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I thought that normal blue rams were half blue and half gold. And they have the black stripes. Check out this site: www.oddballfish.com to see what I mean.

No, that's a photography issue. Nearly every time one sees a picture of Mikrogeophagus ramierzi the colors look different depending on the light and angle of the photograph.....it would be similar to taking a picture of a diamond or an opal....how many colors are there going to be and where? No two pics of the very same gem would look the same. Well, this goes for fish too! Gold rams are very yellow with a few blue flecks that will reflect camera light, and blue rams are predominately yellowish gold as well, but their blue flecks are bigger and more pervalent, and they REALLY reflect blue in pictures. Blue rams do have black markings on them and gold rams don't. If you could see the two together in a fish store you would know what I'm talking about......German blue is just a name for a blue ram....there is no difference between a german blue ram and a blue ram, and any fish store trying to charge more for one or the other is running a scam.

The only thing worth noting would be a difference in where the ram came from i.e.: local breeder, Asian fish farm, wild caught, but they could still be called "German blue" or just blue if they came from any of those three sources.

Way too much is being read into the common name of this fish.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

They are the same species, that is true. Both are M. ramirezi, are perfectly interchangeable for breeding purposes, and act the same behaviorally. However, a 'German' blue ram refers to a bred color morph. Just like a black moor refers to a bred shape morph of the common goldfish, or a marbled molly refers to a bred color morph of the molly. No phylogenic difference, just a product of selective breeding.

It's a Variation... I get it.

Chris

I'm pretty sure the fish in the picture is female. The egg tube seems pretty visible and there's a bit of pink showing up. The males genitals are barely noticeable and only show up on near adult males in the best of pictures.

Ok here is a picture of my Gold Ram. There is definately no mistaking them for Blue Rams - no black in the at all.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!