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Good idea with the branches. Are you sure the gourami's are the same species, the male looks more like a labiosa to me.
Ive asked multiple times on other boards, i was told male wild variant dwarf gourami, as he lacks the fatter blunt face of labiosa.
I asked multiple times and was told the same answer each time.


Some close up images of him
received_203225637768606.jpeg20200218_101658.jpg20200227_163137.jpg20200131_153126.jpg
 
I just love him (and this is coming from a person who only likes sa fish! lol)! Looks like a DG to me!
 
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Pictures are great !
It's not a "wild variant" but a lalia/labiosa hybrid.
That was another thrown around but disagreed with too.

I got directed to these, wild caught dwarf gourami.




Curious, what makes you think hybrid?
 
I take it you haven't bought it as 'wild'? 99,99% of the dwarf gouramis are farmed. It would be much more expensive as farmed ones. Often they don't even bother to sell the females, they make fish paste out of those. They do crossbreed the lalia, chuna and labiosa to get better colors. Fish farms in Asia are not particularly accurate with the names of fish, and they do try to pass off weird variations/hybrid/painted fish off as certain species, so the link in India says nothing really... they don't even claim a scientific name.

On Fishbase they have a bunch of pictures of wild caught dwarf gourami's, but they still all have the typical dwarf gourami body shape.


Your fish has not just the body shape but also the anal fin shape of a labiosa...
Mixing in more expensive wild fish is not something that is done in the trade, other farmed variations however...
 
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I take it you haven't bought it as 'wild'? 99,99% of the dwarf gouramis are farmed. It would be much more expensive as farmed ones. Often they don't even bother to sell the females, they make fish paste out of those. They do crossbreed the lalia, chuna and labiosa to get better colors. Fish farms in Asia are not particularly accurate with the names of fish, and they do try to pass off weird variations/hybrid/painted fish off as certain species, so the link in India says nothing really... they don't even claim a scientific name.

On Fishbase they have a bunch of pictures of wild caught dwarf gourami's, but they still all have the typical dwarf gourami body shape.


Your fish has not just the body shape but also the anal fin shape of a labiosa...
Mixing in more expensive wild fish is not something that is done in the trade, other farmed variations however...
He was bought as a DG from petsmart lol not labeled or bought as wild. But other forums have said wild.
But, if he is indeed a hybrid, it wouldn't be so great to further pursue breeding them. But at least hoping they get along better at the very least.


I do know females are hard to find. I got super lucky finding my girl.
 
To be clear: Yes, they can breed. No, it wouldn't be pure. I wouldn't mind offspring from them but others might. Red is a beautiful fish. To be honest I agree that t doesn't look like a 'true' DG but still a beautiful fish. The forehead too smooth, he doesn't have a 'snout' and his dorsal fin isn't pronounced (is too thin). I'm not a gourami expert but that's what I notice.

Summary:
Red is a beautiful fish. He and key can breed. The offspring might not be pure but they will be beautiful.

What ever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck!
 
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