couple of dwarf gourami questions

[houndour]

I posted a while ago about my female dwarf gourami...it was decided that she was a dwarf gourami. But I'm having doubts now.

I can't get a picture to show it, but basically she has a yellowy golden tinge now, especially around her dorsal and more so on her pectal?? the fin at the bottom.

Does this mean she could be a honey? Does it matter? I'm not looking to breed or anything.

The other thing is their behaviour. I witnessed some kind of act the other day...they were kissing. I just assumed "kissing" gourami did this and didnt think others did. Do dwarf and other gourami also kiss? She was 'kissing' his body, head, mouth...everything. I can't remember if he 'kissed' her, but he certainly kissed her mouth in return. Isn't the kissing thing a territorial thing? Not a lovey thing?

Thanks
Sam

 

[sylvia]

Ok firstly, does your fish have two long, thread-like ventral/pelvic fins at the bottom of it's body? If it doesn't, it's probably a kissing gourami. If it does, we at least know it will either be one of the colisa species or, more unlikely, a trichogaster.

By 'pectal', do you mean a single fin under the body (the anal fin) or a pair of fins under the body? If it's a pair, these are the ventral/pelvic fins and should be thread-like in a dwarf/honey.

What size is she and how long have you had her? Dwarf gouramies get to 2", honeys to 1.5". Dwarfs also usualy look a lot more 'solid' than honeys.

Do you have other gouramies?
What species are they?
Do any look like this female?
Which species were the two 'kissing'?

Yes, this 'kissing' behaviour is territorial/aggressive. It is most often noted in the kissing gourami but there are times when other gouramies will engage in this also. It is rare for a female to do this with a male. Normaly, males just chase females around. Also, most of the common, smaller, gouramies don't fight like this but preffer to attack each other's gill area.

Lastly, can you find a picture of a fish, or several, somewhere on the internet that look(s) similar to show me?

 

[houndour]

Yes, it has the two long thread like fins.
Yes, I meant the anal fin...it's very golden/yellow in colour. It's just when I've seen other female dwarfs you can _just_ see a feint colour of blue.
She's about 1.5 inches at the mo, I've had her...maybe 3 or 4 weeks. Not long.
I only have 2 gouramis. A male dwarf and a female (supposedly dwarf).
So it was the female dwarf and the male dwarf that were 'kissing'.

OK, my female gourami looks more like this one: http/www.elmersaquarium.com/image_fish/0...lame_female.jpg
But more yellow/golden in the anal fin than red.

In this picture: http/www.solodvds.com/images/gourami/ima...lisa_lalia3.jpg you can just make out the blue vertical lines in the female. I have none of that in mine.

http/www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/A...a_AQ_female.JPG it doesn't look like this either. This is a "Wild Trichogaster chuna (Hamilton 1822), the Honey Dwarf Gourami". My fish is rounder than this one.

So maybe I do have a dwarf afterall. hmmmm. Out of the pictures I could find it looks mostly like the dwarf flame one, in shape but just more yellow than red.

 

[sylvia]

It's not the fish in your signature by any chance is it?

Are you certain your fish is female?

As you know, dwarf gouramies come in all sorts of color morphs. Yours is probably just a female version of one that doesn't normaly have stripes. If she is a silvery color, doesn't have long 'bulbous' anal and dorsal fins and does have the thread-like ventrals and is deffinately the same shape as your male dwarf (check and let me know - is the slop of the forehead similar? Are the proportions except for the fins pretty much the same? etc.) she is deffinately just a female dwarf with a little more feisty character than usual

 

[houndour]

it is the fish in my sig. SHe does have the same shape as the male gourami.

Maybe I'm just getting paranoid ever since someone suggested it might be a kissing gourami.

 

[Annastasia]

I'd say she is probably a Female Dwarf Gourami. I've had ones that look just like that too...with the yellowish tint.

There is no way she could be a kissing gourami though. Kissing Gouramis don't have the long, extend "feelers". They have short little fins. Also, the mouth looks very different, and they aren't as round.

You'd know if you had a Kisser by now too, because your plants would have lots of leaves broken off, or plant stems split!

 

[sylvia]

Don't worry. The fish in your signature is undoubtedly a female dwarf. There simply is nothing else she could possibly be and she is DEFFINATELY NOT a kisser.

 

[troutfly]

I have to agree, the "female gourami" in your signature looks like the 2 that I have. Mine always "kiss" at each other and then the chase begins, it looks like they are playing "tag". My females have a golden tint to them, with the trademark long "feelers", faint blue lines and a blue "eye" spot just in front of their tails. I know they pale in comparison to their male counterparts, but they are splended looking fish.

 

[houndour]

thanks

My female has now got an infection. I'm treating her with an anti bacterial medicine as of yesterday. She has like a hole on top of her head But I have posted about this already in another post.

Thanks for your help.