Pearl Gouramis

Does anyone know how to definitively sex Pearl Gouramis (also known as Lace or Diamond Gouramis)? I have a pair in my quarantine tank and I would like to breed them if they are a mated pair. One has a long dorsal fin and a pale orange throat while the other one has a short dorsal fin and a white throat. Does this mean (hopefully) that they're a male-female pair? Thanks.

IME the red throated/long finned is the male.
Lucky you, I couldn't find females anywhere when I wanted them!

Didihno wrote:

IME the red throated/long finned is the male.

The dorsal fin is longer in males than females but it's easier to sex them by the red area around the throat. The females don't have any

I bred pearl Gouramis (Trichogaster leeri) in the mid 80's and found them relatively easy to sex once they were reaching maturity by the noticeably extended filaments on dorsal & anal fins of the male along with the bright red flush covering his entire throat (especially at breeding time). Females had rounded fins with no filament extensions but occasionally showed a pale orange flush to the throat.

Unfortunately it is a bit more difficult now (presumably due to generations of mass produced farm bred fish) as the male does not tend to show his dramatic fin extensions or colouring until quite late in life, if at all.

There is also the question of whether hormones have been used on the farmed fish to increase productivity, which will blur the physical distinction between sexes. The once vividly bright red colouration on the males’ throat is more of a diluted orange these days, which is a colour the females invariably show also.

If you really want to breed these fish and you think they are mature enough to mate you could leave them in the quarantine tank you now have them in without any water changes and very gentle filtration that does not disturb the water surface for a few weeks with heavy feeding, then do one massive water change. This invariably triggers spawning and you will know for sure if you have a pair or not. They tend to have quite MASSIVE spawns so be prepared to cull ruthlessly down to a manageable size.

All the best, Carl

Thanks for all the replies. These aren't mature yet so that's why I'm unsure of the sexes but I picked them because of the different sized dorsal fins so I'm hopeful.

Btw, Carl. If I do successfully breed them, I can always introduce the Rams to do a clean-up operation on the unwanted fry.

They will LOVE that:)

But after their mega feed you may end up with a tank full of Ram fry:blink:

I don't know the sex of the Bolivian Rams but the Blue Rams are both male (LFS didn't have any females - Boo) so unlikely.

Btw, I just noticed that the ?male has small protrusions from his anal fin which could be the beginning of adult filaments. These are absent in the ?female so this bodes well for them being a male-female pair, I think.

Carl wrote:

I bred pearl Gouramis (Trichogaster leeri) in the mid 80's and found them relatively easy to sex once they were reaching maturity by the noticeably extended filaments on dorsal & anal fins of the male along with the bright red flush covering his entire throat (especially at breeding time). Females had rounded fins with no filament extensions but occasionally showed a pale orange flush to the throat.

Unfortunately it is a bit more difficult now (presumably due to generations of mass produced farm bred fish) as the male does not tend to show his dramatic fin extensions or colouring until quite late in life, if at all.

There is also the question of whether hormones have been used on the farmed fish to increase productivity, which will blur the physical distinction between sexes. The once vividly bright red colouration on the males’ throat is more of a diluted orange these days, which is a colour the females invariably show also.

If you really want to breed these fish and you think they are mature enough to mate you could leave them in the quarantine tank you now have them in without any water changes and very gentle filtration that does not disturb the water surface for a few weeks with heavy feeding, then do one massive water change. This invariably triggers spawning and you will know for sure if you have a pair or not. They tend to have quite MASSIVE spawns so be prepared to cull ruthlessly down to a manageable size.

All the best, Carl

I think you are touching the tip of the ice burg, melthy tesestrone is extensively abused in the aquarium trade, 1 small tablet from the vets for every 25 gallons droped twice a week for 3 weeks before a fish show will win all the fish show prices, this was extensively used in fish showa in Ireland in the 1980s:laugh: when added in fry tanks the female (XX) will end up being males but gentically female, the wholesalers in London use it on their africans fish to get the blues on juevile fish which fades a few weeks after sale, good all Dunns store and superquin sell us all female rainbow trout, .....how do they do that? the female trout fry are fed with male hormones from an early age they grow up with testies that have a desformed testies duct so they cannot relaese sperm, so they are killed theit testies are quicky lasterated then the female sperm (genically all female) is mixed with regulare female eggs (gentically female)the bingo the next generation are all female and grow faster has the male fight and waste energy