How to tell a Honey Gourami from other small Gourami species

[laritheloud]

Of course, @ari! I agree, it sounds like two females. On the bright side, two females will give you an extremely peaceful, sweet little tank. 🙂 My females are adorable little fish! As far as finding males, gold-type honey males are the easiest to spot, and it's best done in person. Wild types are difficult to sex in store because the entire tank looks almost the same, and you'll have to carefully examine what the employee catches. I hope you're able to find one someday! Gouramis are the best.

[Hobbit]

On 12/14/2021 at 3:35 PM, laritheloud said:

Females will work out their place in the social hierarchy with mild circling and fin-flaring. Two males will spar more vigorously than a female with a female. Neither should result in actual harm, just a bit of chasing and then they settle.
A male and a female will 'dance' side-by-side for quite a long time as a part of courtship. Sometimes they'll flop on top of each other on the substrate before resuming. They're fine.

I recently observed my two females circling each other in dominance sparing, and a few days later I observed my two males (father and son) doing the same thing. It does look a lot like the flirting dance where the male+female swim up next to each other, so unless you’ve seen both it can be hard to tell the difference! Probably because the two processes share “neurons” in the brain. Kind of like my chickens sing the egg song both after they laid an egg, and when they’re alerting the flock to danger. The flock can definitely tell the difference, but they sound super similar. There isn’t a whole lot of room up there so efficiency is important. 😄 

Anyway. Back on topic. I’ve also observed my mailing pair get so exhausted from flirting that they end up laying on the substrate for a while. It’s rather hilarious after you stop worrying!

I’ve also observed my dominant female chasing any subordinate gouramis (male or female) away from food. Not super aggressively, just enough to say “I’m the boss.”

Gourami behavior differences between males and females is a lot more subtle than I first appreciated. I think I gave some ignorant advice in the past about it, so apologies if I ever led anyone astray! I’m glad you made this thread @laritheloud so we can help people tease out the nuances.

[laritheloud]

Of course, @Hobbit! I'm so glad your observations are consistent with mine! After this many months watching my gouramis and getting all the colorways in one tank, I thought it'd be nice to put this together and clear up confusion about these wonderful fish. Lord knows it took me this long to feel confident enough about my subdominant male, and there wasn't much information or photographic documentation out there about how the different sexes can look and behave in a tank.

Side-note -- we are actually just getting started on our chicken-rearing journey after a stray 'adopted' us. We still haven't successfully coaxed her into a brand-new coop and run, but we're feeding her, looking after her, and providing her a nesting box in our garden for now. Hoping when we expand the flock in spring she'll join them!

[Hobbit]

Aww! Lucky stray chicken to find such caring people. 🥰 Chickens can be funny about joining flocks. If you get chickens that are younger than her she may do better? Either way there will be some serious meanness until they work out the pecking order. Literally. 

Pro tip I learned from my country neighbor: when trying to catch a chicken, grab them by the legs and turn them upside down. (Make sure you have both legs in hand first because that’s slightly kinder. 😄) They totally calm down and sometimes after a few seconds you can turn them upright and they stay calm in your arms. If you manage to close your girl in the coop a few nights in a row, she’ll start to go in there automatically. Chickens form habits and routines very quickly!

But back to fish: that male really had us confused! It seems in the end he was just a good eater. 😋

[Maggie]

This must be the only place where you can seamlessly go from discussing subdominant- and dominant-male gourami behavior and coloration, to "how to calm a frightened stray chicken by holding her upside down" and nobody blinks twice. 🙂

By the way, "gourami" was once an easy Jeopardy answer (easy for every single fishkeeper in the world), and nobody got it right! (Something along the lines of "which of these is a fish"). 

[Hobbit]

This is my kind of place!

[EmmaK]

This is the BEST honey gourami convo I have ever read. It’s better than everything else I’ve seen on the internet about them! Thanks so much! 

[Karen B.]

@EmmaK I agree so much!

so grateful @laritheloud and others are sharing their knowledge about these fishes.

And just because… here is one of my female sharing a meal with my Corydoras. I love how Cory absolutely do not care or are not agressive one bit. 
 

 

[laritheloud]

@Nabaliss to help you identify labiosa vs chuna next time you go shopping for gouramis. I'm so sorry for your mix-up!

[Nabaliss]

On 1/28/2022 at 4:55 PM, laritheloud said:

@Nabaliss to help you identify labiosa vs chuna next time you go shopping for gouramis. I'm so sorry for your mix-up!

Thank you!

[Tiffany.hankinson]

Hello! I stumbled across this forum tonight whilst trying to get my head around the gourami confusion. Please would anyone be able to confirm what types of gourami I have? The first two were sold at the LFS as red honey gourami, and the yellow one on its own came with a tank I bought. I just want to check they're not different types so I don't unknowingly mix types. Many thanks in advance 

 

 

 

[laritheloud]

Hi @Tiffany.hankinson! The two fish in the top photo are sunset thicklipped gouramis (trichogaster labiosa). They both look female right now, but they might be too young to sex. Of the two, the one on the right is most likely to become a male as it grows, but it's not yet a guarantee. A male will develop an elongated, pointed dorsal fin and darken to a rusty/ruddy orange color, while a female will keep the rounded fins and marmalade-orange color.

Your bottom photo is a male gold-type honey gourami (trichogaster chuna). You might be able to get away with cohabitating them, but I would keep an eye out for bullying. He will stay smaller than the other two fish. The thicklips will grow to 3 to 4 inches.

Edited February 7, 2022 by laritheloud

[Tiffany.hankinson]

On 2/7/2022 at 8:19 PM, laritheloud said:

Hi @Tiffany.hankinson! The two fish in the top photo are sunset thicklipped gouramis (trichogaster labiosa). They both look female right now, but they might be too young to sex. Of the two, the one on the right is most likely to become a male as it grows, but it's not yet a guarantee. A male will develop an elongated, pointed dorsal fin and darken to a rusty/ruddy orange color, while a female will keep the rounded fins and marmalade-orange color.

Your bottom photo is a male gold-type honey gourami (trichogaster chuna). You might be able to get away with cohabitating them, but I would keep an eye out for bullying. He will stay smaller than the other two fish. The thicklips will grow to 3 to 4 inches.

Thank you so much for this! 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Tiffany.hankinson

[EmmaK]

Would you say this is a female honey? They have orange on the top of their dorsal fin and are larger than the male I already have. I’m thinking female, but wanted another opinion before I get a second male. I have two others in the tank and they’re already paired up. 

[laritheloud]

On 2/8/2022 at 3:15 PM, EmmaK said:

Would you say this is a female honey? They have orange on the top of their dorsal fin and are larger than the male I already have. I’m thinking female, but wanted another opinion before I get a second male. I have two others in the tank and they’re already paired up. 

100% female! She looks like my darling female honey we named Peachie! What a sweetie 🙂

[EmmaK]

Thanks @laritheloud! I love my honeys so much! Because of your advice, I was able to go to my lfs and pick out 2 females from a large school of uncolored/stressed fish. I’m so appreciative!

[laritheloud]

On 2/8/2022 at 3:21 PM, EmmaK said:

Thanks @laritheloud! I love my honeys so much! Because of your advice, I was able to go to my lfs and pick out 2 females from a large school of uncolored/stressed fish. I’m so appreciative!

Oh wow, I'm so glad to hear that this helped you so much! Once you know what to look for it gets a liiiiiiittle bit easier, though I still find the wild-type coloration the most challenging to sex. You're so very welcome and enjoy your group of gouramis ❤️ 

[Maggie]

I just got my first gourami! Meet powder blue Frank, assuming it's a male. I can't tell and neither could the nice salesman at petco. What say the gourami experts? Boy or girl, I think it will be a nice contrast to my orange, white, yellow, pink and black platys once he/she gets comfy and colors up. He's in my 5 gallon minibow for quarantine right now. 

[laritheloud]

That's a boy, @Maggie! Congratulations, I hope he does well for you. He's beautiful!

[ari]

Hi @laritheloud, just wanted to provide you an update. The 2 that I had are definitely both females. I tried to get a male for the tank, but my LFS isn't able to get less than 6 at a time, so not really viable for my 16-gallon tank. I found I could get captive-breds, however, so I ordered one and got a male. 🙂 I thought they wouldn't have much of an interaction due to being captive vs. wild-bred, so I was going to re-home the females. However I recently noticed the male making a bubble nest?? Is he courting the wild females? If they'll be courting or pairing up, I'd be inclined to keep the females!

Thanks for your time and thoughts as always. 🙂 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by ari

[laritheloud]

On 2/11/2022 at 6:02 PM, ari said:

Hi @laritheloud, just wanted to provide you an update. The 2 that I had are definitely both females. I tried to get a male for the tank, but my LFS isn't able to get less than 6 at a time, so not really viable for my 16-gallon tank. I found I could get captive-breds, however, so I ordered one and got a male. 🙂 I thought they wouldn't have much of an interaction due to being captive vs. wild-bred, so I was going to re-home the females. However I recently noticed the male making a bubble nest?? Is he courting the wild females? If they'll be courting or pairing up, I'd be inclined to keep the females!

Thanks for your time and thoughts as always. 🙂 

 

Color doesn't matter with honey gouramis! As long as they are trichogaster chuna (which they both are), they can breed. This looks like courting to me. Congratulations, I hope he's a better bubble nester than my males!

[pr0cess0r]

Hello, ehre are my honey gourami and would like help for identification to make sure they are honey and wich color and also would like to know if there is male and female? none have blue none have a black line... 

Thank for your help!

[Henry the fish keeper]

On 9/21/2021 at 8:12 AM, laritheloud said:

But they're just so cute!!! 😆

It's best to stick with single gourami species per tank, though. Sexing is the biggest challenge and really important for peace of the tank!

I agree gouramis are pretty cute. Also, where did you get your honey gouramis anyway? I am looking for them to purchase for a centerpiece fish.

[laritheloud]

On 3/29/2022 at 11:18 AM, pr0cess0r said:

Hello, ehre are my honey gourami and would like help for identification to make sure they are honey and wich color and also would like to know if there is male and female? none have blue none have a black line... 

Thank for your help!

Oooooh this is a tough one. The second picture, I'd be tempted to say MIGHT be male because I can't clearly see orange on the rims of the dorsal fin, but the body shape and paleness look extremely female. Since none of the fish have colored to a 'male' coloration when they were placed in a group, I suspect all three of them are female. Keep an eye on them and if none of them color up in the 'male' gold colorway, then yes, all females.

@Henry Li I purchased all of my gouramis from my LFS. I'm lucky to have one with a very extensive fish selection. 

[Karen B.]

I went to my LFS and for the first time in 2 years, they had tons of sunset honey gourami.  Gosh I forgot how small, adorable and cute they are as baby! Still stunning as adults but BABIES! 🥰🤪

 

@laritheloud Just want to take a minute to thank you. Sharing your experience, answering our questions, I can’t speak for everyone but personally it means a lot to me and helped me immensely when I started with my gourami!