Male Or Female?

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Definitely a male: the first pic says it all. The difference i find is very pronounced: males fin comes out to literally a point, whereas females come out to a bit of a rounding area.
 
The problem is that the term 'gourami' applies to a lot of different species of fish. The 'pointy dorsal' method of sexing gouramies is only realy used for three-spots. With other species, there are either plenty of other ways to sex the fish (eg: with pearls the red/orange belly is an indicator) or the dorsal alone isn't enough (eg: with dwarfs where color and anal fin are also important) or it may not be a way to sex the fish at all (eg: kissing gouramies which cannot be sexed visualy at all).

You can't sex an Osphronemus goramy based on the 'pointiness' of its dorsal fin alone (though males do usualy appear to have a point to their dorsal by the time they are about half full-grown whereas the female's is rounded). Once fully grown, however, both sexes have quite pointy fins. You can (and should) also look at other things like the length of its dorsal and anal, compaired to others of the same age and species. The longer these fins, the more likely it is to be a male. You can also look at the 'lips' which tend to be thicker/larger in mature males (but the fish has to be quite old). Males also tend to be brighter in color (though not always) and they develop more of a bulge/nuptial hump on their forehead and do so earlier on. You may also notice, if you have others to compare your own fish to, that fish of the same age that are female are smaller than the males (though only just and not always - food and water quality matter here) and may be deeper-bodied and 'plup' when compared to the slimmer males. Even with all these indicators, however, to be honest, I don't think there's a deffinitive way to sex these fish visualy.

Looking at yours, I'd say it's a male :)

edit: Xebadir beat me to it but I have to say it again - the dorsal thing doesn't work... Take a look at this group of gouramies for example: http://www.aquarticles.com/images/China%20...Gouramis%20.jpg Shurely they aren't all male? Or are they all female? lol (But do note how there are other differences between them that may destinguish between the sexes).
 
wow thats a lot of gouramies
so thats about how mine is going to look in a few years
and i do think they are not all males
well thanks a lot for the help


i wonder this now, why do gourami like to come up to the surface and take a mouth of air?
it seems so normal for them and i wonder whats the purpose of it
 
Out of interest in that piccie: they are the same species or not? if not id be at difficulty to say. Are they pairs? If they are the same species the colouration says alot.
 
???
its the same fish in both pics
the second one is just a old one and the first is the most recent i have
some guy on another thread said that type of giant is a golden giant gourami
and dont even tell me that it is dyed

now does anyone know why do gouramis come up for air?
 
Do you mean the pic I posted Xebadir? If so, no, they are different species (otherwise everything would be too easy! lol). the black and red are Osphronemus laticlavius, the Xanthic (pinkish) ones are Osphronemus goramy (like JasonSkills fish).

They gulp air because they breathe it :) I'm shure you've heard of gouramies being called 'labyrinth' fish? That's because they have something called a 'labyrinth organ' in their head which functions similarly to a lung (sort of :p). Most gourami species actualy cannot survive without breathing atmospheric air and can literally 'drown'. In theory, many gouramies could live otuside water permanently (though in practice they'd dry out and die, or starve).

However, note that this isn't the case for all species - some, such as licorice gouramies, breathe a lot less atmospheric air than others and cannot survive out of water long.

Interestingly (and kind of disturbingly), O. goramy are a common food fish in their native part of the world. They are sold in markets and, because they can live out of water for long periods, also stay 'fresh' -_- :/

About them being called 'golden giant gouramies' - that's just one of a multitude of 'trade' names that LFSs use when selling fish - kind of like 'wagtail' platies or 'gold dust' mollies or 'balloon' kissing goruamies. They are still teh same species as ordinary 'giant goruamies' - just a different color morph.
 
I saw that fish - very pretty :)

It's not realy rare - it's just very bright and healthy.
Here's what they usualy look like:
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Gouram198.jpg
Mind you, the lighting in the tank, the picture quality and the age of the fish all play a role as well - the intensity of the color, for example, tends to fade once the fish reaches adulthood.
 
Yep, it is - though granted only a baby :)

You'll find Osphronemus goramy in two main color forms - the leucistic pink/yellow form and the 'natural' banded brown/purple form. The intensity of the bands varies - and sometimes you get fish with broken bands - kind of similar to an opaline's markings.
 

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