Anyway of knowing if these are m and f, both f or both m. Honey gourami

Shinyshiny054

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Bought these 2 honeys today from the LFS. The chap said he wasn’t sure if they were male and female because they were so young but made a best attempt at it. They looks pretty similar to me - wondered if any experienced keepers/breeders could tell me what he picked out? Luckily one was mid poo so you can differentiate!
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I held back on these, as the usual ways I'd tell don't seem to work. These are not 'real' honeys to me, and look like a linebred, washed out version. If you get the fish as it appears in nature, females stay silver and males explode with colour when they are happily in a well set up tank. The linebred mutations are less certain as I've never kept them.
I'm basically a huge fan of honey gouramis (T. chuna) who wishes you could see the natural fish and is just bumping the thread to see if a keeper of the linebreds shows up. I suspect you're impatient though - it may take a week to a month of calm and good care before they start to show anything.
 
I held back on these, as the usual ways I'd tell don't seem to work. These are not 'real' honeys to me, and look like a linebred, washed out version. If you get the fish as it appears in nature, females stay silver and males explode with colour when they are happily in a well set up tank. The linebred mutations are less certain as I've never kept them.
I'm basically a huge fan of honey gouramis (T. chuna) who wishes you could see the natural fish and is just bumping the thread to see if a keeper of the linebreds shows up. I suspect you're impatient though - it may take a week to a month of calm and good care before they start to show anything.
I’m fairly keen to know what they are, but not too fussy as long as they don’t start to fight. I keep fish for the tranquility; sparring fish aren’t my bag!

They were advertised as straight honey G’s are far as I recall. They had grey gouramis in the same tank, could they have been wild? I didn’t take a photo sadly
 
It's rare for wild types to have more then a faint yellowy dorsal (males) in stores, as they lose their colour under stress. If they held those colours in stores, they would be beyond popular. They're the classic example of the prize that awaits those who do their homework.

I haven't seen the mutated forms in a home aquarium, so I can't be sure. You may have males if there were grey ones too - females are largely colourless in the natural forms. Small gouramis have become real subjects for linebreeding, and a lot of mutant forms have hit the market over the past 20 years. The little Trichogasters are mixed, spliced, and modified, and that's probably why no one is answering.

Odds are, they'll be peaceful, as the honey gourami character should shine through. I often had groups of males, as my breeding always gave me a surplus of males, for a reason I couldn't sort out. They were fine together. Two is always a dangerous number though, and if they do squabble, they'll target each other. They don't look like hybrids, so you should be okay. It'll be interesting to see how they colour up. The body shape's good, and maybe they'll turn out to be the real thing.
 
Sorry - had to delete the post because of the links.
 
We don't permit links to or other advertising of rival forums. Would Macdonalds allow posters for KFC in their premises?

The forum rules state
5. There is to be no promoting of other competing general fish forums either in the forum, chat room or private message system. Links to specialist forums containing specific information which is not available on TFF or is above and beyond the detail and complexity available on TFF are permitted.

The site you linked to is considered to be a competing general fish forum not a specialist forum.
 
We don't permit links to or other advertising of rival forums. Would Macdonalds allow posters for KFC in their premises?

The forum rules state


The site you linked to is considered to be a competing general fish forum not a specialist forum.
Ok, I didn’t realise that that was a rule, my apologies. My intention was only for the sharing of information
 

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