Sexing honey gouramis

[AceReject]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone could help me with sexing two of my honey gouramis please? I always thought they were females, but recently both are getting a small bit of black at the bottom (which I thought was a male breeding thing?). They live with a female red and a yellow that is definitely male.

Thank you

 

[Andy Sager]

You can tell by the dorsal fins. Male's dorsal fin will come to a point while a female's fin will be rounded. ( You should be able to draw a perfect triangle at the end of a male's fin.) Both of yours look rounded so if these fish are old enough to be sexually mature, they SHOULD be females. Unfortunately, the color morphs of the Honey Gourami make it hard to sex them by color. Natural honey gouramis have very different colors when sexually mature.

 

[AceReject]

Hi Andy, thank you for this. Sorry it’s taken me a few days to reply.

I usually do go by the dorsal fins which is why I was fairly sure they were females. It’s only when the black “mating stripe” seemed to lightly appear that I questioned myself. I’m going to assume they’re females. They look nothing like the male honey I have.

Thanks again!

 

[Andy Sager]

Hi Andy, thank you for this. Sorry it’s taken me a few days to reply.

I usually do go by the dorsal fins which is why I was fairly sure they were females. It’s only when the black “mating stripe” seemed to lightly appear that I questioned myself. I’m going to assume they’re females. They look nothing like the male honey I have.

Thanks again!

Just to be clear, check out the fish in this picture: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/...NMlBj9iKkJ-cMeBFMMNEBTHeWKKSGDoj3mq8-sQGV1QGi These are " natural" honey gouramis. The male, when in breeding colors, has a whole darker underbelly, not just a stripe. The stripe is a female's natural color. With some of the varieties of Honeys, that natural stripe may show through the new colors.