Need Help( Sylvia?)

[Gordon88]

Ok i will hopefully post some pics tommorrow of exactly what they look like. Basically i had 1 male honey sunset gourami for a while, i know he is def a male because of the bright orange colours, the blackness which occassionally appears and his pointy fins. I decided to go and find him 2 girls freinds even though i have tried many times before and they have all turned out to be males. Well i found a decent place where they seem to have a very good idea of which were male and which were female and to be honest the two they chose looked like females to me. (this was today by the way).
So bought them home and added them the usual way. Now they do look more like females than any i have had before. Not very bright colours rounded fins and so forth. However they are just as big as my male. Also this is the main one i needed help with. The behaviour between them and the male. The male kind of swims sideways with all his fins fully out, as if almost displaying to them he will then swim off very quickly and usually one of them will follow quite quickly. I'm really not sure if they are males displaying to each other for territory or male displaying to females. Help. I am soo confused.
Is this behaviour just settling in and getting use to each other or is it displays???
Thanks
Any help will be appreciated

 

[sylvia]

The 'flaring' is normal for any male. Are the 'females' doing it back? It's more than likely 'displaying' but this says little about the sexes TBH. Pictures are necessary here.

 

[Gordon88]

well getting the pics is proving very tricky. The females dont seem to be flaring up. Do you have any pics of males and females which i can look at to help.
Thanks

 

[Gordon88]

Also if they were two females how would they act with each other and the male??
Thanks

 

[Gordon88]

ok another thing the two females, well the ones i have just bought are flaring at each other, both horizontal to each other rubbing the bodies together kind of thing, as if they were dancing lol. If you get what i mean.
Thanks someone please help
I am trying to get pics

 

[sylvia]

Do you mean they are 'standing' perpendicular to each other - one facing to the side and the other facing the other's gills? If so, they are probably not both female. Or are they rapping around each other? Then they are a male and female. Just 'flaring' at each other is always normal with any territorial fish or any fish that establishes hierarchy (like these do) so it's not indicative of sex.


Here are some pics off google (what color morph are yours - sexing some can be slightly more difficult):

http/www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/hone...mi_001_w270.jpg - obvious wild-type female (note horizontal stripe - though young males can have this too - short fins and plump belly area)
http/www.grandaquatic.com/images/gourami...ney-Gourami.gif - male (and, as it says, it's not a wild-type - this one they've called 'gold' but these aren't standard names so every LFS calls them what they like )
http/www.grandaquatic.com/images/gourami...ney-Gourami.gif - and another pretty 'red' male
http/www.act24.th.gs/web-a/ct24/index_files/image021.jpg - female again (this time no obvious stripe but pale coloration and plump belly)
http/www.igl-home.de/album.htm#chuna - click on 'Colisa chuna' to go to the pretty male
http/jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/tr...aster_chuna.htm - more males

 

[Gordon88]

Ok they are all def the second pic colour variation. My original male looks identical to that pic, what i thought were two knew females are obviously male and female as they were rapping kind of thing round each. I really like my original male so i will keep him and take back the other male and try and find a female replacement. How do females act with each other? Are they territorial or like the company of each other.
Thanks

 

[Gordon88]

Sylvia i have put some pics up in the pictures section of the forums they are of the two new fish, supposidly females, could you tell me what you think?
Thanks

 

[sylvia]

The bottom pic looks female because of body shape and I'd guess the top is male. However, neither has breeding coloration and they look relatively immature so I could be wrong. Are those pics representative of the real colors? Females aren't territorial per se but will form hierarchies. They do better with others of their own kind around generaly though.

 

[Essjay]

I have a trio of wild coloured honeys, so the sexes are easy to tell. So far, the male mostly ignores the females, but they seem quite interested in each other. They will circle each other for a minute or so, then one will chase the other one. Is this what you mean when you say the females form heirarchies?

 

[sylvia]

No - I mean that the females have a pecking order. There'll be one dominant female and then a less dominant one etc. It becomes less obvious the more you have or if you have a male in with them. If you only have two females and no male, it's extremely easy to see as the more dominant will usualy pick on the other continuously.

What you are describing is just absic aggression. Between a male and female it's usualy teh male defending his territory.