Determing the Sex of a Gourami

GoLdFiSh_GrL

Aquarius
Aug 25, 2003
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San Diego, CA
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I want to know if my Gouramis (Kissing and Opaline) are male/ female. How can I tell?
 
Also, the female will have a more rounded abdomen than the male, and will usually be less colorful.
 
the dorsal fin rule does not apply to kissing gouramis. they are very difficult to sex. an adult opaline/blue/gold/etc gourami is very easy to tell. females have a rounded dorsal (top) fin, while males have a distinct pointed fin. very clear if you can see one of each.
 
Kissing Gouramis are really (REALLY) BIG fish. Or at least they should be.

Figure about a foot long and not really what you'd call a slender torpedo shape.

I'd return it.

Sex the opaline and find it a mate or two. You really don't want more than one male gourami in a tank, plus one or two females would be ideal.

If it has a pointy dorsal (top) fin that extends to at least the base of the tail its a male. Females have rounder and shorter dorsals.

mystery_july.JPG
Male

OpalineGourami.jpg
Female
 
cool. I have a male Blue Gourami, but i'm not sure about my Kissing, though.... i wanna buy a mate for him, that's why.

my gouramis!.jpg
 
again, it's pretty much impossible to tell kissing gouramis. i have read that the males are much more likely to be territorial and fight...ie: kissing. i never could tell with the ones i had, but i had poor luck with them, and they didn't last long. i haven't tried again.
 
That tail thing works particularly well on any of the trichogaster (genus) gouramis. It works a little less well on the colisas (dwarf). The Kissing Gouramis are neither, and I'll take dethjam's word for it that its hard to tell. There are species where its just plain hard to tell.

You don't have room for this one, please don't get it a partner. If this one is full grown at 8 inches it may be stunted… even so its too big for a 29.

The species profile here at AqC recommends a minimum of 55g, which I think is still much to small.

One basic rule of stocking that I've heard is that the longest fish should be no more than half the length of the shortest side. That is the tank should be at least 18-24 inches front to back. 12 is too small.
 
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what can I do with it? (my kissing gourami) if it's the only one in the tank, can it survive? (no, huh? well, it's worth asking) :(
 
You've already asked that question and we told you the answer, return it for store credit. It won't do well or last a long time in your 29g. A kissing gourami needs about a 100g tank to do well.
 
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