Sexing Honey Gourami

[ABowers]

I have two honey gourami, I thought both were males, but I’m now unsure. 
I’ve had them for around 7 months now. In that time one of them darkened in color, and also developed orange on his fins. The other has remained pale. Also the temperament of the pale one is more laid back then the darker colored fish. 
I’ve attached pictures of both. If anyone could provide insight to the possible sex of the lighter yellow fish with the stripe down the side. I’m unsure if it’s female or male. 

Much thanks for the help!!

[Fish Folk]

I’m going to guess this:

[ABowers]

Thank you. I was starting to lean towards the lighter one being a female as well. I appreciate your response! 

[laritheloud]

@Fish Folk nailed it, you have a beautiful pair! Aside from the stripe, another way you can distinguish male and female golden honey gouramis from a young age is to look at the color of the dorsal fins. Male dorsals will always have a lemon yellow/bright yellow outer rim. Females will have an orange outer dorsal rim.

EDIT to add: Females are typically much more food-motivated and nibble a lot at plants/algae/microfauna in the tank. Males tend to stay busy patroling around and trying to entice/chase the female(s) in turn. 🙂 Sometimes subdominant males start to behave a little more like females, but they'll differ in that they're slightly less food-motivated and mostly keep to themselves except when guarding food.

Edited January 15, 2022 by laritheloud

[ABowers]

Thank you both for your help!! I truly appreciate all of the info and assistance. 

[Pinky]

I think you have a dominant male and a subordiante male. Honey gouramis cannot be sexed via color as subordinate males will take on a females coloration. 

The fin of the "female" fish is too pointed for me to think its a female and not a suborninate male. Compare with the fins on this gourami. 

 

and this subordinate male gourami

 

Let me know if you have questions 😃

 

[laritheloud]

On 1/16/2022 at 6:06 PM, Pinky said:

I think you have a dominant male and a subordiante male. Honey gouramis cannot be sexed via color as subordinate males will take on a females coloration. 

The fin of the "female" fish is too pointed for me to think its a female and not a suborninate male. Compare with the fins on this gourami. 

 

and this subordinate male gourami

 

Let me know if you have questions 😃

 

It's extremely difficult to sex honey gouramis by fin shape. Female honey gouramis (even mine) have almost identical dorsal and anal fin shapes to the males; the difference is extremely subtle and can only be seen when they swim side-by-side, and even then, that can be chalked up to normal variation and not necessarily purely to sex of the fish.

Source: I have both wild-type and gold-type honey gouramis and the shape of the fins are the same in both my females and my dominant/subdominant male.

EDIT to add: Gold-type honey gouramis can, actually, be sexed by color. Wild types are harder.

Picture proof, gold-type female:


Gold-type male:


Wild-type female:


Wild-Type Subdominant Male:

Edited January 17, 2022 by laritheloud

[JChristophersAdventures]

I know this is an older post, but still great information. I am planning on getting a honey gourami pair and most websites do try to sex them by the body and fin shape, but clearly it is not as easy as that. I may have to get a bunch of them and let them sort each other out! lol Thanks, everyone.