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hi everyone i want to know if anyone has had any eperience with these neat lil guys. i want to possibly get a small group of 1 male and 2 females is this going to be good? i want to breed them and ideas?

if the tank is good, then 1 male and 2 females i would guess be good. i don't know how to sex em, but i guess they are mouth brooders. but not sure.
guess not http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/bolivian.xml

Last edited by bettachris at 29-Mar-2005 20:09[/font]

there not mouth brouders
1 m - 2 f is decent
there not overly aggressive n can b hard to sex when young
males have a more vivid shine to them n develop a more defined unique tail fin with pointed ends
they do fine on flake but to condition them live n frozen foods r best in slightly soft acidic water

u may notice some sparing between them which is normal they usually dont hurt each other

Bratyboy2

I bought two impossible to sex then possibly too small at time of purchase. They are in a heaverly planted 5ft tank. They eat all the mixed food and never a problem with each other.

Technically I dont think they are actualy a "Ram" but that is a common name for them.

They do not have the bright colours of the Rams. Well mine do not any way.

Keith

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its pretty easy to sex them you just need to look at their tails, I think males have 2 spiky things at the end of their tails & females do not, cali could confirm this...

All right, let's clear up some of the confusion here. I'm having a little trouble sorting through all of these opinions, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

First of all, what size tank do you plan to keep these fish with, and with what tankmates? Bolivian rams should have no less than a ten gallon tank as a home, and should not be kept with overly large or aggressive fish.

Getting a male and two females would be okay, but I believe that they prefer being kept in pairs. I do know that they typically breed in pairs, so you might want to either add another male or drop a female. These fish aren't too tough to breed, as long as they are fed well on live and frozen foods, and have clean water. Just make sure that their tankmates don't eat the eggs once the time comes.

These fish are easy to feed, and will accept most flake and meaty foods without complaint. They are also pretty hardy, and are much tougher than their German ram cousins. Though German rams do tend to have more color in them, Bolivians are still pretty nice-looking, in my opinion. If you take a look at this site's profile on the Bolivian ram, you can view several pictures of them.

Hopefully this will help you out.

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Books,

Good post. I want to add a couple of items. If you are unable to sex the fish or the lfs are unable to sex the fish due to their age, then buy 5 if you have the room. You have great odds at having at least one male or female in the group. Mmmm, this generally works unless the lfs has brought in the stock from Asia. Oftentimes Asian breeders send only males or females.

Sexing the little buggers. Males will be bigger and more aggressive than females. The first hint will be little face offs between the males. Great fun, no damage and interesting to watch. Sexual dimorphism begins with the dorsal fin (top fin) the first couple of spines start to elongate and darken in males. The next step is "threading" along the top and bottom edges of their tail fin. Lastly, males will become a bit more colorful that the females.

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I have heard and seen Bolivian Rams that are Harem breeders- one male to many females. One fellow I know breeds 2 harems in one 100 g tank, one with 1 male and 7 females, the other harem is 1 male and 5 females.
But people also have had good luck with breeding them in pairs. It is likely if you end up with 1 male and 2 females that he will breed with both of them, and produce viable fry from both females.
Heres a pic of an adult male to help you in identification. I do not have a female, just 2 males, so I cant help you with a female pic. My large male Bol. Ram is 3.5 inches in body length, minus the tail.
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sneaky-pete - we've had the harem vs. pair breeder discussion before. I still wonder if that breeder really has a true harem going (male breeding with multiple females) or if the male tolerates the unpaired females in his area...just a thought. My pair drove off two other juvenile rams (of which I think one was male and another a female - but they were young enough it was hard to tell).

Eric

My male also didn't like the extra female when she was still with us. The female didn't like her either, and the extra male was the same, so she was stuck in nofishland between the territories of the couple and the other male and was miserable as she couldn't go anywhere without someone chasing her away. In other words, I would get one male and one female only.

Some are easy to sex, some are allegedly not. If you look at sneaky_pete's picture, the caudal fin has extensions on the pink area on top and bottom. A female wouldn't have that and would be smaller if they're the same age.


This is a picture of my couple. The female is at the back and you can see that she has no extensions to her caudal fin.

Hope this helps.

Last edited by untitled at 31-Mar-2005 14:33[/font]

I wanted to add something else to this string. They love a sand substrate. I would avoid gravel at all costs. Oddly enough, although Rams aren't by any means bottom feeders, They love to suck sand substrate up into there mouths to siphon it for food left overs. I have had my for 3 years and they will eat just about anything, but when they are not eating, theyre just puffing away throught the sand like mini vaccums. It has been my experience that it is best to have several females to one male, and the females I have come accross are no where nearly as colorful. May be a geographic thing, cuz the pic posted above displays a beautiful pair. Guess its gonna be trial and error.

How big of a tank would be needed to house 4 or 5 of these fish?

A twenty gallon long tank would be the minimum size. Twenty-nine gallons would be better though, and so on. Rams guard small territories and are small fish, so a twenty would fit a few pair.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

doesnt it take them 1-2 years to mature? Ive had my bolivian for over 6 months and still cant tell if its a male or female.

I don't believe it takes them that long. It's just that these fish can be tough to sex, unless you vent them. The females will have a shorter, thicker, blunter vent than males.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."