Freshfishguy
I thought I’d make a post detailing how to tell the difference between these two commonly mislabeled fish.
Although wild-type thicklips are very easy to correctly identify, sunset thicklips are very commonly mislabeled at pet stores as honey gouramis or “sunset honey gouramis.”
Here are some of the best ways to spot the differences:
Latin Names:
Honey Gourami - Colisa/Trichogaster Chuna
Thicklip Gourami - Colisa/Trichogaster Labiosa
Coloration:
Honeys almost always come in completely different colors than thicklips.
Honeys most commonly are standard yellow (often referred to as gold), sunset honey where they have a bit of red on the fins, and wild-type where they are grey if female or dark orange possibly with some black on their throats if male. However one caveat to wild type honey gouramis is that often in the store they either haven't hit maturity or don't colour up in the presence of a more dominant male. These wild type males are coloured similar to females and often even have a stripe similar to the females.
On the other hand, thicklips will either be dark red or a dull/rusty orange. Also, honeys will have more coloration on their tail fins, whereas Thicklips' tail fins will be mostly transparent.
I have seen red honey gouramis, in which case their Latin name, body shape, and tail fins must be referenced for proper identification.
Body Shape:
Honey gouramis’ dorsal fins don’t get anywhere near as long, their bodies are much more angular, and they have smaller lips of course.
I’ve included some pictures as well. All the photos are honey gouramis, except the last photo, which has two thicklips and one can see the two colors sunset thicklips come in. If anyone can post pictures of their honeys and sunset thicklips as well, that would be helpful.
Although wild-type thicklips are very easy to correctly identify, sunset thicklips are very commonly mislabeled at pet stores as honey gouramis or “sunset honey gouramis.”
Here are some of the best ways to spot the differences:
Latin Names:
Honey Gourami - Colisa/Trichogaster Chuna
Thicklip Gourami - Colisa/Trichogaster Labiosa
Coloration:
Honeys almost always come in completely different colors than thicklips.
Honeys most commonly are standard yellow (often referred to as gold), sunset honey where they have a bit of red on the fins, and wild-type where they are grey if female or dark orange possibly with some black on their throats if male. However one caveat to wild type honey gouramis is that often in the store they either haven't hit maturity or don't colour up in the presence of a more dominant male. These wild type males are coloured similar to females and often even have a stripe similar to the females.
On the other hand, thicklips will either be dark red or a dull/rusty orange. Also, honeys will have more coloration on their tail fins, whereas Thicklips' tail fins will be mostly transparent.
I have seen red honey gouramis, in which case their Latin name, body shape, and tail fins must be referenced for proper identification.
Body Shape:
Honey gouramis’ dorsal fins don’t get anywhere near as long, their bodies are much more angular, and they have smaller lips of course.
I’ve included some pictures as well. All the photos are honey gouramis, except the last photo, which has two thicklips and one can see the two colors sunset thicklips come in. If anyone can post pictures of their honeys and sunset thicklips as well, that would be helpful.
