Need help identifying and sexing gourami.

[richieh]

Is it a male honey gourami?

 

[SaraB]

There's no picture

 

[richieh]

sorry, is it visible to you now?

 

[SaraB]

Yes I can see it now, it looks male to me.

 

[richieh]

Is it a honey gourami? I live in a foreign country where fish are sold in their local name. Hopefully it is not a dwarf gourami. Judging from it’s size, it should be a honey gourami right?

 

[SaraB]

I've not seen a dwarf gourami with that type of colouring. I'd say it's a honey for sure.

 

[earhtmother]

Hate to disagree Sara, but with the rounded anal fin isn't it female? Thought the males were more pointed, but it's been years since I kept Gourami

 

[SaraB]

That's what I initially thought as well but the body is too slender and the top of the fin is pointed.
Females are also less colourful.

 

[richieh]

That was why I wasn’t so sure if it was a male, sharp dorsal fin, but round anal fin.

 

[earhtmother]

Sunset gourami tend to be more slender than most gourami so I'm going to stick with female since gourami males tend to have pointed dorsal & anal fins

 

[richieh]

My LFS let me pick and net the fish myself. There were probably a 100 honey gourami in there so it was hard pinpointing one. I did notice some that were clearly “fatter” height wise, which were probably female. I knew about the sharp anal and dorsal fin, but all the gourami had rounded anal fin. Some were rounder, but none were sharp. The dorsal fin, however, included sharp and round. After a quick google image of honey gouramis, I noticed that their male’s anal fin is not as sharp as other male gourami variants?

 

[SaraB]

Male honey gourami have rounder anal fins compared to a dwarf gourami. Female honey gourami just don't have the vibrant color that males do.

 

[richieh]

Heres another angle of the fins. No way a female would have a dorsal fin that sharp, right? Would you consider my HG to have “vibrant colors”?

 

[richieh]

So after more research, my gourami might not be a honey gourami after all. I think it is a Red Rubin Thick Lipped gourami which is often mistaken as Red Honey Gouramis.