The dreaded question...! Sexing!

[Gouramii]

'Ello poppits!

I don't know if this was asked already a 1000 times but here we go again. Sorry guys but...

How do you sex gouramis? Specifically dwarfs (fire variety) and honey gouramis? I know you can sex them by color intensity, the roundness of their bellies, the anal and dorsal fin being pointed, etc...

The problem is I look for all these things and see NONE. At the pet store they all look like MALES. All of my fish look like MALES. I'm so desperate for females! I thought I had one female but she died this morning and now have (I believe) all males. The pet store can't tell the difference either.

I'm at a loss. Can anyone help me with this issue for the LAST time? I will love anyone who can. Really appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

This is how I sexed my honey gouramis. May work for you, may not, but it worked for me.

Males are always the more colorful ones. Honey gouramis that are males are brightly colored, with orangish tinges around the edges of their body. When breeding they start to get darker coloration around their belly that will eventually turn into black. They will also attack fish randomly regularly and build bubble nests when ready to breed.

Females are the duller ones. Usually light yellow to gray, with little hues of orange on the very edges of the tips of their fins. Seems to be bigger than the male in my case, always hiding and seems to be the shyer of the two.

JME. Hope that helped!

 

[Gouramii]

That kinda helps, but words seem to fail me. Sexing my fish may be more effective if I post pictures. Maybe we could figure it out together? By the way I adore honeys the best.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Definitely, I have a male and female pair so I can distinguish the two sexes easily, post some pics and I'll try my best

 

[Gouramii]

Alright LET'S DO THIS!

Haha yup give me a sec and I'll get some up and going.

 

[Gouramii]

Hey here are some pictures of all my fish for everyone to see...

This is "Chuna," my honey gourami, with one of my dwarfs.

and I guessed this guy is a male. Correct me if I'm wrong.

This is the one that died this morning. I assumed this honey was a girl.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Those are actually two different types of gouramis, colisa lalia, the regular dwarf, and colisa chuna, a honey gourami.