Dwarf Gouramis - Maybe Honeys?

[collegelife101]

I recently (about a week ago) bought 2 dwarf gouramis that were labled as Honey Gouramis at the LFS. The guy there said they were a cross breed between pure honey gouramis and another type of dwarf gourami. He said the female pure honey gouramis are whitish/dull and the males are bright/colorful. He said the other type of dwarf gourami used for breeding has an average orange/brown coloration for both male & female. So my dwarf gouramis are about 1.5 in long, both orangish/redish and have white chins and white tales and their pelvic fins are much darker than their dorsal fins. The dorsal fin of one is longer and curves back under to connect to the back whereas the other is rounder and connects directly to the back. Their coloration is the same as far as I can tell. They swam together in the tank at the LFS... it looked like there were 3 pairs of them. I got them because they only had males for other dwarf gouramis.
They are in a 20gal tall with 1 clown pleco & 1 brown khuli loach. There is tons of hornwort/anacharis/driftwood/stones/hiding places.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me what I actually have.

Also I was thinking about adding either a schooling fish or a pair of GBRs. Any suggestions or comments?

 

[hc8719]

do you have any pics? what other fish are you keeping in the 20 gal? but im sure there is room for more fish.

if you have 2 males, and they are dwarves (part dwarves) they may get aggressive to each other as they age

 

[collegelife101]

do you have any pics? what other fish are you keeping in the 20 gal? but im sure there is room for more fish.

if you have 2 males, and they are dwarves (part dwarves) they may get aggressive to each other as they age

I'll take some pics. There is a 2" clown pleco & a 3" kuhli loach with them in the 20gal tank. The guy at the LFS told me they were a male/female pair.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Female gouramis are usually very drab in color. I'm not sure about the cross between honeys and dwarves, but I would guess that it is the same...drab females. If you have 2 brightly colored gouramis, most likely they are both males. It would take a picture to be sure though.

Your kuhlis would appreciate some company....they are shoaling fish and prefer a group.

 

[collegelife101]

Well I'm about 98% sure they are flame/fire Honey Gouramis. I am also about 96% sure that one had internal parasites because it had white stringy poop for a week and now its dead. I didn't realize this was a bad thing until 2 days ago and I was planning on going out and getting meds but I guess the fish was near the end. The other gourami is doing just fine and I don't see stringy white poop from the clown pleco or the gourami. It is a female, so I'm going to go pick up another male & female from the LFS to make a trio. I will watch them carefully this time since I know what to look for.

 

[GlitcH]

Sorry to hear you lost one but at least you've still got one left and it's healthy.

Does he look anything like this?
My LFS labeled mine as honey gold flame.

 

[collegelife101]

Mine looks like that to the extent that it has some of the same colors and its a gourami. My gourami is all orange/red/brown across its body with a white tail and a patch of white right under its mouth. The top of its head is the browner area and its bottom fin is a dark deep red. I'll get a picture soon.
It seems to me that the subject of honey gouramis hasn't been standardized yet.

 

[GlitcH]

I think that when it comes to the LFS, the only thing that is consistant is that fish have fins.

 

[Zezmo]

Honey gouramis-Colisa chuna, and Dwarf gouramis-Colisa lalia, can be made to interbreed. Honey's are bred into DG's to create the "Red Flame" Dwarf gourami's. Also, the DG's are bred into the Honeys to create the "Flame" Honeys that Glitch has in his shot.

Wild Honey males are normally a pale tan/grey with a pale blue tint to thier throat. When diplaying, thier sides become a dark rootbeer brown, Thier thoat and belly become a dark blue, and thier dorsal fin gets this awsome cream color. I have seen these sold as Blueberry Honey Gouramis.

All female Honey Gouramis have a dark stripe down thier side. This is the single easiest way to sex them..stripe=female, no-stripe=male.

Also, with Honeys and DGs, the body of the males and females have a different shape, once you can recognize the shape, you can easily sex them regardless of color.

Here is a female Red Flame DG

A young female "powder Blue" DG, these are the only female with real color. I sold some that I had bred/raised and was actually accused of dying my fish by the person running the auction.....grrrrrrrr

Not real clear, but shows a wild type female DG, next to a Wild type male DG

From my AA gallery
Wild Phase DG
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8542&cat=500&ppuser=9254

Red Flame DG
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8544&cat=500&ppuser=9254

Electric Blue DG
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8543&cat=500&ppuser=9254