Help Sexing Young Pearl Gouramis

[Bubblenester]

I've read about sexing pearl gouramis, and every source tells me that the male has a more pointed dorsal fin, long ray extensions on the anal fin, and more orange, and shows me a photo of some big magnificant male with huge fins. Easy, right? The problem is, the pearls at my LFS are too young for any of them to look even remotely like that. My question is, can they be sexed when they are younger, and if so, what would you look for? I brought one home a few days ago, and I chose one that had longer ray extensions on the dorsal and anal fin than the others. It was also a little larger, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it being a male or if that was maybe the only reason why the ray extensions were longer!

I've been trying to get a good photo of mine, but it's still being shy and won't come near the front of the tank. I will continue trying, but in the meantime, does anyone with some pearl experience have any words of wisdom? Thanks!

 

[poopsydrew]

I have spawned pearls and raised the fry many times and there is no sure fire way to tell until they are a little older. I can usually start to tell the sex at 4 months and by 6-7 months I have an almost positive ID. The males will generally be larger, look at the anal and dorsal like u said and look for very bright orange throats, the more orange the throat the more likely the juvenille is a male. Pics are worth a thousand words so try to get one up and see if we cant figure it out.

Drew

 

[cheehoo62]

Yes get a pic so we can see!
..but if you had to guess I've learned to sex from the tails of the fish. The males tend to have longer and pointed dorsal fins and the anal fins are a bit more drawn out and extended. Plus, like it was said earlier, the coloration of the male tends to progress as he gets older.

 

[Bubblenester]

This is the best I could get- it's a cropped photo I took of him in the back of the tank, so my apologies if it doesn't help at all.

It's okay if he's a she... I'm not planning to breed, or keep more than one. I just thought it would be neat to have a male since both of the others I've had turned out to be females.

 

[poopsydrew]

Yup, looks like a he. Very pretty also, well done

Drew

 

[Biulu]

Yes, definitively a he! Over time you will starting to see the ray extensions. Very nice fish!

 

[Bubblenester]

Oh thank you! Does one pearl really look much different from the next? They were actually brought in by a local breeder. Unfortunately I wasn't working when he brought them, or I would have asked him about sexing them.

 

[SouthernCross]

As well as the aforementioned tips (orange, dorsal length, finray extensions) the females look wider in the stomach area when viewed from above, although when buying you can't necessarily manage to use that one.

 

[Bubblenester]

As well as the aforementioned tips (orange, dorsal length, finray extensions) the females look wider in the stomach area when viewed from above, although when buying you can't necessarily manage to use that one.

Actually I work at the store, so I can observe a fish any which way I want to. And if someone else wanted to look at something from above, I'd open the tank and let them do it as long as they kept their hands out. lol

 

[SouthernCross]

Well there you go, you can use that one!

 

[discus dreamer]

Well done
I now have three females in my search for a male. The latest one definitely had longer fins that its tank mates at the shop but i have had it for about 9 months now and it is not developing any further so I think it is another girl.
DD

 

[Behold]

Well done
I now have three females in my search for a male. The latest one definitely had longer fins that its tank mates at the shop but i have had it for about 9 months now and it is not developing any further so I think it is another girl.
DD

we found it hard as we wanted one of each and the only attempt was to fine one that looked a bit male and one that REALLY didn't. we got lucky. our pearl now is STUNNING the dorsal is long and the anal fins grow out in spaced strands with pearl markings on it.

To aid colour feed it live/frozen twice a week.