Electric blue ram

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  Electric blueThis page

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  Gold

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  Black

Care at a glance

Overview

Sold as a solid metallic blue fish with none of the yellow, red or black markings of a standard ram. A faint eye stripe often survives, and suppliers vary in intensity and in how much dark speckling shows. The color also masks the pink belly that sexes standard rams, so picking a pair out of a shop tank is harder. Retailers often flag it as expert only, and it costs more than a plain blue ram.

In the wild

The blue form reached the hobby in 2009 and its exact origin is not recorded. The usual account is that an odd fish turned up in a spawn of standard rams and was bred on, mostly in Asian farms. It is a captive line rather than a location variant, so there is no wild population of electric blues.

Good to know

Breeders treat the color as recessive. Two electric blues give electric blue fry, while a cross to a standard ram gives normal looking carriers. The blue is the sheen a standard ram already carries, left exposed once the yellow and the dark markings are bred away. Selection has narrowed the gene pool, and low fertility and weak brood care are reported more often here than in wild type rams.

Common questions

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