Honey Sunset Gourami from Petsmart?

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MidnightSkies

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I'm hoping to add a honey gourami to me 10 gallon planted tank in the near future. Does anyone have a honey sunset gourami from Petsmart? Does anyone know if they are actually honey gouramis or are they thick lipped gouramis? Obviously think lipped would end up being too big for my tank. Is there any way to tell the difference between the two while they aren't full grown?
 

Jayhawk

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I just bought two of these guys from petsmart. I had sunset thicklip (C. labiosa variant) in the past, and I don't think these guys are labiosa. They're definitely not C. lalia. I think they're really just a color morph of the true honey gourami...but only time will tell.

Eric
 

kevinb120

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Agreed, I think its just a morph of the standard dwarf gourami. From what I've seen they are a wee bit smaller then the dwarfs as well. I also hear that they tend to have a better chance of living long term, where the standard and powder blues have a high die-off rate.
 

Tifftastic

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When I worked at PetSmart we had these guys and they are definitely dwarf, we had some for quite a while, and a couple of coworkers bought 'em too. They never got bigger than they were there. Nasty little guys if their numbers got low, but very pretty.
 

Jayhawk

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Just to clear up the use of the word dwarf in the above two post...neither of you mean dwarf as in dwarf gourami (Colisa lalia), right.

You both mean dwarf as in small and not Colisa labiosa, right?

These are most definitely not a morph of a dwarf gourami but a morph of the Honey gourami which is the smallest of the Colisa family.

Eric
 

MidnightSkies

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Based on my not very experienced eye, they do seem to have a different body shape than standard dwarfs (lalia). I could be wrong though. Still a little nervous about adding one to a 10 gallon with other fish and hoping it doesn't reach 4 inches, but I have some time before adding still.

Jayhawk, will you post the size that yours end up getting sometime down the road? Or if they end up getting larger than a honey?
 

Jayhawk

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I will post their size in the future...right now, one is about an inch total length (including tail) and the other is about 1.5" total length.

I watched a tank of these guys at my local petsmart for months (I know the people who work in the fish department, and it was just one shipment that didn't sell very quickly...probably didn't help they were in the top tank where they were hard to see). I never saw one larger than about 1.75" total length.

I really think you'd have no problems with one or two in a 10 gallon tank...I'd say they're the ideal choice.

Mine are not shy at all - out and about all the time...I really like them, and they fit in with my smaller fish theme (the variatus platys and the two spike tailed paradise fish - all about 2") are my big fish.

Eric
 

tanker

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You are asking about 3 very different Colisa Gouramis. There is a honey, dwarf and think-lip. They are 3 different fishes.
 

kevinb120

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It's odd, as petsmart says they reach up to 4" wheras the typical 'dwarfs'(the blue with orange stripes and its powder blue and redfire or flame variants) are only listed at 2". Although I regularly see the 'dwarfs' over that and the 'honey sunsets' seem to never be over 1 1/2". Who knows if they don't give the specific scientific name for them.

This is all they give you on the honeys:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3954125&lmdn=Pet+Type
 

Jayhawk

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Petsmart often gives fantasy advice on the length of their fish. They have a bunch of cichlids that'll grow to 8" but they list them as 4 or 6 inches.

I've kept all the Colisa species now (these honeys are my first chuna/sota). These guys from petsmart do not have a body that matches lalia, labiosa or fasciata.

As an aside, I've never had fish that responded so strongly to a big storm that rolled through last night (the kind that drops over an inch or rain in 30 minutes). About 10 minutes before the rain, the honey gouramis dropped down to the gravel and just sat there until about half an hour after the storm went by...which they had not done since I got them. All I could think of is that if you come from an area with shallow water depth and a bit storm comes along, hunkering down on the bottom might keep you from being swept away.

Anyone else observe similar behavior in their honey gouramis?

Eric
 
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