sexing an opaline gourami

jaysen

jaysen

i eat rats like you for breakfast!
Oct 10, 2007
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long island, NY
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rescued him from my friends 30 gallon tank. he is now in my 125 gallon planted tank (shown below). his tank was dark green (couldn't see inside an inch), filled with pleco crap, and dead fish on top( one of them was the 7 inch pleco). smelled pretty bad. water was half full, no filtration or light or heating. i think it was the only survivor because it was able to breathe air. he is now in his new and safe home but im wondering if it is a male or female. im thinking it is a male because of the pointed dorsal fin. he is the second largest fish in the tank and is busy exploring. the red eye tetras do nip at his feelers but he quickly flicks them away and chases them for revenge. hope they wont pose a problem for him.
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the new home i made for him
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jaysen said:
good to know. what is the diference between the two? they look so similar in the pics i see.
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The females generally have a much more rounded dorsal fin, the males dorsal fin is typically more swept back and comes to a fine point. Looks like the poor little guy needs some food... do us all a favor and smack your friend for letting their tank become so unhealthy? :mad2:

Btw, kinda unrelated question... what on earth is that large fish shown in your tank pic? Its really cool looking... kinda reminds me of a slender tinfoil barb, but I know that's not what it is. :silly:
 
i was actually referring to the difference between the opaline and blue gouramis but thank you for the info. i changed the post so people will know what im referring to.

that is my flagtail prochilodus. had him for years and i barely see them anymore. he doesnt bother my smallest fish or shrimp. he only eats algae and colorbits food. perfect for any peaceful tank as a centerpiece. also keeps the tetras schooling.
here is a better pic but it doesnt do his colors justice. his tail is bright red and black with yellow at the base.
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jaysen said:
i was actually referring to the difference between the opaline and blue gouramis but thank you for the info. i changed the post so people will know what im referring to.

that is my flagtail prochilodus. had him for years and i barely see them anymore. he doesnt bother my smallest fish or shrimp. he only eats algae and colorbitsw food. perfect for any peaceful tank as a centerpiece. also keeps the tetras schooling.
here is a better pic but it doesnt do his colors justice. his tail is bright red and black with yellow at the base.
DSC04006.jpg
Click to expand...

Beautiful fish. :D To be honest, I would have guessed the gourami to be an opaline... but aren't opalines just a selectively-bred strain of blue gouramis? To what I usually see, there are 3 semi-distinct black spots on the 3-spot gourami, but blue vs. opaline... I have no idea.
 
jaysen said:
good to know. what is the diference between the two species? they look so similar in the pics i see.
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I said the word strain, not species. An example is gold ram selectively bred from blue rams. Okay, I think I've confused myself with the words "opaline" and "gold" (referring to the gold strain which does exist). I always said it that common names are crap.:wall: The word "blue" is more valid but scientific names are most valid.

Nice fei fing by the way.:)
 
thanx lupin and ga, he has been my most prized fish and the only reason i started a new tank nowadays. so how do i tell the difference between the strains?
 
jaysen said:
thanx lupin, he has been my most prized fish and the only reason i started a new tank nowadays. so how do i tell the difference between the strains?
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As far as I can recall, there are only a few variations that exist.
1. Blue three-spot-A gourami with four posts does exist but rarely found. Why it is called three-spot is because of the two spots found at the center of the body and the caudal peduncle. The third spot is the eye.
2. Blue opaline or Cosby (okay, your fish is now confirmed as opaline, you can thank my confusion afterwards but I will still try to stick to the term "blue gourami" no matter how many names they will be called)-To explain this one, the gourami has wavy lines etched on the body.
3. Gold-yellow coloration

This reminds me. I did notice out of the hundreds of this gourami I caught a few years back during the flooding in my village, some did have wavy markings but I never inclined showing interest in the differences as much as I do with other fish to be honest.:)
 
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