German Blue Ram Sexing

[Bercey]

I picked up some GBR's from the LFS and I'm not so sure if I received a male and a female.

I've looked around on Google for the differences in the sexes and I'm not really able to tell what I have.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Fish 1:

Fish 2:

Both:

 

[Mike Wise]

I don't see any metallic scales in the middle of the humeral spot, so I would say they are both males. The photos are ideal. Do you see and metallic scales in the middle of the spot at any time?

 

[Chromedome]

To my eyes they appear to be two males. Females generally have reddish bellies from a fairly young age.

 

[abrooks12376]

Im seeing a hint of pink and the blue spot forming in the closest, also the dorsal fin would point to f.. notice the def males first few points and white tips..

 

[Bercey]

Thanks for the help so far, but I also took a couple more pictures that might make it easier to tell:

Male?

Female?

The only thing is, the fish I believe to be the male, has a belly that is more pink whereas the fish I believe to be the female doesn't really have a pink belly at all.

 

[Dano1311]

to me you have two males, i always sex rams the way mike wise stated above.

 

[Mike Wise]

I don't see any metallic scales in the middle of the humeral spot, so I would say they are both males. The photos are ideal. Do you see and metallic scales in the middle of the spot at any time?

Sorry, I should have written that "the photos are not ideal".

Color is not a diagnostic feature in Rams - especially in domestic, color enhanced, strains. Dorsal fin height is also highly variable among the sexes. I've only found the location of metallic scale in the humeral spot to be reliable. I still see no individual metallic scales in the middle of the humeral spot, so that makes me believe that the photos show males. Photos sometimes don't show the whole picture (no pun intended!), so I could be wrong.

 

[Bercey]

Sorry, I should have written that "the photos are not ideal".

Color is not a diagnostic feature in Rams - especially in domestic, color enhanced, strains. Dorsal fin height is also highly variable among the sexes. I've only found the location of metallic scale in the humeral spot to be reliable. I still see no individual metallic scales in the middle of the humeral spot, so that makes me believe that the photos show males. Photos sometimes don't show the whole picture (no pun intended!), so I could be wrong.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. I brought them back to the LFS and traded them in for a pair of electric blues they had in.

 

[Malefactor2000]

Thanks for the help so far, but I also took a couple more pictures that might make it easier to tell:

Male?

Female?

The only thing is, the fish I believe to be the male, has a belly that is more pink whereas the fish I believe to be the female doesn't really have a pink belly at all.

I've been doing this for the past 6-8 months. Sexing German Blue Rams successfully. Here's the secret, because as Mike Wise has mentioned. A lot of the sex traits have been bred in and out of both of the sexes. The Spot in the middle is not a good indicator, nor are the dorsal fins. Pink belly may not show up for the females... Yet to see a male who has one though - so if you see that, definitely female.

The primary way i can tell that's proven 100% for me thus far... The pectoral fins. Males will have longer pointed pectoral fins while the females will be more rounded almost a complete triangle. The top one looks to be a female and bottom one a male to me. The way to tell is when they are sideways to you. If they're pectoral fins are clamped against the underside of their belly. Males will go halfway to fully across their anal fin, while females will stop right at are barely into the anal fin at all. That's been the only sure fire way for me to tell thus far, but it hasn't led me wrong yet.

 

[Mike Wise]

You mean ventral fins; pectoral fins are to ones behind the gills at mid-flank.

 

[Malefactor2000]

Heh, yes, those the ones. Sorry.

 

[RheaDellaVera]

I recently purchased a “German blue ram” as that was what it was labeled as however recently I’ve noticed it’s starting to look like maybe a golden ram cross breed as it’s black spot seems to be fading I was curious the sex tho at first I believed male but now the recent coloration in it has me confused any help??

 

[Mike Wise]

My guess is that it is a male. The camera/post processing has oversaturated the chroma so it is hard to see the humeral spot.