Male or Female

[MammaG]

Hello!

I'm new to honey gouramis, and they are challenging me. Lol! I posted a few days ago about my stressed honey. I ended up getting it a friend which helped for a few days and then it went back to pacing. So, I moved him and his friend to a different tank and they seem to be happier (so far)

I then bought another gourami for my 15 gallon fluval flex. It settled in great so a couple of days later I brought home a friend for him. When I put the second one in the tank, the first gourami went to full breeding dress. The newest gourami is supposed to be a male, but he  hasn't coloured up yet. They've been together for 24 hours. I haven't seen any fight or chasing.

Do you think the newest addition is just stressed still, or is my male actually a female? 

[BenA]

I would say that it is a male. See Honey Gourami Care Guide: Lifespan, Tank Mates, Size, Breeding (meethepet.com)

[RyanU]

It's a little hard to tell from the picture but it does look like a male. When the top dorsal fun is extended look at the back portion. If it's pointed at the top is a male. If it's rounded female

[andieb]

Hm this is tricky and I've been reading a lot about this cause I'm having similar trouble with my sunset honey gouramis. 

Personally, I would have said that the fish in your picture is a female honey gourami because it has a brown stripe down its side. 

I'm currently looking at my male and female gouramis and their dorsal/anal fins are almost identical in shape. I'm wondering if this method of sexing applies to other gourami species but less so to honey gouramis. 

I can confirm that I have a male and a female because they do a mating dance routine thing almost daily. When they're doing this, the female gets a brown stripe down her side (at any other time this stripe is not visible - although they are sunset variety and I think for wild-types the brown line is more visible). As for the male, he never has a brown line down the side of his body. 

[Hobbit]

If your male honey went into breeding mode, made a bubble nest, and started chasing and poking the new one like a middle schooler with a crush, then your new fish is a female! 😁

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to sex juvenile honeys based on fish shape and I’ve gotten nowhere. My honey breeding pair has very similarly shaped fins.

Female:

Male:

As you can see, both have slightly pointy dorsal fins that extend about the same amount toward their tail, and both have round anal fins. Both have orange and yellow coloration on the fins as well. Not helpful! 😆

The easiest way to sex adult honeys is body shape and color. The male is smaller and more slender than the female, and the female has a rounder belly. The male is of course more colorful, especially in mating mode. Of course, if they’re not full grown, body shape and color may not have fully developed yet.

And of course, the honeys know who’s a boy and who’s a girl. So I would trust your male honey’s instinct on this one.

ETA: I’ll just note that my female honey never gets a stripe down her body, so I think this depends on the strain of honey you have. People online sometimes claim the stripe is a sure-fire way to differentiate the gender, but unfortunately this, too, has exceptions.

I think there’s just a lot more variety within Honey Gouramis than people realize.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Hobbit

[laritheloud]

1 hour ago, Hobbit said:

If your male honey went into breeding mode, made a bubble nest, and started chasing and poking the new one like a middle schooler with a crush, then your new fish is a female! 😁

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to sex juvenile honeys based on fish shape and I’ve gotten nowhere. My honey breeding pair has very similarly shaped fins.

Female:

Male:

As you can see, both have slightly pointy dorsal fins that extend about the same amount toward their tail, and both have round anal fins. Both have orange and yellow coloration on the fins as well. Not helpful! 😆

The easiest way to sex adult honeys is body shape and color. The male is smaller and more slender than the female, and the female has a rounder belly. The male is of course more colorful, especially in mating mode. Of course, if they’re not full grown, body shape and color may not have fully developed yet.

And of course, the honeys know who’s a boy and who’s a girl. So I would trust your male honey’s instinct on this one.

ETA: I’ll just note that my female honey never gets a stripe down her body, so I think this depends on the strain of honey you have. People online sometimes claim the stripe is a sure-fire way to differentiate the gender, but unfortunately this, too, has exceptions.

I think there’s just a lot more variety within Honey Gouramis than people realize.

At what age does the sex of a honey gourami become apparent? Do they have a tendency towards different temperaments between sexes?

I'm mostly wondering because I just bought a pair today (in QT) and I think they're too young to sex. Both of them have a stripe and are rather pale in color, though one is noticeably a bit bigger and shyer than the other.

[Hobbit]

Unfortunately I’m not sure when they’ll be old enough to sex—I’ve never kept my juveniles long enough to sex them. I plan on keeping a few soon though, so maybe I’ll know in a few months! 😄

In terms of temperament, I think the difference is largely whether they’re in breeding mode or not. When I have the flow up in my tank, Dad Fish can’t build a bubble nest. He becomes very docile and Mom Fish bosses him around at feeding time. When he has a bubble nest is guarding eggs, he’ll go after any fish that comes close, and he’ll go after Mom Fish if he sees her at all, even across the tank!

I’ve heard another person on this forum describe a female honey who was bossy to another female. But most people find them very peaceful to all fish, including each other.

For your honeys, does one seem more interested in the other? Do they ignore each other or spend a lot of time together? At this point all I’ll have is guesses but guessing is fun. 😊