Honey gouramis

jothomas78

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Something very strange is happeing with my four red honey gouramis that I bought around six months ago. Slowly, they seem to be splitting into two 'groups. Two of them have become very dark red with a brightly coloured (blue and red) point on their dorsal fins. The other two have become much paler, with rounded stomachs.

It almost seems as though they have split into male and female groups, but I've never heard of this happening and they all looked completely identical when they were bought! The two dark red ones have become more agressive and often chase the other two around, which I find quite distressing as they always seem to be harassing the other two! Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Thanks

(I tried to paste in some pictures to illustrate what I mean, but I can't seem to be able to insert them into the post.)
 
When you say 'honey' I suppose you mean ordinary honeys - not dwarfs?

What you are seeing is the young gouramies maturing. The males develop a deeper red-orange coloration with blue-black colors in various positions depending on the strain (yours are red, the natural variety has a blue-black belly). Females become deeper-bodied and full of eggs and are a paler color. The chasing is also normal. Males become quite a bit more aggressive and they'll have established territories and will be wanting to mate with the females. It's all perfectly natural and nothing to worry about. Add more females if the aggression is stressing them out too much.
 
No, they are definitley honey gouramis.

That's really interesting to know- thanks. Is there any way of sexing the juvenile fish if I want to add more females? Or should I try and get hold of some older fish to be sure?

Also- do you think there's any chance of them breeding?
 
Sexing young honeys can be difficult - with most gouramies a pointed dorsal indicates a male but this isn't reliable with honeys - just try to pick out the palest-colored fish and if they turn out to be males you can exchange them. If you can, try to get older fish and introduce 2 at a time. They will be better equipped to cope with aggression and disputes over territory and adding them 2 at a time will mean unwanted attention is devided.

They may breed - as in the male may build a buble nest and intice the female under etc. However, the fry are unlikely to survive as they are extremely tiny and need minute food - even if you provide this, any other fish will likely eat them.

Consider a seperate, small breeding tank (with a hood and heater - you don't need a filter but an airstone to break the surface is needed) and place a female that looks full of eggs in there. Condition both fish you plan to breed. Then introduce the male. Provided you have a few floating plants, the male will soon build a bubblenest and your fish will spawn. You then need to remove the female. When the fry are free-swimming, take out the male as well. Feed the fry on infusoria for the first few days, then move on to liquid foods and microworms. Avoid brine shrimp as they can cause swim bladder problems. The tank needs to be covered so that the air above the water is warm and the water surface needs to be broken so the tiny fry can take their first breaths of air and begin to develop labyrinths.
 
ive always found honey gourami's easy to sex, the male is a deep tan colour and the female is grey
 
When young they look pretty much the same though. Females aren't always grey... you may be reffering to dwarfs? Honey females are actualy more a pale yellow-grey or brown.
 
females are actualy more a pale yellow-grey or brown.

and both sexes do look quite similar when young, before the male brightens up.

I think we are both reffering to the same fish after all :)
 

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