Petstore Has Two Sparkling Gourami Tanks Why?

[Mikaila31]

A petstore near me has two diffrent tanks with sparkling gouramis in them. One is a 20 or 10 gallon heavily planted with lots and lots of sparklers in it. The other is a 5 gallon bare nano and the most sparklers i've seen in it were two and the other fish r normally not compatible. I bought two sparkling gouramis from the nano tank and both are male. the ones in the planted tank r always pale and smaller than the ones in the nano tank. So i'm wondering if mabey they r diffrent species of sparkling gouramis and i'm trying to find a female so this has made me confused . so if someone could give me any ideas on this it would be much apriciated.
here is what one of them looks like , i think it's a pumilus

 

[cometcattle]

There are indeed 2 species of "Sparkling Gourami".

There is Trichopsis pumilus and Trichopsis schalleri. The schalleri is bigger when full grown.

I have also heard of fish stores refering to Trichopsis vittatus (Croaking Gourami) as Sparkling Gouramis.

All 3 are great fish to keep.

Here's a pic of one of my Trichopsis vittatus :

 

[sylvia]

I couldn't possibly say whether the fish at your LFS are different species or not but they are probably just seperated according to age (or, rather, when they were brought into the shop). It would make sense that they move any 'leftovers' to the nano and put the new arrivals into the larger 10 gallon. That would also explain why there's only ever 1 or 2 in the smaller tank. It can be near impossible to distinguish between male and female juvenile sparklers so a lot will be left to chance. I suggest you begin by searching this forum - a lot of people have asked how to sex sparklers in the past - and take a look at all the various methods. I could list them for you but I think you'll benefit from all the extra information hidden amongst the sexing info. Also, getting a total of about 5 should guarantee you have at least 1 female. Later you can return any excess fish to your LFS once they have matured and it is easier to sex them or once they have shown through behaviour what sex they are.