Female Blue Gourami...double checking I sexed her correctly

[lmw80]

According to everything I have read on gouramis (which is A LOT!, lol), Spot (the gourami) is a female. The main reason being her dorsal fin being round and not pointed.

I want to get her a mate for my 20 gallon, and I know that males are more prevalent in lfs than females, so I wanted to double check that she is in fact a she.

Please confirm or deny my findings. Thanks!!

 

[lmw80]

I just saw that you can see my camera in the reflection, lol. But I think it's a good enough pic that you can tell.

 

[BrianNY]

I'd agree. Looks like a female to me. The males dorsals are just as round, but are usually a bit longer.

 

[Christmasfish]

Female or Juvie.

Frightened or juvenile labyrith males of nearly all species can look very female (but a male once pegged is not so iffy). A lot of text and articles about breeding don't mention that disconcerting fact.

Without the fins displayed out it is hard to tell..seems to have a bright color band though, which is not as typical for girls.
The dorsal and anal fins develop the point over time and it continues lengthening once mature. The anal is first. Males have marginally larger fuller caudals.
And it is individual from fish to fish. The brighter colored species help with having the males be more obvious. If the fish is over 6 inches and looks that way, it is likely female.
It is easier when you are picking from a group so can see the longer body and colors of the most definite male and pick the largest roundest female.
On sure way with lighter colored fish is to hold them up to very strong light (hubby have a shop halogen?) At the edge of the swim bladder the triangular shadow of her ovaries hopefully appear. (Thats how I made sure the first four chocolates I picked were a male and three females. Same with my croakers. The rest I grabbed random.)Lfs guy thought I was being crazy messing with flashlights.
Time for a more large species specific scratchy drawing in the "how to tell" post i made.. ^_^

 

[lmw80]

Well, she almost a year and a half old (read: from the time I brought her home from the lfs to now). So, not a juvi....I will see if I can get a flashlight...thanks!

 

[Christmasfish]

heh! ...it looks female for the fat true body.
But with the feistier types it always pays to be safe. Many things that I had taken as the norm for years are slightly skewed by todays stunted sized, short lived commercial bred pet fish.




Hence my siggy. I am apalled on more than one occasion at how many speccies I had once known so closely have been ruined as far my feelings go.
Especially my beloved labyrinths.