New Blue Ram (color looks wrong?)

[blitzkrieg]

This afternoon I went to petco to pick up some new plants and a big stone for my 29 gallon tank that I am slowly working on stocking. I noticed that they had several blue ram cichlids in stock, a fish I have really admired on the web for the five months or so I have been keeping fish. Well it was payday and I found out that I got a good job lined up for my senior year and so I decided to get a blue ram (also like that they are rams and my schools mascot is a ram) and my tank is pretty heavily understocked anyway. Well the sales associate was weird and used a funny voice to talk for the fish in the tank (???) and the blue ram I ended up bringing home didnt look like the ones I had seen online or the other ones in the tank. The size and body shape look right and it is in fact yellow with some black striping, but the lips arent blue and there is no blue irridescence to the body, nor are there red areas on the fins. Did I get screwed or is this coloration going to develop with age? All the others in the tank looked that way and I will return him to petco in the next few days if it turns out they messed up.

Thanks and I promise my posts will become less like novellas as time goes by.

[ron v]

Can you post a photo?

[Scuba Kid]

i dont think i have any ideas without seeing it....a picture would definitely help.

[Matt_1313]

Yeah, a pic would be good. Mine were like this to some extent when i bought them. How big is it? if it is really small it could just be a juvenile thing. i bought mine as a mating pair and they were already mostly full grown. Sometimes when they got really stressed mine would lose color pretty quickly, gaining it back in a few hours though. If you just bought them they could still be stressed from changing environments. see if you can get a picture on here though

[leveldrummer]

there are also different fish usually called rams, im not familiar with any of them, someone else might help with that, but ive read on here lots of people talking about 2 different types of rams.

[blitzkrieg]

these are some photos i took just now, the fish has been in the tank about 24 hours.
also, sorry for the poor quality, i promise i used to be a photographer for a respectable newspaper but taking pictures of fish in tanks is already tricky and this little bugger was fast swimming.

[Jonno]

Well i personally don't think it is a blue ram from them pictures i got my blue rams last week and this is my 1:



- Jonno

[Lydia]

I think you have a golden ram: http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_ramm.php. I know that says blue ram but I think you will find a picture of a golden ram on there too.


Edit: Sorry, I was wrong.

[aaa]

the fish is not a gold ram as he/she has black stripe on the body. i believe this is a really stress out ram. the blue ram usually look better during breeding time, but it shouldn't look like your blue ram in picture.

by the way, i will never buy any kind of ram from petco. they will die within a week because they usually very weak as they have treat by lots of chemical to prevent disease in asian fish farm and immune system is weak where the fish store add nothing compare to where they used to live. if your ram make it, good for you, but what i see is they usually last a week if they are lucky.

plus if you see all the rams in the tank look really good in color, chances are the rams have treated with hormone. crooked business people will do whatever it takes to make money.

[blitzkrieg]

thanks yall, my ram has very small specks of blue on his body now, maybe he is slowly starting to show. also, when flares his dorsal fin (i think dorsal, the one on top?), he has two tiny little black spikes that show up in the fin much like what ive seen and read about online. i hope that he starts to look better, but i kept the receipt...

[GForce]

It looks like a juvenile... the color will come with age. Also, the spot makes me think it may be a "Bolivian Ram" aka microgeophagus altispinosa.

[Georgia Peach]

looks like a blue ram to me

[Imbrium]

A juvenile? How small is it exactly? Most juvies (about an inch) I've seen around here have their vivid colors already.

[pureplecs]

I agree with GForce. I have kept a lot of these, it's color will come in.

Here's an older picture (sorry for the crappyness)


And here is a picture when they got mature...

[pureplecs]

Oh! And here's a nice picture of a younger Gold Ram...



"Imbrium - Senior Member
A juvenile? How small is it exactly? Most juvies (about an inch) I've seen around here have their vivid colors already."

A lot of times this is the case, but I have seen some batches that take longer to get thier colors.

[blitzkrieg]

mine is about an inch, give or take, it was hard to measure putting the ruler up to the tank haha
thanks pureplecs, i'll just be patient on his colors. i was thinking it would be nice to have a pair and ive heard that if you keep them together when theyre young, it will work out better later. should i consider getting a second?

also, gforce, is there anything different about it being a bolivian blue ram opposed to a german blue ram? i mean, im just wondering whether the water temps and everything should be different.

thanks again

[Matt_1313]

germans are much more sensitive..i dont know the numbers, but know that they are more work because of their needs in their water conditions..i have kept both, si i would say stick with the bolivians unless you want more of a hassel i guess.

[Imbrium]

Aren't bolivians a little bigger? Or did I dream that?
Honestly, I've only had germans and they are some of the easiest fish I've had. The trick to them, I think, is soft, acidic water. I swear, the water out of my tap could dissolve a penny in 5 min , and these fish love it.

[sambi7878]

I think you still got a ram. German Ram I guess. It only looked stress and young thats why the colors are not yet appearing. Dont worry, with proper water condition, in time youll see a good color change.

As what I know, German (Blue) Ram are more sensitive than the Bolivian rams. German rams require acidic to near neutral water and higher temp. Wherein Bolivian rams will not breed in an acidic water. Bolivian rams are bigger. Bolivian rams approx max size is 8cm while German rams is 6 cm.

[Cichlid Man]

Originally Posted by GForce

It looks like a juvenile... the color will come with age.

Spot on, but I don't think it's a Bolivian ram.