# Do honey gourami males have the black line as well?



## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

They can, especially when young


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

Unsure about the common yellow morph, but wild male honey gourami males look a lot like females except when they are trying to spawn (in which case they turn orange with a black head). The only difference is that even non spawning wild male honey gouramies have a yellow dorsal fin.


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## KrustyKrab (Mar 24, 2018)

Grah the great said:


> Unsure about the common yellow morph, but wild male honey gourami males look a lot like females except when they are trying to spawn (in which case they turn orange with a black head). The only difference is that even non spawning wild male honey gouramies have a yellow dorsal fin.


Come to think of it, one of them did have a yellow tint on the upper part of the dorsal fin. The others looked greyish, except for the stripe.

If I were to buy 5-6 of them, would there be a problem if more males than females? My tank is 29g


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

I just got a group of 8 wild type a week ago and they are all currently in quarantine in a 10 gallon. Unless some are just overly stressed it looks like I ended up with 5 males and 3 females. Since it's a quarantine tank it has limited decoration and stuff to break line of site. No issues, they all get along great. They tend to hang out in groups so you occasionally see one doing it's own thing but I typically see at least 5 hanging out together almost all of the time. They have a shoal personality in groups. They might squabble a little to see who's in charge, but that's about it. Just make sure the store has females before buying any group. Some places won't carry females as they look kind of dull. I disagree as with mine they kind of remind me of apistos as they males are flashy while the females are more yellow and underrated attractive.

What color morph do they have? I find my wild type are super easy to sex. The color differences were obvious as soon as they arrived even completely stressed out. I've never been able to figure out the ornamental strains. Also it's important to make sure they are actual honey gourami, a lot of places mis-label thicklip gourami as honey gourami and they get twice as big. (although fortunately as just as peaceful)


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## KrustyKrab (Mar 24, 2018)

n25philly said:


> I just got a group of 8 wild type a week ago and they are all currently in quarantine in a 10 gallon. Unless some are just overly stressed it looks like I ended up with 5 males and 3 females. Since it's a quarantine tank it has limited decoration and stuff to break line of site. No issues, they all get along great. They tend to hang out in groups so you occasionally see one doing it's own thing but I typically see at least 5 hanging out together almost all of the time. They have a shoal personality in groups. They might squabble a little to see who's in charge, but that's about it. Just make sure the store has females before buying any group. Some places won't carry females as they look kind of dull. I disagree as with mine they kind of remind me of apistos as they males are flashy while the females are more yellow and underrated attractive.
> 
> What color morph do they have? I find my wild type are super easy to sex. The color differences were obvious as soon as they arrived even completely stressed out. I've never been able to figure out the ornamental strains. Also it's important to make sure they are actual honey gourami, a lot of places mis-label thicklip gourami as honey gourami and they get twice as big. (although fortunately as just as peaceful)


I finally bought 6 as well They are currently exploring behind the plants They haven't fully colored up yet

2 of them definitely males, morph like the one in the pic, although one of them smaller in size.

Also a pic of what I think is a female - long stripe, all the way to the eye.(I saw this hint in one of Rachel O'Leary's vids)

I will come back with more pics, I'm just not sure yet about gender for all of them, I'll post more pics after they will come out front. There hasn't been any aggression whatsoever, I have plenty of Anubias( Barteri&Nana ), Ceratopteris and a whole bunch floating Anacharis.

By the way, could you please post some pics with yours?, maybe I'll learn to better differentiate. Thanks for the help and best of luck with your gouramis


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

Those are the wild type. Top is a definite male. When he getting into breeding dress his mouth and bottom fin will turn black. Bottom, 99.99999999999% sure female. Always a slight chance it's a male that's too young or stressed out to show color but I seriously doubt it.

I haven't taken any pictures yet of mine. They are at home so I'll see if I can get any tonight


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## KrustyKrab (Mar 24, 2018)

In conclusion, Honey males may have the line as well. The striped one in the pic above, turned out to be a male after all. He still has the line, although it doesn't reach the eye anymore. Last night he would protect his thawed pea and keepin the others away. No aggression towards the Peacock Gudgeons. though they were hanging around near the pieces of pea as well

They don't seem to enjoy flake food, I was thinking to maybe try some Betta food. I've seen them poo long threads though, surely from munching on melted Anacharis leaves.

I had bought 6 fish - 2 were already colored at the store(morph like the 1st pic) - definitely males. I also picked 4 others with lines on the body,, like the one in the 2nd pic, hoping that at least some will be true female.

They have all but one lost their line and they are starting to color. I have 6 males in my tank now. They sometimes(rarely) bicker, more like "fencing" with their antennas, kind of like those "sissy fights" you see in comedy movies

Plenty of hiding places though and sight breaks, and none of them seems to hide or be overly shy. Mostly they go by each other without even looking. The glass of my tank is also causing some kind of "mirror effect", which seems to distract them for short periods of time. 

Maybe it's better that there are no females at all, one less reason for fights???

And when Honeys fight, do they fight to the death like Bettas and larger Gourami?or do they rather establish a hierarchy, pecking order, and live along with each other? I've never seen any videos of Honeys fighting, although you can even find fights of female Dwarves on Youtube. 

I will always keep the tank as heavily planted I can, hopefully there will be some kind of overstocked Cichlid tank effect, where fish just "meet and greet" then swim away, if you get my point.

Some pics


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