Documenting the growth and development of Honey Gourami

[Hobbit]

Brine shrimp food coma. (No one’s blurry in this picture because no one’s moving.) 😄

[Hobbit]

Nine weeks old and the weaning process has begun! I have to bring these guys to the LFS on Sunday because we’re going out of town. 

If I had been feeding them more, I think they would have been a little bigger by now. My previous batch was only six, so I don’t think I scaled up the food as much as I should have for 16. So as much as it pains me to lose a week of growth, it’s important to me that they go to the LFS knowing “all that is food does not wriggle.”

I’m crushing Vibra Bites and Hikari Micropellets and soaking them in a little jar of water for 30 seconds or so before feeding.

Right now they’re just tasting a pellet or two and then immediately spitting it back out. This evening I caught one chewing and chewing and chewing, kind of like when you have to eat a really dry carrot and you just can’t quite get it down. 😝 But eventually they will get hungry enough that they’ll give the pellets a serious try. Meanwhile the snails and amano shrimp are feasting!

Its kind of hard to see in the video but I don’t think they actually swallowed any of this serving.

 

[FishMonger]

They are so cute! 🙂  What about small flake food? Also, your tank looks pretty clean, but I remember our Honey's used to pick at the algae on the decor. 

[Hobbit]

@FishMonger thanks! I don’t actually have any flake food, but if I did I would certainly try it. I’m sure they’ve found every bit of edible algae by now—they’ve also found every snail’s antenna 😬 But the good news is they’ve started eating the pellets this afternoon! They don’t wolf them down but they’ll take a few bites. I gave them some frozen brine shrimp as a reward and though they used to turn their noses up at the stuff, this time they went crazy. 😁 Progress!

Also the boys are starting to realize there are girls among them and they’re fascinating. Look carefully and you can see the I-like-you “poke poke poke.”

 

 

[FishMonger]

Lol.  Love those boys! 😆

[mgudyka]

Awesome thread. I loved seeing each stage of development!

[KBOzzie59]

Great pics from a phone!  What lens are you using?

[Hobbit]

@KBOzzie59 I use this little kit. It’s super well designed and easy to use!

https://www.amazon.com/Xenvo-iPhone-Camera-Lens-Clip/dp/B01A6D2JVI/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1E4SVO6A5HUVY&dchild=1&keywords=xenvo+pro+lens+kit+for+iphone&qid=1616691782&sprefix=Xenvo%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-3

[Maggie]

I'm so happy for you Hobbit! Congratulations!!

[Hobbit]

10 weeks old. This was their last brine shrimp feast (last night). I took them to the LFS this afternoon—I would have usually kept them a few more weeks, but we’re traveling so they had to go early. 

The owner told me the batch I gave him two months ago mostly went to people he knows, so he can vouch that they’re doing well! That was great to hear. 😊

Noe they’re off on their fishy adventure!

Edited March 29, 2021 by Hobbit

[Lifeisgood]

You have given them such a nice start.  They look great.😊

[Hobbit]

I have another stage of development to add to this thread! I have three honey babies that are 14-16 weeks old, and I’m now confident I can tell who’s a boy and who’s a girl.

I have no idea how much this will apply to other people’s honeys, but more data = more better!

Here are the three juveniles:

The two older juveniles are girls (first two pictures), and the younger juvenile is a boy (third picture). The first thing that clued me in was the color of their dorsal and ventral fins. My Mom Fish has orange edges across the entirety of each fin, while Dad Fish has orange edges only at the back. I don’t know if this is true for most honeys, but it’s true for my pair.

Mom Fish:

Dad Fish:

The second clue is their body shape. The older juveniles are getting a wider body, while the younger one is staying much more streamlined and smaller.

The third clue has actually been their appetite! Dad Fish is a very light eater, and his son is likewise not very driven to eat. Meanwhile the ladies are all little piggies. They will eat as long as there’s food around—or when they get really full, they’ll just taste the food and spit it out.

I’d thought I would be able to tell more from their behavior, but I actually haven’t seen much of a difference in the way they treat each other. I’ve seen the two juvenile girls sparring (circling around each other rapidly), but I haven’t seen the young boy make any attempts to court any of the females, and Dad Fish hasn’t made any attempts to court anyone but Mom Fish. He seems to chase all the juveniles away from his nest equally. The only thing I’ve noticed is that the young boy seems interested in the bubbles themselves. He’ll mouth them or maybe try to blow more bubbles into the nest—it’s hard to tell. I wonder if I’d see more mating-type behavior out of the juveniles if there wasn’t already a dominant mating pair in the tank.

 Here are some more pictures for comparison.

The two boys together:

Mom Fish and the older girl:

A cute head-on photo of a female just for fun, with her younger sister lurking:

[laritheloud]

On 8/15/2021 at 10:32 AM, Hobbit said:

I have another stage of development to add to this thread! I have three honey babies that are 14-16 weeks old, and I’m now confident I can tell who’s a boy and who’s a girl.

I have no idea how much this will apply to other people’s honeys, but more data = more better!

Here are the three juveniles:

The two older juveniles are girls (first two pictures), and the younger juvenile is a boy (third picture). The first thing that clued me in was the color of their dorsal and ventral fins. My Mom Fish has orange edges across the entirety of each fin, while Dad Fish has orange edges only at the back. I don’t know if this is true for most honeys, but it’s true for my pair.

Mom Fish:

Dad Fish:

The second clue is their body shape. The older juveniles are getting a wider body, while the younger one is staying much more streamlined and smaller.

The third clue has actually been their appetite! Dad Fish is a very light eater, and his son is likewise not very driven to eat. Meanwhile the ladies are all little piggies. They will eat as long as there’s food around—or when they get really full, they’ll just taste the food and spit it out.

I’d thought I would be able to tell more from their behavior, but I actually haven’t seen much of a difference in the way they treat each other. I’ve seen the two juvenile girls sparring (circling around each other rapidly), but I haven’t seen the young boy make any attempts to court any of the females, and Dad Fish hasn’t made any attempts to court anyone but Mom Fish. He seems to chase all the juveniles away from his nest equally. The only thing I’ve noticed is that the young boy seems interested in the bubbles themselves. He’ll mouth them or maybe try to blow more bubbles into the nest—it’s hard to tell. I wonder if I’d see more mating-type behavior out of the juveniles if there wasn’t already a dominant mating pair in the tank.

 Here are some more pictures for comparison.

The two boys together:

Mom Fish and the older girl:

A cute head-on photo of a female just for fun, with her younger sister lurking:

This is in line with the golden honeys I have. I think the fin colors are the biggest clue for gold-type honeys. My youngest honey is a definite female. I also have a definite gold male. Your juveniles are absolutely adorable and I look forward to watching them grow!

As for my third honey... that one's different. 

My "sunset" honey has been much, much trickier. I'm still not totally sure of their sex, but I've been assuming female because the fish has never colored up to solid orange and hasn't displayed nesting behaviors like my male golden honey. In any case, the "sunset" honey gourami tends to be silvery in the body with a stripe they turn on and off whenever they want. The dorsal fin has somewhat of a male pattern (lemon yellow) but there's also a slight bit of orange on the front half of the rim. The tail and back ends of the dorsal/anal fins are orange. The anal fin is blue-black when it colors up. I have seen this fish turn an orange tint, but not to the brilliance of a wild type male fish in breeding dress. Basically, I'm confused. 😄 

edit to add confusing pics of my girl (?)

Edited August 15, 2021 by laritheloud

[Hobbit]

Good to know that your honeys seem to follow the fin color pattern too!

Hmmm the blue-black ventral fin makes me think this is a male that isn’t finished growing into its color. But I’m not sure either. 😄 I know my male juvenile started out with fins that looked just like the females—orange tips across the whole fin. Then again, your fish’s body shape looks more like female… How old is this fish? And is it one that you bred or bought?

Hmmmmmm now I’m looking around the internet and I’m leaning towards female! Here’s a picture of a male vs female and the female looks like it has a bit of blue on her dorsal fin:

https://aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/gouramis/honey_gourami_for_sale.htm

Alright, I’m going to go with you and bet female. 😁

[laritheloud]

On 8/15/2021 at 1:33 PM, Hobbit said:

Good to know that your honeys seem to follow the fin color pattern too!

Hmmm the blue-black ventral fin makes me think this is a male that isn’t finished growing into its color. But I’m not sure either. 😄 I know my male juvenile started out with fins that looked just like the females—orange tips across the whole fin. Then again, your fish’s body shape looks more like female… How old is this fish? And is it one that you bred or bought?

Hmmmmmm now I’m looking around the internet and I’m leaning towards female! Here’s a picture of a male vs female and the female looks like it has a bit of blue on her dorsal fin:

https://aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/gouramis/honey_gourami_for_sale.htm

Alright, I’m going to go with you and bet female. 😁

I did not breed this fish, and I'm pretty certain she's (?) an adult. I *THINK* she's female? She's very mild-mannered and shy and sticks with her 'sisters' in the tank. She gets along really well with my female thicklipped and my juvenile female gold honey gourami, but, wow, it's really hard to find photos online that match what she looks like. I've seen her do a 'dance' with my younger female (who is still a juvenile), but it could have just been good-natured dominance challenging. I could have sworn I saw my male try to schmooze her, too. It's just fascinating because that blue/black darkens significantly when she does do some 'dominance' challenges, and her body gets an orange tint/sheen to it (and her eyes go completely black), but she never attains the full male breeding dress. I find her very pretty, even if she's sort-of the drabbest gourami in the tank.

 

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2021 at 10:32 AM, Hobbit said:

I have another stage of development to add to this thread! I have three honey babies that are 14-16 weeks old, and I’m now confident I can tell who’s a boy and who’s a girl.

Hobbit, I'm ORD but wanted to say thank you for sharing your fantastic photos and vids of these fry growing and changing. So fascinating to watch their shape change and they all look so good!

[Hobbit]

On 8/15/2021 at 4:45 PM, laritheloud said:

I find her very pretty, even if she's sort-of the drabbest gourami in the tank.

I agree. She’s really pretty! If you think she’s an adult then that puts me even further in the “female” camp. It would be interesting to see how she behaves if you ever have her by herself.

On 8/15/2021 at 8:35 PM, PineSong said:

Hobbit, I'm ORD but wanted to say thank you for sharing your fantastic photos and vids of these fry growing and changing. So fascinating to watch their shape change and they all look so good!

Aww thank you!! It’s been really fun to document. 😊

[patricia]

awww so cool and cute will be following this one the fry looks as small as my betta fry looked love the pic.s and videos

[TDee]

Thank you for this....encouraged me to put down my own journey

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Beautiful journal, beautiful story, @Hobbit