Gouramis. Sexing and sizing

[shediddily]

So my local pet store has some nice looking Gouramis! I have always wanted some, but most pet stores out here selll them at a stupid price... the price is good but the store is lacking alot of knowledge about them

Now I know some of them max out at 3 inches... some at 6 and so on... but how do you figure out which ones are which? I dont want to end up way over stocked cause I end up buying the biggest ones that exist!

and how do you tell male from female?

 

[LunchBox]

dwarf and powder blue dwarf gouramis will get to be about 3 inches or so.... not sure if any others stay that small. I know blue gouramis get to be 6" long, so at least you have that one

I've also read that to sex them the males have a pointy dorsal fin and the females have a more rounded one. you may want to check out the species profiles which might be able to get you more information

 

[patoloco]

Please ignore the machete and hat. Had no other picture available right now. This is a male blue/opaline gourami. Behind him, the girl. Look at the dorsal and ventral fins. Not the best picture, but helpful anyway.
This way, you can easily sex also 3-spotted gouramies (same species) as well as pearl gouramies. Also, for paradise fish, the male has a "Lire" tail, while the fem's is shaped as a heart.