New Female Pearl Gourami! Finally! *update 3/6 Second Female*

[SouthernCross]

Finally found a female pearl gourami today! Well, I'm 99% sure its a she, thought I'd post some shots I just took so I can be sure. It was the only female looking one in a tank of orange-throated males, her feelers aren't orange, her dorsal is rounded, and her body is a bit rounder, so I hope I made the right judgment. You tell me!

I had hoped to get two, but my favourite LFS only had the one, and they were a decent size (others I had seen elsewhere were either super tiny and therefore hard to sex accurately, or in really poor health) so I thought I'd better snap her up! Is still a bit smaller than the male though...

If anything, my male sure as hell is interested in her. As soon as the bag was floating it was like I had an entirely different fish! Never seen him so active! Or interested in something other than his own reflection, . He has been chasing her quite a bit, feeling her with his feelers, and 'mouthing' at her (hopefully not biting!). Trying very hard to impress her! Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon. I will keep looking for a second girl, but if he is REALLY harassing this one, I'll have to look extra hard, and quickly.

She's still settling in (probably still stressed from the trip home, the last thing she probably wants now is being hit on all the time) so she looks quite pale to me, hopefully she'll colour up some more soon...

Here we go - most of these were done with a flash (and so colours washed a bit) cos they were being so active:

In the bag still - he literally can't wait to get at her, trying to touch her through the bag!

Out in the open together:

Finally got her on her own for a second:

Can you guys please confirm for me that I do have a female?

Cheers

 

[severum boy]

Im fairly sure its a female, considering the males not attacked it yet.
A couple of pics in a week or so when she it fuly settled in will help.

 

[Biulu]

Very good pictures! She looks like my female, so I think you chose well!

 

[SouthernCross]

I got another female today! Well, again, I'm pretty sure it's a female. I'll post some more pictures I took tomorrow, too tired right now.

P.S. Anyone know what happened to sylvia? She used to be on nearly everyday, she's a pearl gourami expert and I was hoping she'd check my girls out...Haven't seen her on in ages...

 

[Biulu]

P.S. Anyone know what happened to sylvia? She used to be on nearly everyday, she's a pearl gourami expert and I was hoping she'd check my girls out...Haven't seen her on in ages...

Maybe she is just on holiday..... This is a great time for pre-season holidays!

 

[SouthernCross]

Maybe, hopefully she'll be around again eventually .

Ok, here's a couple of shots of the new girl (who again, I hope is a girl! )

No shots of her in the tank on her own yet, she's being a bit shy. Will try again later.

The two girls (I hope) making best friends - they'll wanna be anyway, with how cranky the male gets sometimes, They seem to be hanging out together a lot so its all good.

My male checking out his latest girlfriend:

All three in the one shot - he is so ridiculously orange now with all these ladies to impress. Again, these shots are taken with a flash to get a higher/clearer level of detail so you guys can see fins and whatnot to check that my sexes are right - it washes a LOT of colour out - he's a VERY pretty boy to look at normally.

If anyone looking has an opinion either way on whether I definitely have two girls please confirm for me

 

[Biulu]

She does look like a girl! Apart from the colour, I mostly look at the shorter dorsal fin, and a rounder belly. Your male definitively is very orange now! Mine has started attempts at building bubblenests, but still needs to practice more. Plus not much chance in a community tank!

 

[SouthernCross]

Yeah, he's so orange he's turning into an orange,

Yep, those are the two things I look out for too, except when they're smaller its a lot harder to tell - this time my LFS had two tanks - these 'medium' sized guys and a tank of babies about the size of coins! Didn't have a hope in hell of sexing those, went with the bigger guys, but its still a bit difficult - they're a bit stressed and lose colour being chased around the tank with a net so I try not to use colour to judge at all. Little ones would have been torn up by my big guy no question too I think - both my girls are still a good deal smaller than him.

I wish I could see some bubbles nests. I think I've got far too much surface movement in my tank (from my HOB outflow and the airstones on my UGF) for him to ever really have a chance - not to mention all the tankmates. I've never even seen him try. He's sulking atm cos the girls are more interested in hanging out with each other than him, . There seems to be a little bit of aggression - From the male towards both the females, and the bigger female (first one) towards the new second. They come up to each other, feel each other - then the male tends to bite at the throat of them (kinda between the females feelers, I'm scared one day he'll knock one off) and she seems to lean backwards letting him do it, or roll over on her side a bit then he kinda bites her side. It reminds me of submissive dog behaviour, kinda. Then she usually flees and he chases her a bit. The first female is showing a little bit of this biting behaviour towards the other female.

I'm hoping when the females grow to full size and reach sexual maturity ( I don't think they are, being so much smaller, I'm sure sylvia can tell me when she gets back) I might see less aggression, and maybe he'll be more inspired to make a nest. Here's hoping.