Is Phoebe a Honey Gourami or have I been fooled?

What do you guys think? I found this video of a thick-lipped gourami that looks suspiciously like Phoebe. She wasn't labeled at the store, so I took a guess that she was a honey gourami, but now I'm starting to second guess myself. Here are some pictures:

It’s a Honey. So is the one in the video.

I understood that red honeys are not honeys at all?

Thick Lipped and Honeys both come in a few colours including red. I’m not as certain as I was when I first saw it but I still think it’s a Honey.

It could be a honey of a hybrid, but there is a lot of real honey there. The head seems large and rounded though. How big is the fish?

It’s definitely a female Trichogaster labiosa, or thick-lipped gourami. It’s the line-bred red morph; the wild type is almost never seen in shops. It’s not a hybrid. I’ve never seen a labiosa x chuna cross in all my decades in the hobby.

Mr Limpet said:

It’s definitely a female Trichogaster labiosa, or thick-lipped gourami. It’s the line-bred red morph; the wild type is almost never seen in shops. It’s not a hybrid. I’ve never seen a labiosa x chuna cross in all my decades in the hobby.

Click to expand...

Agree 100% Thicklipped

GaryE said:

It could be a honey of a hybrid, but there is a lot of real honey there. The head seems large and rounded though. How big is the fish?

Click to expand...

Her body's maybe an inch and a bit long, not including her tail

Mr Limpet said:

It’s definitely a female Trichogaster labiosa, or thick-lipped gourami. It’s the line-bred red morph; the wild type is almost never seen in shops. It’s not a hybrid. I’ve never seen a labiosa x chuna cross in all my decades in the hobby.

Click to expand...

When I google image the red morph thick-lipped gourami they all look too red to be what she is though... is there an orange variety?

Essjay said:

I understood that red honeys are not honeys at all?

Click to expand...

Hmm, when I google red honey gourami they do really match her shape more than the honey gourami or the thick-lipped. Is the red honey derived from either of them?

When you googled red honey gourami you would have found hits written by people who believe that there is a red colour morph of honey gourami. That does not mean it's true, just that it's what the person who wrote it thinks. This is why we need to be careful about what we read on-line - just because someone says something in a website does not necessarily mean it's true.

There is controversy over red honey gouramis aka red robin gouramis. I had one years ago and it grew significantly bigger than true honey gouramis, which makes me think it was not 100% honey, or even a honey gourami at all.

If I have read other threads correctly, these fish were in a 10 gallon tank until it was recently upgraded, so it may be a larger type of gourami which could not reach its potential in a small tank. It could start to grow now it's in a bigger tank.



Edit - I have just found this comment on Maidenhead Aquatics website (Maidenhead Aquatics is a national chain of fish stores in the UK) in their profile of honey gourami.
"You may also see fishes confusingly labelled as Red honey gourami - these are a different species, the Red robin gourami, which is a variety of Thicklip gourami (C. labiosa) and can be found elsewhere on the databank."
They also have a profile of this fish

Thick lipped Gouramies have a longer body than Honeys. Also the lips on this fish are much smaller than a Thick lipped, and this is a mature fish. It’s not a pure Thick lipped.
I’ll say a “Red Honey”, which may be a true Honey, or a hybrid.

Ichthys said:

Thick lipped Gouramies have a longer body than Honeys. Also the lips on this fish are much smaller than a Thick lipped, and this is a mature fish. It’s not a pure Thick lipped.
I’ll say a “Red Honey”, which may be a true Honey, or a hybrid.

Click to expand...

Ok, thanks! I'm guessing she's a hybrid, because she doesn't have anywhere near the coloration of other red robins, although she does have the physical features of them moreso than the honeys I've seen online, but she definitely has the coloration and demeanor of a honey.

It is not a hybrid. It is a common colormorph of T.labiosa