sexing gouramis

[themagpie]

I'm having a little trouble determining the sex of my new opaline gouramis. I've checked out this site http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fishqa/f/faq2060.htm but the information is kinda confusing to me. Both seem to show signs of males AND females. I kinda think i may have it figured out, but is there another site that may provide more information?

My initial thoughts were that the bigger of the two (6-6.5 cm) is a female and the smaller (about 5 cm) is a male. The male(?) has been chasing the female(?) around a lot. Do gouramis exhibit this kind of behaviour around eachother regularly (they dont chase the other fish around)? Could this be unwanted advances by the male?

tia
maggie

 

[richiestang_78]

The easiest way to tell is that Males have a pointed dorsal fin and the femals have a longer more rounded fin. Also females have more rounded bodies. Or you can just search google pictures for Female or Male Opaline Gourami and see which one looks like yours.

 

[RoK]

It is quite common for that behavior with these gouramis.

 

[themagpie]

This attached picture isnt to scale. The top is the one i suspect as being the male and the bottom the female. Look correct to you?

 

[lmw80]

I actually think the bottom is the male and the top is the female. However, they are both still juveniles and it is tougher to determine the sex when they are young and not fully grown. Also, it is not as common to see a female in a lfs as it is males.

The chasing is normal, it's more for territorial and head honcho reasons. Just keep an eye on them as they grow and make sure the chasing doesn't turn into something violent.

 

[richiestang_78]

I have one golden gourami in my community right now a its a female. Want to add another but the fish store never has one big enough.

 

[RoK]

The pics are quite blurry so it's really difficult to tell. If you could get a clearer, slightly closer pic that would help to determine the sex much easier.
I think the top one is a male and bottom one is a female, but I'm really not sure with those pics.
BTW, males also have wider mouths than the females.

 

[themagpie]

Sadly my digicam is pretty old. Those were the best pics i got out of about 20. There's a better camera hiding somewhere around this house, looks like its time to go on a treasure hunt.

 

[richiestang_78]

Yeah even with the bad pics the top seems to be a female and the bottom looks to be a male.

 

[themagpie]

found it!

 

[lmw80]

Looks like the top one is the male and the bottom, the female.

 

[RoK]

The larger one has a roundish shape all around and short, rounded dorsal. Therefore, I'm pretty sure it's a female.
The smaller one has a longer dorsal, it looks like the tip was nipped off. Also, you see how he seems to have sort of a slightly steeper forehead? That's another sign to most likely be a male.