new RAMS!! 56k warning!!!

Hi guys, I thought I'd share my new pride & joy.. my new German Blue ram pair... the male doesn't begin to show his true colours in these pics, he is truly stunning!!! out of about 30 fish, he stood out in the tank.. straight away I was like HIM!!! HIM!! I WANT HIM!!!

the female has a nice fat belly too!
please excuse the tank looking bad (long story but basically my tank split today & I had to do a mad rush around to buy a new tank while all my fish sat in buckets) heres half the finished product!!! (missing about 70% of my plants!!!)

sorry to be the bearer of bad news mate but i suggest you take them back and swap them
they look a bit deformed

I agree with Chris....very inbred fish
Male is deformed at base of tail

Have a look at this post for what German Rams should look like

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14260

I agree on the deformations as well - suggest you take them back and swap them with something else (dry goods if you don't have any fish in mind) as it's likely the whole batch in the LFS are from the same source (which are genetically bad).

Take a look at this thread on how the blue ram suppose to look like:

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/vi...asc&highlight=

Additionally - some of the plants you got in the tank are not aquatic plants. They may not live long when totally submerged.

PS: Imported German rams don't usually have such obvious deformations. I believe these are either cheap Asian imports or locally bred (within it's own bloodline for several generations).

guys, you have freaked me out! I got these from an extremely reliable local fish shop, the best in Sydney as a matter of fact!

it's also a 1.5 hour drive to take them back!!!!

these are the best looking rams I could find (trust me I looked everywhere) and I was told they were locally bred & born.

and if your reffering to the bella palms.. I know I discovered it AFTER I bought them, rookie mistake, but I have had them several months & they are doing ok (every week I take them out of the water for a while)
Is the female ok? because I have been watching them all morning after I read these posts, I see what you mean with the male, but the female looks good & healthy? shes got a really pink belly and she's nice & round.. I thought thats a sign of a good ram!
If I split them & make sure they don't pair up will it be something that can be bred out of them? I really wanted to breed rams, I have a second tank set-up for when the times right.. But If they are going to be "deformed" (as you put it) I don't want to be responsible for an inferior or traumatised fish.

Don't want to be nasty but I wouldn't recommend breeding with any fish knowing the deformations they have are genetic (as similar deformations at different degree amongst the siblings).

Any responsible breeder will cull these defected fish and stop breeding with the bloodline (and let the adult fish live out it's natural life). However the extend of the deformations mean it's possible their parents are likely to have certain degree of visible deformations which leads to conclude whoever is breeding with them are irresponsible.

As for a LFS - if they're as good as you said - they shall warrant your claim and refund your fish as store credit. After they acknowledge and confirmed they got a batch of deformed fish (if they weren't aware already) - they will destroy them and stopped sourcing fish from this breeder. If they do aware of such deformations in their stock and still sells them to the public - then I really doubt the reputation of this LFS.

Just my 2 cents worth.

ok well the shop is closed on Sundays as far as I know, thankyou for pointing it out, I'll probably take them back next weekend, I'm very dissapointed, we get all our marine fish & coral from them, so selling me these fish (which I should have checked properly) wasn't very professional on their behalf. Thanks for your input.

Unfortunately just about every shop has deformed or poor quality stock
You were ecstatic with your purchase until advised other wise.....lots of people can't tell the difference.....so there is every chance poor quality fish will get sold so it is a lot easier for shops to ignore any dud product than it is to be responsible.
It does take a fair bit of commitment to cull dud fish.
It would be Great if wholesalers culled poor quality....but I can't see it happening

On the same token.....often Top quality fish are often sold cheaply....I bought the best Rams(female in photo above) I've ever owed for $10 each....cheap!!

In the end....it's buyer beware

Don't be too embarrassed....I love Pelvicachromis taeniatus.....I've bought pairs with drooping pectoral fins but only noticed when I got them settled

St George is good for just about anything other than Sth Americans, but I would have thought that at least one person there would know the difference between a deformed fish and a normal one.

I'd probably tackle this carefully. Give them a call during the week if it's not possible to get there before the w/e. Don't say "Hi you sold me a deformed fish, an internet forum told me so!" Shops hate this and would probably say internet forums don't know jack.
If that male ram was the best you could find in the tank then I'd really hate to see the rest of them and therefore wouldn't be wanting a trade of fish.

As it stands, the photos of Rod's rams in his thread IMO are the best looking rams in the country and definitely the benchmark for breeding stock.