New To Gouramis

[grahamsokel]

I have been given 2 opaline Gouramis today among a few other fish.they are all in a seperate tank but is there any way to sex Opalines?

 

[sylvia]

Yes
Opalines are a color morph of the 'three-spot gourami' (trichogaster trichopterus). There are several other color morphs such as yellow, cosby, blue, lavender and platinum. All these can be sexed in rpecisely the same way:
Males develop a long, distinctly pointed dorsal fin while females' dorsals are shorter and rounded. The difference becomes increasingly obvious with age but can be used to sex even young individuals as the pointed dorsal develops in quite immature males.
Body shape is also a useful guide as males are more elongated and slimmer in appearance than females, which generaly have a more rounded and deeper-bodied appearance (often due to being gravid). When viewing the fish from above, again, you should see a difference in width between the sexes - females are plumper.
Besides these characteristics, males also become a lot more aggressive than females. If it turns out you have two males, I strongly suggest seperating them as they are highly likely to fight each other, often to the death, and cause problems for other tankmates in the process. Similarly, a male/female pair can pose problems to tankmates if they spawn - males become even more aggressive then and are liable to kill tankmates - and the male is also prone to chasing the female. If this attention is excessive, the female may become overly stressed - possibly resulting in death. Two females, if they are of a similar size, may manage to get along quite peaceful without disturbing any (non-gourami) tankmates.

 

[grahamsokel]

Thanks for that,I have a def male female pair,now that you have pointed it out it is so noticable.They are adult size and have been in a tank with the other fish(2 albino cories,1 peppered corie,2 rainbows,8 neons.) for 2 years and they havent had a problem so i will keep an eye on them and if they do become a problem i will seperate