juvenile golden electric ram

**Stuart Phoon** · 26th Jul 2015, 11:15

Hi, just got 2 golden electric ram from sea view.. really small.. probably at 1-2cm only... one of them will occasionally chase the other off... does that mean i got 2 males by accident? or are they too young for their gender to be determined

**Urban Aquaria** · 26th Jul 2015, 11:24

Yeah, those are still juveniles so abit tough to determine their genders... i guess you probably got one which has a more dominant personality than the other, especially when you stock just 2 of those fishes, there will be some chasing to establish hierarchy.

**stormhawk** · 27th Jul 2015, 11:44

You can roughly differentiate the gender even at that size. The chasing behavior is normal, even between males and females.

To differentiate, just look at the tummy and the finnage. Males tend to have a longer set of pelvic fins and extended finnage to the dorsal and anal fins. Females typically have a purplish hue to the belly but not at a young age. However, their pelvic fins will not extend very far and the dorsal and anal fins are a wee bit rounded/shorter at the end. If you have a picture of them it would be easier to see what they are.

Take note however, that even if you have a pair, and they end up breeding, captive bred Rams can become cannibals towards their eggs/fry. If you're lucky you get a great pair then you're in for "baby bonus" every two weeks or so.

**Stuart Phoon** · 27th Jul 2015, 12:54

IMG_4812.jpg IMG_4815.jpg

sorrry for the bad pics... hard to take their photos.. apparently now they are chasing each other off but following each other... really weird... but must say they r quite cute and i hope to keep them alive as long as possible.. read abt how fragile these rams are.. and this is like my 1st fish tank?

**Stuart Phoon** · 27th Jul 2015, 12:58

**stormhawk** · 27th Jul 2015, 12:58

You might have a 1M/1F pair there, based on the finnage that I can make out. They are fragile but pretty easy to keep. Just ensure the water is clean and do not overfeed. They are easy fish, at least to me, as long as you keep the conditions right.

I saw several of these over at C328 last week and it was quite easy to pick out the males from the females.

**Stuart Phoon** · 27th Jul 2015, 13:05

**Stuart Phoon** · 27th Jul 2015, 13:06

Hi stormhawk and urbanaquaria. thanks for all your replies. appreciate it =)))

oh and urbanaquaria i have been reading ur blog before i started my tank =P

**stormhawk** · 27th Jul 2015, 13:10

In the last pic you posted Stuart, the fish on the left is a female. However, the spine looks a little strange. Both seem to have Balloon genes. Not a problem if you don't mind it much. Rams are cute whichever type they are.

**Stuart Phoon** · 27th Jul 2015, 13:14

oh dear. weird spine? means might die young?

**stormhawk** · 27th Jul 2015, 13:20

Nope, just a thing with fish that have the Balloon gene. This spinal thing occurs due to genetic issues from the parents or from their diet when these were still fry. I've had fry with kinked spines before from other fish so it's pretty common these days. As long as it does not affect the fish's daily activities then it should be fine. I see that both are foraging openly, which is a good sign.