Need Help Sexing Subadult Pearl Gourami

[Alexandriel]

Hello! I'm looking for some help identifying the gender of my new pearl gourami. For the sake of easy writing, I'll refer to it as a him for now. He is 2 1/2 inches long currently, and very sociable. He gets along well with the Cochu's and black phantom tetras in the tank. I have not noticed any chasing behavior, but he is determined to uproot every stem of hornwort in the tank and cause it to float I can't tell if he's trying to build a nest or not, but he also likes to carry bits of moss around the tank when he thinks I'm not looking! I haven't noticed any other behaviors that might help to identify him, but here are some pictures

 

[Colin_T]

I would say male.

Females have shorter more rounded dorsal (top) fins and a shorter anal (bottom) fin.

The male has a longer more pointed dorsal and anal fin, and gets filaments on the end of the anal fin.

 

[howard_hopkinson]

I concur with Colin, it definitely looks like a male of the species.

 

[Back in the fold]

Very definitely a male.
Great pictures too. Wish I could figure out how to do that.

 

[Alexandriel]

Thank you! I'm excited to watch him color up more as he grows. I love the deep throat color that the males develop, so that's definitely great news! He's already become much more blue in the weeks since I first got him.