3 Dotted Gourami male or female?

[SkyesTank21]

Please help end a long mystery for us. Is this a male or female gourami?

 

[NickAu]

A photo of the fish might help.

 

[SkyesTank21]

 

[SkyesTank21]

A photo of the fish might help.

Oops sorry. Didn't realize it didn't let me upload the first time.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How big is the fish?

Male gouramis have longer pointed dorsal and anal fins. Females have short rounded fins. Your fish has short pointy fins that could be a young male or a funny female.

If the fish is a year old and it's fins have been like that all along it is female. If it's less than 6 months old it will still be growing and you will need to wait a few months to be certain.

 

[SkyesTank21]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How big is the fish?

Male gouramis have longer pointed dorsal and anal fins. Females have short rounded fins. Your fish has short pointy fins that could be a young male or a funny female.

If the fish is a year old and it's fins have been like that all along it is female. If it's less than 6 months old it will still be growing and you will need to wait a few months to be certain.

It's about 2 inches right now including the anal fin. Not sure how old but I was told by Petco employee that it was a male. I started doubting when I noticed the dorsal fin just a tad bit rounded and how it doesn't even reach the base of tail fin.

 

[Colin_T]

If it's only 2 inches it's still a juvenile and probably less than 6 months, in fact if it was grown in Asia it is probably about 3-4 months old.

The anal (bottom) fin definitely looks male so it is probably a young male that will develop a long dorsal fin later as it matures.

 

[SkyesTank21]

If it's only 2 inches it's still a juvenile and probably less than 6 months, in fact if it was grown in Asia it is probably about 3-4 months old.

The anal (bottom) fin definitely looks male so it is probably a young male that will develop a long dorsal fin later as it matures.

Oh wow thank you! I only ever really look at the Dorsal (top) fin in my attempt at identifying Gouramis? What do you look for in the Anal Fin?

 

[Colin_T]

Male blue gouramis have a longer pointed anal fin, females have a shorter rounded anal fin. It's a lot easier to tell when you have a tank of them to compare each other to.