EBR general talk

[Christople]

I know the water they need and have provided it but I want to know about the following things: how do I sex them, what to feed the fry, what would be a good alternitive to slate...[need to save money] Thanks for your help

 

[Mike Wise]

These are just a commercial strain of the Orinoco Ram (M. ramirezi). What works for other strains, works for EBR. Sexing can be difficult since almost all of the diagnostic features are missing. You best bet is to go to a breeder and pick a slightly larger and slightly smaller species, but not necessarily the largest and smallest. If the fish are from the same spawn and raised in the same tank, you have a good chance of getting one of each sex. Males will have slightly higher anterior dorsal spines and females will have a rosy belly on older, mature fish, but it is unlikely that you'll find (or want) such older fish. Truthfully, you would be better off if you bought 6 specimens and put them in a large tank to pair off.

 

[tjudy]

Young fish are almost impossible to sex accurately. Older fish are like the wild type of the genus, and the males are larger-bodied and more robust. I have also noticed that the dominant males' foreheads are a rusty color while the females are blue.

One of the best spawning sites for rams is the drainage dish from a flower pot. They seem to like that the flat surface is in a somewhat protected depression.

 

[Christople]

okay but I cant spend 90 dollars on fish one because the money and two I only have a forty gallon... my lfs recieves them barely mature with my normal rams but I'm not sure about the EBRs because never thought I'd buy them... thought wrong. and if you are wondering I don't have an angel in the tank and my rams killed each other. And I don't have neons in there either.

 

[wethumbs]

The rosy belly is a sure sign of a female for GBR and GR, however I found this lacking in EBR. Chuck Rambo had suggested using a flashlight to look for iridescent spots (around the black spot) on the female body. I had tried using this method till the fish went 'blind' or maybe I gone blind and still could not be certain. Anyway, I found the EBR males generally have longer anterior dorsal ray while females do not. Steve Lundblad used the body shape to distingish the gender. The longer and more slender ones are males while the shorter and taller ones are females. I still believe a pic is worth a thousand words. Here are a few 'thousand words' and NO, you may not use my pictures.

male on the right and female on the left

there is no mistakening which one is the female

a different female

a different male

 

[Mike Wise]

Body shape is an excellent way to determine sex - if the fish are full grown. On young fish (as usually sold), it is sometimes not easy to see the difference.