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Honey Gouramis -- Courtship or Dominance Dance?


laritheloud
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So I have two honey gouramis, both of which I thought were female. Now I'm no longer sure. OR, at least, I'm absolutely sure the younger golden-type gourami is a female, but I'm no longer certain about my older wild-type.

Does anyone know if two female gouramis will do the aggression/courtship/dominance dance beside one another, or is this only a phenomenon between two males or a courting pair? Because they did that just now, and I saw the aqua-tinted strip on the wild-type female's (?) lower fin darken. 

Is my wild type actually a male, not showing breeding colors because my female is too young??? Or are they still two females, lol?!

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On 6/12/2021 at 5:02 PM, laritheloud said:

So I have two honey gouramis, both of which I thought were female. Now I'm no longer sure. OR, at least, I'm absolutely sure the younger golden-type gourami is a female, but I'm no longer certain about my older wild-type.

Does anyone know if two female gouramis will do the aggression/courtship/dominance dance beside one another, or is this only a phenomenon between two males or a courting pair? Because they did that just now, and I saw the aqua-tinted strip on the wild-type female's (?) lower fin darken. 

Is my wild type actually a male, not showing breeding colors because my female is too young??? Or are they still two females, lol?!

Can you upload any videos or photos? 

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On 6/12/2021 at 5:20 PM, laritheloud said:

This is them @Fish Folk. Golden female is the younger one, older wild type female is the one with the stripe. The striped disappears sometimes. The top fin has lemon yellow and an orange rim. The bottom fin has an orange rim that’s usually a little bluish but turned black during the dance. 

2684A3B5-91E8-4AD1-9A83-428021F2B46F.jpeg

B5356911-8F5D-4C5B-90F2-719C1F188E5E.jpeg

9D510D70-B9DC-4F5D-9DDB-1B6E6899B051.jpeg

Can you get a better shot of the all-golden one? The one with a stripe looks like a female.... but I’m not a Gourami pro... 😅

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On 6/12/2021 at 5:15 PM, Fish Folk said:

Can you upload any videos or photos? 

 

On 6/12/2021 at 5:23 PM, Fish Folk said:

Can you get a better shot of the all-golden one? The one with a stripe looks like a female.... but I’m not a Gourami pro... 😅

C70B8270-A06B-43A1-BDE8-814C3A825A3C.jpeg

0EE8BD74-2A7B-408B-B8B7-74C6A70E4BA0.jpeg

CF4A397A-05B7-42C9-A6A2-828CD4316809.jpeg

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On 6/12/2021 at 5:50 PM, Fish Folk said:

I’d love to be wrong!

 I linked to the time stamp of what it looked like. Plus dark black bottom fin.

EDIT: I guess I just have to wait and see if they both continue to color up. I'm all kinds of confused. I went to the store today and picked up a 55 gallon for my next tank, took a look at the honeys they had and it was impossible to sex them in the tank. I wasn't sure of ANY of their sexes, and I was looking out for top fin color/etc.

Edited by laritheloud
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On 6/12/2021 at 5:50 PM, Fish Folk said:

I’d love to be wrong!

 

On 6/12/2021 at 5:54 PM, Fish Folk said:

So... (sorry, I’m confused)... is this your pair? 

Oh, no, it's not. I just found a video that looked like what they were doing. Sorry for the confusion.

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On 6/12/2021 at 6:32 PM, Fish Folk said:

Best as I can tell, here’s a few pairs sexed...

 

6BAB4F17-C0D1-4E34-9AA5-66A49D843863.jpeg

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0D9B1007-AFBA-41B0-A83E-9A2C04E5188B.jpeg

I've been asking around and it sounds like female honey gouramis *NEVER* turn black on the anal fin.... Whereas my gourami was black black black, only on the anal fin! But black. And I didn't manage to take a picture. Sigh....

The colors of my 'female' wild type's dorsal fin look like they might be male. The orange edge to it was throwing me off, though, despite the bright lemon yellow in the distinctive male pattern.

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On 6/12/2021 at 6:35 PM, Maggie said:

Wow, they were really going at it in that video! I couldn't help but notice the cute cory cat with the heart-shaped spot on his tail just moseying on by minding his own business. 

As cories do, cute little derpy guys

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