i'm horrible @ decifering sex of fish. can someone help?

[dieanna]

I have 4 gouramis and I'm having trouble sexing them. Can anyone help me? I was having trouble taking their pix because they didn't like the red light, so I did the best I could with them being skiddish. Thanks.

 

[dieanna]

here is the 4th one.

 

[Fluff]

Hard to tell in the top pic but that one may be a male. The second two look female and the last one looks like it may be a young male. How big are they? The males dorsal fin will come to a point and the females will stay rounded.

 

[lmw80]

yeah...the top one doesn't have that great of a dorsal fin shot...but it looks like it could be male. I agree with fluff...the middle ones are female...the last one...hard to tell...could be female or a juvi male.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

question: how do you tell the difference between male and female ??

what do i Look for ?? anyone have pictures to illustrate the difference?

 

[Fluff]

The males dorsal fin will come to a point and the females will stay rounded.

I'll see if I can find some pictures.

 

[Fluff]

The first two pics are males, the last three are females. (I hope I got them in the right order) Either way, you can see the difference in the dorsal fin. HTH

http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/Breed_Profiles.aspx?aid=6238&cid=3680&search=

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=973

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_tricho.php

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_tricho2.php

http://philkerr.cfm-resources.com/lf/viewfish.cfm?id=124

 

[Bubble_B0y]

i can kinda see the difference.

the male dorsal fin is kinda 'sharp' and 'pointy'
its kinda 'triangle' shaped

the female dorsal fin is more 'curved'

 

[Fluff]

Yes.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

Yes.

learn something new everyday !!
thanks

*runs to check the sex of my red flame dwarf gourami*

 

[Bubble_B0y]

about gouramis - are females less aggressive compared to the males ??

 

[dieanna]

Okay, LOL. I hope this doesn't get confusing. The sizes are:
Gold gourami - 1.5"
here's where I might confuse you:
blue #3 - 2.5"
blue #1 - 3.5"
blue #2 - 4"
I don't know how else to label them but with numbers. I have a couple new pix. blue #3 is being a pain about having it's pic taken. I raised the brightness so maybe you can see the outline of the fins. I think that you guys are right that they are males, but then again, I always have probs telling the difference.

 

[Fluff]

# 2&3 look like males to me. Especially with the new pics.

 

[Stuart]

With respect 3 looks like a mature female with that huge belly - males are usually much slimmer.

 

[Fluff]

You could be right Stuart, and I had noticed that but all the fish look.... well, lets just say well fed, to me. Even #3 though it's not as evident in the first pic due the the angle it was taken and the second pic due to the flash washing out that area. :?

 

[dieanna]

#3 is still young. I just bought it a month ago at the most and it's only about 2.5 inches in length. LOL, sorry about all the numbers, but i wasn't sure how to label them. 1 and 2 are pretty mature, I believe. I've had them for about 4 months.

*edit* Lol, yea. My gourami's are little piggies. They're constantly hogging all the food.