ID help - do I have a HG couple?

[GarageAquarium]

Hey everyone, I recently bought this pair of HG and I am a bit confused of their gender as I am getting totally different info from internet. I am more inclined to think fish 1 is a female and fish 2 is a male? Both of their dorsal fins looks quite pointy but fish 1’s looks sort of rounded at the end ? And the middle black strip of fish 1 is more obvious and it is quite pale compared to fish 2, so I think this is a female ?
Fish 2 should be a male because it is showing the black belly, does this also signify that he is living with a female?

sorry for the bad photos, I am happy to take some better ones if it helps.

Thanks

 

[jinjerJOSH22]

Hi, welcome to fishlore.

Number 2 is 100% male, no doubt.
As for the 1st, it's hard to say for sure, more pictures might help. Try to get a picture of the side. Females usually have a strong stripe touching the eye to the tail. Males can have this stripe but it's not as long and usually fades.,

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the shape of the dorsal, it's not a good way of telling with Honey's. Males usually have a yellow trim and females a orange one.

 

[GarageAquarium]

Hi, welcome to fishlore.

Number 2 is 100% male, no doubt.
As for the 1st, it's hard to say for sure, more pictures might help. Try to get a picture of the side. Females usually have a strong stripe touching the eye to the tail. Males can have this stripe but it's not as long and usually fades.,

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the shape of the dorsal, it's not a good way of telling with Honey's. Males usually have a yellow trim and females a orange one.

Hi Josh, thanks for replying. Here’s another photo of the No.1 mainly trying to capture the side body strip, does it look like female to you?

By the way, as you may see, the water is tinted a bit by my homemade driftwood... So I guess the actual body colour of my fish is a bit brighter than what it looks in the photo.

 

[jinjerJOSH22]

Hi Josh, thanks for replying. Here’s another photo of the No.1 mainly trying to capture the side body strip, does it look like female to you?

By the way, as you may see, the water is tinted a bit by my homemade driftwood... So I guess the actual body colour of my fish is a bit brighter than what it looks in the photo.

My honest answer is I'm not sure, sorry.
I'd say it looks female but there's a good possibility that it's a male that hasn't come into breeding colours.
However unless you plan on breeding them it shouldn't matter too much and likely time will tell us the actual answer
Here's a thread I posted on with my Wild colour that I thought was a female but turned out to be male.
Honey Gourami types and colours? | Honey Gourami Forum | 438132

 

[GarageAquarium]

My honest answer is I'm not sure, sorry.
I'd say it looks female but there's a good possibility that it's a male that hasn't come into breeding colours.
However unless you plan on breeding them it shouldn't matter too much and likely time will tell us the actual answer
Here's a thread I posted on with my Wild colour that I thought was a female but turned out to be male.
Honey Gourami types and colours? | Honey Gourami Forum | 438132

I found that building an environment to simulate their native habitat for them to breed is quite interesting so breeding fish was actually part of my plan ( and that’s why I asked for a male and female when I bought them from the LFS).
Anyway, I am upgrading my tank soon so if it turns out to be a male as well I might just buy another female for my boys..
Thanks !

 

[jinjerJOSH22]

No worries, I wish I could be of more help.
My advice would be to get a group and see if you get a pair that way. Honey's are very social anyway so the more the merrier

 

[GarageAquarium]

No worries, I wish I could be of more help.
My advice would be to get a group and see if you get a pair that way. Honey's are very social anyway so the more the merrier

Nah your answer and link are very helpful, after days it seems they’ve settled down and I can tell its side strip is pretty much touching its eye and reaching its tail, so I may try to build up a breeding tank too see if they could mate. Thanks