Usually by using a combination of those you can sex them pretty acurately. I believe the "rounded" dorsal you are mentioning refers to the top back part of the dorsal fin. Usually in male cichlids the top edge of the fin, where it meets the back edge, is pointed. In females its usually more rounded or blunt. In your picture its pointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shai Posted September 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 lol Transgender fish! I managed to dig up the topic where the hobbyist described her, just to make sure I was remembering things properly. Oh well, I guess the observations he made were just mixed up. Or maybe I got the wrong fish?! (Though the link in his topic to the photo of the fish still works...looks pretty much like the fish I did get.) Anyway... Which site did you find that told you how to sex them? There were lots. I Googled "sexing german blue rams" and looked through at least three or four pages of the results. Some of the sites contradicted one another but there were a number where hobbyists were posting photos of their own mated pairs to help other people. I still ended up not being sure. I believe the "rounded" dorsal you are mentioning refers to the top back part of the dorsal fin. Usually in male cichlids the top edge of the fin, where it meets the back edge, is pointed. In females its usually more rounded or blunt. In your picture its pointed. This makes more sense to me now. I wasn't entirely sure before from what I was reading. Well, OK, I guess it's a male after all. So now the problem becomes 1. finding good quality GBR stock (I went to a number of LFSes today and none of them had any GBRs) and then 2. finding a female. Something else I came across on Google was that, apparently, shipments of these fish to LFSes tend to be male only. : \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted September 20, 2008 Report Share Posted September 20, 2008 The fish in that for sale ad looks like a male to me. I guess now we know why it was fighting with his other male and female. Finding good quality rams can be difficult. Try to find someone breeding them or if you buy from a store, ask how long they have had them and if they have had many deaths in the shipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 I usually bought mine from riverfront, they were the one store that usually had them. If not then ask Dennis at Gold's to see if he will be getting any in. Come to think of it I have hardly seen any GBR's around here lately. But your best bet is to find a private breeder, who you know has good quality stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shai Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 (edited) Come to think of it I have hardly seen any GBR's around here lately. Agreed! The only LFS that has had any was Gold's, but they were the "angel" variety, which I don't want. Maybe soon they'll have some of the regular kind. Still looking for some females to see if I can get a pair. Hopefully I'll be able to score some soon. : ) Edited September 29, 2008 by Shai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Come to think of it I have hardly seen any GBR's around here lately. Agreed! The only LFS that has had any was Gold's, but they were the "angel" variety, which I don't want. Maybe soon they'll have some of the regular kind. Still looking for some females to see if I can get a pair. Hopefully I'll be able to score some soon. : ) I have some young ones for sale in Calgary!! Please let me know if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 I don't know why some people call those ones balloon rams and others call them angel rams. But yeah I did see them there. Fishclubgirl, do you breed GBR's? If you have pictures of the parents that would be great to see, I was planning on investing in some GBR's soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shai Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 I have some young ones for sale in Calgary!! Please let me know if you're interested. ? You responded to my thread in the Livestock forum and I sent you a PM about it on the 26th. You haven't replied... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shai Posted October 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Woohoo! Oh yes, this is definitely a boy! I picked up a female (nice pink belly) and as soon as she was let loose in the tank my ram was right there, strutting around, fins out, all "Look at me, I'm all that!" He wanted to get it on with her right then and there. She was...less than impressed (LOL), though she did show some interest. But then, she was still pretty stressed from the car ride and being introduced to the tank. It's been a few hours and everyone has settled down for the night, but I think they'll be pairing up. :3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interlude Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Woohoo! Oh yes, this is definitely a boy!I picked up a female (nice pink belly) and as soon as she was let loose in the tank my ram was right there, strutting around, fins out, all "Look at me, I'm all that!" He wanted to get it on with her right then and there. She was...less than impressed (LOL), though she did show some interest. But then, she was still pretty stressed from the car ride and being introduced to the tank. It's been a few hours and everyone has settled down for the night, but I think they'll be pairing up. :3 Its a reunion! they used to be together.. separated and now back together again. Maybe I mixed it up in the beginning, I swear I gave you a female haha my bad! Let me know if you get some fry.. i would like to buy some off of you :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 I am also interested in GBR's here close to Edmonton. I have 4, 2 paired up, but my loaches ate the eggs. I am hoping to seperate them, but that won't happen any time soon. Any nice looking ones up in this neck of the woods?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 I don't know why some people call those ones balloon rams and others call them angel rams. But yeah I did see them there. Fishclubgirl, do you breed GBR's? If you have pictures of the parents that would be great to see, I was planning on investing in some GBR's soon Sorry for the delay. Once I figure out water conditions, I hope to get the GBRs going. They seem to spawn weekly but don't like calgary water. I'm very close on a technique that works though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
04_si Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 thats an absolutely beautiful male! I love these little rams! I have a breeding pair and have been doing everything I can to get them to stop eating their eggs!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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